How to become a Repbulican?

October 7, 2007 9:16 PM

How do I register as a Republican and vote in the primary?

Never thought I'd ask this, but...
I am registered to vote in the state of Texas. I've never declared a party affiliation, and I don't even know how. I want to vote for Ron Paul in the primary. How do I go about registering as a Republican, and subsequently go about voting in the Republican primary?

posted by king walnut to Law & Government (16 answers total)

I could be way off on this, but don't you just tell the poll people when you actually go to vote?
posted by DMan at 9:19 PM on October 7, 2007

I just Googled it and got this site.

Looks like at least in Texas you don't have to do anything special.
posted by DMan at 9:21 PM on October 7, 2007

Best answer: According to this and this, Texas has 'closed' primaries, but the act of choosing the party is voting in the primaries.

So, you're registered, just show up for the Republican primaries and don't vote in the Democratic Primaries.
posted by aristan at 9:21 PM on October 7, 2007

At least here in California, you just check a box when you register to vote.
posted by douglaswth at 9:44 PM on October 7, 2007

The Texas GOP says the same thing. March 4, 2008 will be the day. Voter information, including info on early voting (every state should have that!)
posted by ALongDecember at 9:44 PM on October 7, 2007

I’ve lived in Texas, and aristan is correct. You can’t register as a Republican, so you just vote in the Republican primary, and your name goes on a list. If you tried to vote in the Democratic primary too, they would turn you away since you had already voted.
posted by tepidmonkey at 11:42 PM on October 7, 2007

Response by poster: I have a long history of wasting votes: Jimmy Carter 1980, Nobody 1984, Ron Paul 1988*, Andre Marrou 1992, Harry Browne 1996 and 2000, John Kerry 2004. They were all wasted, especially the Kerry vote, because he wasn't even on my short list of the top million choices--I just voted against Bush. So you see I'm very comfortable with wasting my vote. Do as you choose with yours.

* Yes, that's right, I voted for Ron Paul 20 years ago and I might just do it again.
posted by king walnut at 12:31 AM on October 8, 2007

Primary voting is the way to make a "crackpot minority" into the majority. (I'm interested in folks like Paul because he terrifies the incumbent/established political structure. I want to shake it up. Violently.)

IMPORTANT: In some states, in order to vote in the primaries, you must declare an affiliation with a particular party! To choose a candidate within the party, you must tell the voter-registration office ahead of time (sometimes well ahead of time! Changing the deadline to before you discovered you're a new Republican is a dirty and likely trick to make sure you can't rock the boat.) that you advocate that party. In doing so, you also limit yourself to voting within that party in the general election. (Id est, you can't game the system by voting for weak candidate A in one party's primary and then vote for your preferred candidate Z from another party in the real election.)

So, summary. In some states:

- You have to go register as party X to vote in X's primary.
- If you register as party X, your general-election ballot may only have party-X people on it.
- You may have to (re-)register several months ahead of the primary. Do it NOW, if you plan to. Like, not in a few days. Now. Before Wednesday.
posted by cmiller at 4:32 AM on October 8, 2007

States with in which you must be registered in a party to vote in its primary election: (Those are called "closed primary states")

Arizona
California
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Illinois
Kentucky
Maryland
Massachusetts
Nebraska
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Dakota
Utah
West Virginia
posted by cmiller at 4:51 AM on October 8, 2007 [2 favorites]

As an aside for anyone reading this with similar but non-Texas questions: just ask/email a campaign worker for anyone. They'd love to tell you how to vote for them. Their websites probably have drives for that exact purpose.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 4:57 AM on October 8, 2007

These folks are helpful with all things "election"
posted by LakesideOrion at 5:44 AM on October 8, 2007

Mod note: Several comments removed. It's a question about registration and primaries, not an open forum on vote-wasting or otherwise. Please answer the question that was asked.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:27 AM on October 8, 2007

In doing so, you also limit yourself to voting within that party in the general election. (Id est, you can't game the system by voting for weak candidate A in one party's primary and then vote for your preferred candidate Z from another party in the real election.)

I'm sorry, but that sounds absolutely ludicrous and incorrect. Where is this the case?
posted by mkb at 6:36 AM on October 8, 2007

I'm sorry, but that sounds absolutely ludicrous and incorrect. Where is this the case?

I have personal experience of this in Georgia. When you tell the poll worker who you are, they look you up in their rolls, and if you registered as a Foo, you get a Foo ballot. There's also one for the Bar party, and a third ballot with everyone on it, for those who are not registered.

I suspect it's the same in other states.

Strangely, Georgia is not in my list of closed-primary states. I can't explain that.
posted by cmiller at 6:53 AM on October 8, 2007

No state restricts who you vote for in the general election based on the primary in which you vote. If you are registered in a state that supports party registration (like mine), when you show up at the polls for a primary, you will get only candidates from your registered party on the ballot. But that's a primary election. And that's kinda the idea of a primary.

And contrary to the comments above, Georgia does not require party registration to vote. Nor do I find any mention of general election oddness (beyond the requirement for ID -- which is a solution offered by conservatives to a problem that doesn't exist).

But the question was about Texas and the answers above are correct. In Texas, you "declare" party membership by showing up and voting in that party's primary. You must be registered to vote at least 30 days prior to the election in which you wish to vote. More here.
posted by driley at 8:30 AM on October 8, 2007

Okay, I talked to my father and I could be wrong about party registration and specific ballots. In Georgia (where I haven't lived for 10 years), at the polling place, according to my father you have a choice about what kind of ballot you want. "Democrat"(-only), "Republican"(-only), or "Independent".

When I last voted there, I don't remember getting a choice. So, I'm now mailing to find out from the officer in charge -- the horse's mouth. Stay tuned.
posted by cmiller at 11:38 AM on October 8, 2007