Why Register Your Political Affiliation in America?
August 18, 2005 3:26 AM Subscribe
Political affiliation/registration in America. Please explain.
I've often seen/heard mention of a person being a 'registered republican' or a 'registered democrat' or a 'registered independent' (as I noted one MeFite state yesterday) and I find the existence of this and the readiness (seeming) to announce it, to be rather intriguing. Why is this done? What's the process? Does it have anything to do with party membership or are they separate things? Does it apply to local, state and federal voting arenas? Who maintains the data and what is it used for? Does it cost or are there any benefits etc? Is there a card or certificate issued and if so, what does one do with it? I'm guessing of course that it's not compulsory so what % of the country registers? Also, when and why did this system commence? Does this happen anywhere outside of USA?
I've often seen/heard mention of a person being a 'registered republican' or a 'registered democrat' or a 'registered independent' (as I noted one MeFite state yesterday) and I find the existence of this and the readiness (seeming) to announce it, to be rather intriguing. Why is this done? What's the process? Does it have anything to do with party membership or are they separate things? Does it apply to local, state and federal voting arenas? Who maintains the data and what is it used for? Does it cost or are there any benefits etc? Is there a card or certificate issued and if so, what does one do with it? I'm guessing of course that it's not compulsory so what % of the country registers? Also, when and why did this system commence? Does this happen anywhere outside of USA?
It's pretty straightforward -- If you don't register, you can only vote in general elections where there are candidates from more than one party. If you register with a party, you get to vote in that party's primary elections, where they choose who will run in the general election.
posted by Framer at 3:37 AM on August 18, 2005
posted by Framer at 3:37 AM on August 18, 2005
also worth noting is that in CA, at least, and possibly nationwide, when you register as "independent", you gain the ability to *pick* which ballot you choose for voting in the primary. Thus, if you prefer one candidate over another in a party whose primary you wouldn't normally vote in (because the other one is a wash, or already settled, or you don't care), you have the option of doing so at the booth.
for example, my entire family did this in 2000 to vote against Bush (I was registered as a Republican, because I wasn't aware of this clause, and because I actually wanted to vote for McCain.).
posted by fishfucker at 3:39 AM on August 18, 2005
for example, my entire family did this in 2000 to vote against Bush (I was registered as a Republican, because I wasn't aware of this clause, and because I actually wanted to vote for McCain.).
posted by fishfucker at 3:39 AM on August 18, 2005
Why are primaries conducted by the state (?) and not by the party amongst its membership?
posted by cillit bang at 3:41 AM on August 18, 2005
posted by cillit bang at 3:41 AM on August 18, 2005
Response by poster: majick, I'm Australian, hence the questions - we aren't to my knowledge familiar with primaries, although I've of course heard a lot about the Presidential primaries.
posted by peacay at 3:41 AM on August 18, 2005
posted by peacay at 3:41 AM on August 18, 2005
Some states have closed primaries, where only members of the party can vote for the candidate they'd like in the primary. This is generally done under the excuse that if the primaries were open, the members of the other party would vote in them. Since there's only one election day for primaries (at least here) you can't vote in both.
The data is then harvested by parties and used to send you political junkmail until you die.
posted by klangklangston at 3:45 AM on August 18, 2005
The data is then harvested by parties and used to send you political junkmail until you die.
posted by klangklangston at 3:45 AM on August 18, 2005
Why are primaries conducted by the state (?) and not by the party amongst its membership?
Because the two main political parties control virtually every elected office and have insititutionalized themselves into the public manifestation of the electoral system.
As klangklangston says, in some states the parties do not have public primaries, they have "caucuses" or conventions, but these are the exception rather than the rule.
posted by briank at 5:23 AM on August 18, 2005
In Missouri, you don't have to register as anything to vote in the primaries. I don't even think you have the ability to register. You just go to the voting site and ask for Rebublican, Democrat, Libertarian, Socialist, or whatever ballot, and they hand it to you.
posted by zsazsa at 5:42 AM on August 18, 2005
posted by zsazsa at 5:42 AM on August 18, 2005
I still don't understand. Why would anybody register themselves as anything but "independent"?
posted by salmacis at 6:03 AM on August 18, 2005
posted by salmacis at 6:03 AM on August 18, 2005
At one point in the not so distant past, the Democratic party pretty much ran Alabama. State, county, and city races were almost always won by the Democratic candidate. This gave rise to the term "yellow dog Democrat," meaning a person who would vote for anything with a pulse that ran on the Democratic ticket down to and including a yellow dog. Anyway, the Republicans pointed out that, under these circumstances, the real elections were taking place during the primaries. A race between/among two or more democrats to see who would be the nominee was actually a race to see who would get the office. So if Republican voters wanted to have any real say so in state and local politics, they had to vote in the Democratic primaries. And lo, after much arguing and suing and counter suing, it was so. We began having "open primaries" in which anyone could vote, regardless of party affiliation.
posted by Clay201 at 6:12 AM on August 18, 2005
posted by Clay201 at 6:12 AM on August 18, 2005
Best answer: If you vote in any election in the US for political office, you have to be registered. Registering confirms your address so that you vote in the appropriate elections, vote only once, don't vote after you're dead etc. In Vermont you have to be registered to vote, but you don't have to have a party affiliation. Registering without affiliation makes you a "registered independent" [though there may be states with an Independent Party, I'm not certain]. In some states once you vote in a primary for one party, you are automagically registered for that party and then you start to get the scads of junk mail that klangklangston refers to. As a registered independent in Vermont, I don't get political junk mail except from politicians who I have written letters to. When I registered in Seattle I got a card that told me where my polling place was. In Vermont I just show up on voting day and tell them where I live. You're supposed to re-register to vote every time you move to a new voting district. Registering to vote is free, and what you have to do to register to vote varies from state to state and has been an issue of some concern lately. There were issues concerning unusually complicated voter registration forms, for example, that some people argued were disenfranchising people with poor literacy skills and were violations of the Voting Rights Act.
The voter rolls are maintained by the local government in the town/city you live in. When you vote, you go to a local polling location -- usually a makeshift voting area created in a church, school or other accessible building -- where you have to find your name on the voter rolls, sign in, get a ballot and vote. Some places are sticklers for you having proof of identity, some places just make you sign in. Some of the issues with the 2000 US presidential elections in Florida were about people's names not being on the voter rolls because a company who was contracted to cleanse the voting rolls of convicted felons [Vermont lets felons vote, most don't] was overzealous in their name-matching and many eligible voters found themselves not on the voter rolls. Since all registration is done locally, there are a lot of strange differences in the US registration/voting procedures both from locality to locality as well as from state to state.
As far as numbers, the Census Bureau has that. Voting was up in 2004 with 64% of citizens voting with 74% registeres [self-reported numbers]. You can go read more about voting from the US Government, or from people more critical of the process
posted by jessamyn at 6:15 AM on August 18, 2005
The voter rolls are maintained by the local government in the town/city you live in. When you vote, you go to a local polling location -- usually a makeshift voting area created in a church, school or other accessible building -- where you have to find your name on the voter rolls, sign in, get a ballot and vote. Some places are sticklers for you having proof of identity, some places just make you sign in. Some of the issues with the 2000 US presidential elections in Florida were about people's names not being on the voter rolls because a company who was contracted to cleanse the voting rolls of convicted felons [Vermont lets felons vote, most don't] was overzealous in their name-matching and many eligible voters found themselves not on the voter rolls. Since all registration is done locally, there are a lot of strange differences in the US registration/voting procedures both from locality to locality as well as from state to state.
As far as numbers, the Census Bureau has that. Voting was up in 2004 with 64% of citizens voting with 74% registeres [self-reported numbers]. You can go read more about voting from the US Government, or from people more critical of the process
posted by jessamyn at 6:15 AM on August 18, 2005
Why would anybody register themselves as anything but "independent"?
Come on now, you're in the UK, you must be familiar with party affiliation. Just as there are diehard Laborites whose family has been voting that way since great-great-granddad was in the coal mines, there are people in the US whose entire family has voted for one party or the other for generations. My father's family were yellow-dog Democrats, and when I was a kid I used to irritate them by walking around quoting from Nixon's Six Crises. (Don't worry, it was just a phase.) For a lot of people, their political party is like their church. Many MeFites pride themselves on their "independence" (though if you examine it more closely, it starts to resemble conformity to a different norm), but MeFites are not representative of the world at large.
posted by languagehat at 6:19 AM on August 18, 2005
Come on now, you're in the UK, you must be familiar with party affiliation. Just as there are diehard Laborites whose family has been voting that way since great-great-granddad was in the coal mines, there are people in the US whose entire family has voted for one party or the other for generations. My father's family were yellow-dog Democrats, and when I was a kid I used to irritate them by walking around quoting from Nixon's Six Crises. (Don't worry, it was just a phase.) For a lot of people, their political party is like their church. Many MeFites pride themselves on their "independence" (though if you examine it more closely, it starts to resemble conformity to a different norm), but MeFites are not representative of the world at large.
posted by languagehat at 6:19 AM on August 18, 2005
I still don't understand. Why would anybody register themselves as anything but "independent"?
In states that don't have open primaries, independents don't get to vote in the primaries at all. That is about half of them so it is very relevant.
posted by smackfu at 6:22 AM on August 18, 2005
In states that don't have open primaries, independents don't get to vote in the primaries at all. That is about half of them so it is very relevant.
posted by smackfu at 6:22 AM on August 18, 2005
Best answer: Elections in the US aren't run by the political parties -- they're run by the states.
There aren't any federal elections -- only state elections. In a presidential election, we vote for a slate of electors associated with a particular candidate, not the candidate him/herself. Then the electors meet in the Electoral College and elect the President.
Each of the 50 states has its own election law. Oklahoma, where I live now, requires you to declare a party affiliation when you register - because Oklahoma has a closed primary system. Democrats in Oklahoma vote for Democratic candidates in the primaries and runoff elections, Republicans vote for Republicans. Independents can't vote in a primary election unless there is more than one Independent candidate running; Independents aren't affiliated with a party, so they can't vote in any party's primary/runoff elections, and they're effectively disenfranchised except for the general elections. And also, many areas of the state are solidly Democrat or Republican, so most of the candidates for that area are likewise. I'm a Democrat in a solidly Republican area, so I don't get to vote in many primaries or runoffs because most of the primary candidates are Republican, and there's rarely a Democratic primary. Some years there isn't a Democratic candidate at all, so the election is decided in the Republican primary and I don't get to vote for anyone.
On the other hand are states like Arkansas, which doesn't require you to declare a party affiliation when you register. Instead, on Election Day, you show up at your polling place and tell the staff which primary/runoff you'd like to vote in. Everybody gets to vote, but it also means that Democrats can affect the Republican candidates and vice versa.
I guess it all boils down to the fact that we're still 50 states as well as one country. The states have enormous power, more so than I think people from other countries realize.
posted by lambchop1 at 6:28 AM on August 18, 2005
There aren't any federal elections -- only state elections. In a presidential election, we vote for a slate of electors associated with a particular candidate, not the candidate him/herself. Then the electors meet in the Electoral College and elect the President.
Each of the 50 states has its own election law. Oklahoma, where I live now, requires you to declare a party affiliation when you register - because Oklahoma has a closed primary system. Democrats in Oklahoma vote for Democratic candidates in the primaries and runoff elections, Republicans vote for Republicans. Independents can't vote in a primary election unless there is more than one Independent candidate running; Independents aren't affiliated with a party, so they can't vote in any party's primary/runoff elections, and they're effectively disenfranchised except for the general elections. And also, many areas of the state are solidly Democrat or Republican, so most of the candidates for that area are likewise. I'm a Democrat in a solidly Republican area, so I don't get to vote in many primaries or runoffs because most of the primary candidates are Republican, and there's rarely a Democratic primary. Some years there isn't a Democratic candidate at all, so the election is decided in the Republican primary and I don't get to vote for anyone.
On the other hand are states like Arkansas, which doesn't require you to declare a party affiliation when you register. Instead, on Election Day, you show up at your polling place and tell the staff which primary/runoff you'd like to vote in. Everybody gets to vote, but it also means that Democrats can affect the Republican candidates and vice versa.
I guess it all boils down to the fact that we're still 50 states as well as one country. The states have enormous power, more so than I think people from other countries realize.
posted by lambchop1 at 6:28 AM on August 18, 2005
I still don't understand. Why would anybody register themselves as anything but "independent"?
In California the parties aren't obligated to count votes from unaffiliated voters for all (or any) races. Only three did for the last election: The American Independent Party counted unaffiliated votes for everything. The Democrats counted them for everything but the Party Central Committee. The Republicans counted them for everything except the Committee and the President.
Why are primaries conducted by the state (?) and not by the party amongst its membership?
Part of it is the logistics and expense of running an election. Consolidated primaries mean that minor parties can afford to have a primary.
In CA, we also vote on ballot propositions and offices other than President (like US and State Senators and Representatives) at the same time.
posted by aneel at 9:26 AM on August 18, 2005
In California the parties aren't obligated to count votes from unaffiliated voters for all (or any) races. Only three did for the last election: The American Independent Party counted unaffiliated votes for everything. The Democrats counted them for everything but the Party Central Committee. The Republicans counted them for everything except the Committee and the President.
Why are primaries conducted by the state (?) and not by the party amongst its membership?
Part of it is the logistics and expense of running an election. Consolidated primaries mean that minor parties can afford to have a primary.
In CA, we also vote on ballot propositions and offices other than President (like US and State Senators and Representatives) at the same time.
posted by aneel at 9:26 AM on August 18, 2005
In Vermont you have to be registered to vote, but you also must take the Voter's Oath (previously called the Freeman's Oath before the legislature got all sterile and prissy about language).
They take these things seriously up there.
posted by IndigoJones at 9:36 AM on August 18, 2005
They take these things seriously up there.
posted by IndigoJones at 9:36 AM on August 18, 2005
Best answer: All of this stuff varies strongly from state to state, but in general:
Why is this done?
To vote in primary elections.
What's the process?
When you register to vote, the nice people at the library or DMV or whatever will ask you, "Do you want to register with a party?" Then you tell them which, if any.
Does it have anything to do with party membership or are they separate things?
Separate. You don't need to be a dues-paying member in good standing to register Democratic. You don't need to affirm any statement of purpose or otherwise agree with the Democratic platform to register Democratic. The Democratic Party cannot by any means whatsoever prevent you from registering with them. The sole requirement is that you said "I wanna register as a Democrat."
Does it apply to local, state and federal voting arenas?
Yes, all.
Who maintains the data and what is it used for?
Your local voting agency, normally part of the county government, maintains it. Its only official purpose is to make sure you don't vote in a wrong primary, naughty boy. Historically it's also been used for patronage, though that's of course illegal.
Does it cost or are there any benefits etc?
No cost. The only official benefit is voting in that party's primary. Historically, an unofficial and illegal benefit has been easier access to government jobs or contracts.
Is there a card or certificate issued and if so, what does one do with it?
There's a voter registration card that says you've registered as a voter. It has your partisan affiliation on it. There's not normally a separate card.
I'm guessing of course that it's not compulsory so what % of the country registers?
I'd have to look it up, but, guessing, between 2/3 and 3/4 of registered voters are affiliated with a party.
Also, when and why did this system commence?
Again, I'd have to look this up. But, guessing and working from dim memories:
When: post Civil War.
Why: misguided "good government" types thought it would be a way to limit the EEEEVIL INFLUENCE of party leaders.
Does this happen anywhere outside of USA?
Not AFAIK.
Why are primaries conducted by the state (?) and not by the party amongst its membership?
Because the state has made that illegal.
Why would anybody register themselves as anything but "independent"?
To vote in a party's primaries, in a closed-primary state. In an open-primary state, because there is no cost to doing so.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:43 AM on August 18, 2005
Why is this done?
To vote in primary elections.
What's the process?
When you register to vote, the nice people at the library or DMV or whatever will ask you, "Do you want to register with a party?" Then you tell them which, if any.
Does it have anything to do with party membership or are they separate things?
Separate. You don't need to be a dues-paying member in good standing to register Democratic. You don't need to affirm any statement of purpose or otherwise agree with the Democratic platform to register Democratic. The Democratic Party cannot by any means whatsoever prevent you from registering with them. The sole requirement is that you said "I wanna register as a Democrat."
Does it apply to local, state and federal voting arenas?
Yes, all.
Who maintains the data and what is it used for?
Your local voting agency, normally part of the county government, maintains it. Its only official purpose is to make sure you don't vote in a wrong primary, naughty boy. Historically it's also been used for patronage, though that's of course illegal.
Does it cost or are there any benefits etc?
No cost. The only official benefit is voting in that party's primary. Historically, an unofficial and illegal benefit has been easier access to government jobs or contracts.
Is there a card or certificate issued and if so, what does one do with it?
There's a voter registration card that says you've registered as a voter. It has your partisan affiliation on it. There's not normally a separate card.
I'm guessing of course that it's not compulsory so what % of the country registers?
I'd have to look it up, but, guessing, between 2/3 and 3/4 of registered voters are affiliated with a party.
Also, when and why did this system commence?
Again, I'd have to look this up. But, guessing and working from dim memories:
When: post Civil War.
Why: misguided "good government" types thought it would be a way to limit the EEEEVIL INFLUENCE of party leaders.
Does this happen anywhere outside of USA?
Not AFAIK.
Why are primaries conducted by the state (?) and not by the party amongst its membership?
Because the state has made that illegal.
Why would anybody register themselves as anything but "independent"?
To vote in a party's primaries, in a closed-primary state. In an open-primary state, because there is no cost to doing so.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:43 AM on August 18, 2005
Response by poster: Thanks all. I learnt a lot. I guess I didn't grok the connection between registration and primaries otherwise I should/could have googled it. Thanks particularly to Jessamyn for those links. I'll tear into a chunk of reading tomorrow. But you guys sure do have a weird system. Heh.
posted by peacay at 11:33 AM on August 18, 2005
posted by peacay at 11:33 AM on August 18, 2005
California does not have a real open primary. Although you can vote for say McCain against Bush in the GOP primary, unless you are registered GOP, it isn't counted. Funny huh?
Our entire system is utterly corrupt.
posted by joseppi7 at 11:52 AM on August 18, 2005
Our entire system is utterly corrupt.
posted by joseppi7 at 11:52 AM on August 18, 2005
I'm not sure if anyone will see this now, but: what is the point of registering with a party if your state does open party primaries? I'm not affiliated, I don't want to be, and it's never been a problem for me. (This is in WI and MN, by the way.)
posted by jetskiaccidents at 5:59 PM on August 18, 2005
posted by jetskiaccidents at 5:59 PM on August 18, 2005
oops, scratch party on "open party primaries".
open party! yeahhh!
posted by jetskiaccidents at 6:00 PM on August 18, 2005
open party! yeahhh!
posted by jetskiaccidents at 6:00 PM on August 18, 2005
This thread is closed to new comments.
Well, I don't know about you, but I register with a party so that I can vote in the party's primary elections.
Remember, one "registers" to be eligible to vote, and on the registration form is an option to pick party affiliation. This is different from merely agreeing with a given party's policies.
posted by majick at 3:33 AM on August 18, 2005