This is topic The Effect of Registering Indepent in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


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Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
 
Was listening to the Glenn Beck show today (I know, I know), and he was talking about something that seems like it might have some merit.

His basic thought was that registering for a particular party gave that party carte blanche to do as it wanted, and that people should register independent and vote for the best person. In this way, the parties would see that they didn't have a built in base and would be much more responsive to voters. He extended this idea to donating to parties rather than individuals.

I think this idea might have some merit. If people declare themselves not a member of a team, I think this takes pressure off of them to be a team player, to be a kneejerk member of a party. By focusing on individuals, it allows more individuals to run, rather than party hacks.

Thoughts?
 

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Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
 
I register with whichever party I want to be most able to influence via the system of primaries. The answer I enter into that field does not create any further behavioral obligation to be a 'team player.'

Party hacks will still win, though. Plurality. Safety in numbers and money.
 

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Posted by sarahdipity (Member # 3254) on :
 
This depends upon which state you are in. In Nebraska you can not vote for most stuff in the primaries if you are independent. Other states apparently let you pick one of the parties primaries to vote in while maintaining your status. I'm still registered as an Independent in spite of this.
 

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Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
 
Unfortunately in many states, such as mine, it also means you can't vote in primaries. On those days I just go to get the sticker.
 

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Posted by Zalmoxis (Member # 2327) on :
 
I'm also a registered Independent. I will most likely change that status late this year so that I can vote in the primaries. Problem is that I would like to vote in both the Republican and Democratic ones.
 

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Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
 
If people start registering independent and voting independently, will primaries really matter? It seems to me that primaries matter precisely because of the party machine.

Consider if people just ran for office, and people voted for the best qualified candidate on the appropriate day.

Edited for clarity
 

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Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Chris Bridges:
Unfortunately in many states, such as mine, it also means you can't vote in primaries. On those days I just go to get the sticker.

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True in Utah unfortunately.


 

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Posted by Amanecer (Member # 4068) on :
 
How exactly does one register as independent? So far as I know, I'm not registered as anything. Is it just the default?

Also, how do you find out what your state requires to vote in the primaries? Wikipedia is failing me.
 

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Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Amanecer:
How exactly does one register as independent? So far as I know, I'm not registered as anything. Is it just the default?

Also, how do you find out what your state requires to vote in the primaries? Wikipedia is failing me.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Storm Saxon:
If people start registering independent and voting independently, will primaries really matter?

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The primaries matter because only candidates with the backing of something like a party can get the word out successfully enough to make it on the ballots. Therefore, the primaries essentially determine what my choices as an independent voter are.

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An acquaintance of mine convinced me that moderates like me were doing ourselves and our cause a disservice, because, by removing our voice from the early phases of shoosing candidates, we made it likelier that we would only get more extreme and less moderate candidates. Certainly I can think of candidates I would rather have seen in the last two elections for president than the ones we did see.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Storm Saxon:
Icarus,

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The primaries matter because only candidates with the backing of something like a party can get the word out successfully enough to make it on the ballots. Therefore, the primaries essentially determine what my choices as an independent voter are.

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I am unclear on this paragraph. I think what you are saying is that only parties can get people elected because only parties can get the word out about where they stand to people. So, therefore, there must be big parties because without a large organization with deep pockets behind a politician, that politician can't win. Is this accurate?

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I *think* that sounds like what I'm saying. Beyond that, I'm saying that if I don't vote in the primaries, my choices are drastically diminished. Someone else is determining the pool I get to choose from.

quote:

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quote:

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An acquaintance of mine convinced me that moderates like me were doing ourselves and our cause a disservice, because, by removing our voice from the early phases of shoosing candidates, we made it likelier that we would only get more extreme and less moderate candidates. Certainly I can think of candidates I would rather have seen in the last two elections for president than the ones we did see.

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I actually tend to think the exact opposite occurs. I think your paragraph above tends to bear this out. I think most candidates are very middle of the road for a variety of reasons. The political system doesn't really reward people for risk at the political level. I think that's why the two parties have pretty much been running on their respective platforms for at least a hundred years.

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I think it's more complex than that. I think candidates pretend to be centrist after they're nominated, to get the swing votes. Looking back at 2004, the strong right wingers are going to vote for Bush, by and large, because who the heck else are they going to vote for? The liberals are going to vote for Kerry because, who else are they going to vote for? So Bush and Kerry can safely try to appear centrist to court the moderate vote. But before they're nominated, I think a different mechanism works out. I think the primary system initially rewards the more extreme candidates from within their parties, because most people who vote in primaries are not moderates. Which means that while they try to court me as a moderate in the end, the major candidates I actually get to choose from are not the ones I would have preferred from each party.


EDIT:
Palindrome!
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V
 

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Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
 
I register as an unaffiliated voter. That means I can vote in any one primary I choose to. (This is CA, of course. But I am pretty sure it worked that way in TX, too, although I was so pregnant I don't remember how it worked the one primary I voted in there.)
 

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Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
 
That's a good idea. How do they keep track of whether you've been to a primary?
 

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Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
 
It's an A ticket. They only put one in her booklet.
 

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Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
 
Well, that would seem to solve a lot of problems then. That's a really awesome idea.
 

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Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
 
You show up and they see you are an unaffiliated voter; they tell you, "You can vote in any one primary and only one. Do not mark more than one party's primary ballot or your vote for the primary will be discounted. Do you have any questions on how to mark your ballot?" You say no, vote, turn it in as usual. The machines note if you have marked more than one primary and invalidate the primary portion of your ballot (we have fairly decent machines; in some machines it would invalidate the whole ballot.) You get your sticker, leave, and go about your business.
 

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Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Icarus:
It's an A ticket. They only put one in her booklet.

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(Not that I'm old enough to remember A tickets. But my mom and dad have told me about them. )
 

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Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
 
Oh, was that a joke?
 

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Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
 
Yeah, although actually E tickets were the most expensive. But I thought that's what he was saying. Since you got less of the low-level tickets.

Unless I'm wrong, of course.
 

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Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
 
Storm, in each state I know of that has open primaries restircting each person to one party per election, the primaries are on the same day, so it becomes fairly easy to manage. I don't know how they would manage in situations where the party primaries are on different days.
 

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Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by ketchupqueen:
Yeah, although actually E tickets were the most expensive. But I thought that's what he was saying. Since you got less of the low-level tickets.

Unless I'm wrong, of course.

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