Primary elections-can an Independent vote? (school, design, residential)

[KarlaT2]

I'm not clear on the rules on whether a registered Independent can vote in the primary. Does anyone know? Do I have to re-register as either an Republican or Democrat to be able to vote in the presidential primary? Specifically can I vote for either a republican or democrat candidate if I am a registered Independent?

[jw2]

In California, I don't think you mean "Registered Independent". There are several political parties from which to choose, one of which is named "American Independent Party". But that is a political party with (potentially) its own candidates.

What you may mean is "No political party preference". If you select this, you will be omitted from voting on specific political party candidates, such as choosing a candidate for president in the primary. Obviously, in the general election, anyone can vote for any candidate regardless of political designation.

[blueskywalker]

Originally Posted by jw2

In California, I don't think you mean "Registered Independent". There are several political parties from which to choose, one of which is named "American Independent Party". But that is a political party with (potentially) its own candidates.

What you may mean is "No political party preference". If you select this, you will be omitted from voting on specific political party candidates, such as choosing a candidate for president in the primary. Obviously, in the general election, anyone can vote for any candidate regardless of political designation.

So to be clear .... if you're an independent and want to vote in the primary election, what box do you check?
If you check "democrat", does that mean you have to vote for a democrat? and so on?

[thecooler]

Every state is different. If you're asking about California, if you want to vote for a candidate in a primary, you must be registered as a democrat or a republican to vote in those specific primaries. Depending on your registration you will be given a ballot that only allows you to choose a candidate from that party (your ballot will not have the names of the candidates from the other parties). I think they changed that for awhile to allow open primaries, but i believe they changed it back. For awhile you had a ballot with everyone's name on it, but it only counted in the primary if you were a member of that party, so it was open but not really.

[jw2]

Originally Posted by blueskywalker

So to be clear .... if you're an independent and want to vote in the primary election, what box do you check?
If you check "democrat", does that mean you have to vote for a democrat? and so on?

If you want to vote in the primary election for a candidate for president to represent a party, you need to register as that party. If you register as a democrat, you can only vote for democrat presidential candidates in the primary election but are free to vote for whom you choose in the general election.

In California, if you are independent, as that term is used to mean not aligned with a political party, you should register as "no political party preference". You don't register as Independent.

There is a political party called "American Independent Party". That is something different.

[blueskywalker]

Originally Posted by jw2

If you want to vote in the primary election for a candidate for president to represent a party, you need to register as that party. If you register as a democrat, you can only vote for democrat presidential candidates in the primary election but are free to vote for whom you choose in the general election.

In California, if you are independent, as that term is used to mean not aligned with a political party, you should register as "no political party preference". You don't register as Independent.

There is a political party called "American Independent Party". That is something different.

O.K. Bare with me .... sorry .... so if you register as "no political party preference", can you then vote for anyone? And can you make up your mind on the day of the election ... at the polls?

[jw2]

Originally Posted by blueskywalker

O.K. Bare with me .... sorry .... so if you register as "no political party preference", can you then vote for anyone? And can you make up your mind on the day of the election ... at the polls?

Yes.

No matter how you are registered, No Political Party or a particular party, you can vote for whomever you want on general election day.

[blueskywalker]

Originally Posted by jw2

Yes.

No matter how you are registered, No Political Party or a particular party, you can vote for whomever you want on general election day.

got it! Thank you.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by thecooler

Every state is different. If you're asking about California, if you want to vote for a candidate in a primary, you must be registered as a democrat or a republican to vote in those specific primaries. Depending on your registration you will be given a ballot that only allows you to choose a candidate from that party (your ballot will not have the names of the candidates from the other parties). I think they changed that for awhile to allow open primaries, but i believe they changed it back. For awhile you had a ballot with everyone's name on it, but it only counted in the primary if you were a member of that party, so it was open but not really.

This is an interesting question for me because of my current and somewhat outdated party affiliation. I'm an old school conservative and registered Republican. Yet, I have not voted for a Republican president in over a decade. In fact, I've voted just the opposite. I'm generally unhappy with the direction of the party which seems to be going down hill fast. So, I've thought about switching to independent. However, according to these rules stated, it would disallow me from voting in the primaries which I do care about. For example, I would rather have a moderate Republican nominated to run for office than some of the Tea Partier or Trump variety. If I switched to independent, I wouldn't have a say in the matter. That being the case, I see no real benefit of switching to independent which provides no real voice in the primaries. I guess that means I'll continue to buck the trend as the spoiler to the parties' current reactionary direction.

Derek

[blueskywalker]

Ah geez then i don't got it.
And i don't understand why being independent disallows a primary vote.
What's the reason for that? Probably obvious but not to me.