A question for United Statians who vote.

[den]

re this by Tom Tomorrow

How can you be a registered voter and not be allowed to vote for who you want? How does your system work?

Comments

[dafydd.livejournal.com]

The Primary process is not the process of "the Nation electing a new executive." It is the process of "a political party selecting its candidate to run for the position of executive." Therefore, in most states, one has to be a member of a political party to have the right to vote on the person that party will submit as a candidate for office.

Clear as mud?

The fellow actually has the simple option of re-registering as a Democrat if he wants to vote for Lieberman in his state's Primary, and then reregistering as a Republican after the Primary is over.

Alternately, some states (CA, frex) allow otherwise unaffiliated voters to request a particular party's Primary ballot, if the party agrees to allow that to happen.

But, essentially, a Primary is a taxpayer funded method of allowing a political party to vote for who it wants to run for national office.

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

AH! I understand the US system a little better now! Thanks.