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[Max™]

WE LEARNED IT FROM WATCHING YE, LIZ!

[Sergius]

Can someone clarify this for me?

In the US system, you usually register as Democrat or Republican. This allows you to vote in the primaries.

Regardless of affiliation, you can vote in the general for whichever candidate each party selected (or independent, etc.) that you like.

Doesn't it make sense for some people (not all, obviously) that intend to vote, say, left leaning, to register as the most right-leaning party, just to make sure the alternative is also as moderate to left as possible?

Granted, this probably would also mean that the most left-leaning party ends up gravitating more to the right since you didn't vote in *their* primaries...

[Dunamisdeos]

You just register as a real person with a real address. Like I just go register and am like "I live at this place, here's my driver's license as proof, where's my voting spot" and they tell me and I go there and vote for Garfield the Cat or whoever it's done.

@the below post
Whoops, i misunderstood.

[Sergius]

I'm meant for voting in the primaries.

[Dunamisdeos]

I'm meant for voting in the primaries.

Rather than rely on my flu-addled brain for information, here's what the internet has to say!

The Primary

In the early twentieth century there was a movement to give more power to citizens in the selection of candidates for the party's nomination. The primary election developed from this reform movement. In a primary election, registered voters may participate in choosing the candidate for the party's nomination by voting through secret ballot, as in a general election.

There are two main types of primaries, closed or open, that determine who is eligible to vote in the primary. In a closed primary a registered voter may vote only in the election for the party with which that voter is affiliated. For example a voter registered as Democratic can vote only in the Democratic primary and a Republican can vote only in the Republican primary. In an open primary, on the other hand, a registered voter can vote in either primary regardless of party membership. The voter cannot, however, participate in more than one primary. A third less common type of primary, the blanket primary, allows registered voters to participate in all primaries.

In addition to differences in which voters are eligible to vote in the primary, there are differences in whether the ballot lists candidate or delegate names. The presidential preference primary is a direct vote for a specific candidate. The voter chooses the candidate by name. The second method is more indirect, giving the voter a choice among delegate names rather than candidate names. As in the caucus, delegates voice support for a particular candidate or remain uncommitted.

In some states a combination of the primary and caucus systems are used. The primary serves as a measure of public opinion but is not necessarily binding in choosing delegates. Sometimes the Party does not recognize open primaries because members of other parties are permitted to vote.

[Lord Shonus]

That can happen, depending on state. In Ohio, they just ask you at the polling place which party you're voting in, then give you the proper ballot. That makes party switching very easy, and I know several people who voted in the R primary to oppose Trump.


In practice, it doesn't make much difference. You wind up with just as many flipping to your party to affect that election, or people deciding to switch and "vote for the worst" to make their party more viable. In the end, it mostly cancels out without affecting the outcome much.

[Kagus]

I'm meant for voting in the primaries.

Some folks are born,
Made to wave the flag
Oh, they're red, white and blue!

[Madman198237]

Can someone clarify this for me?

In the US system, you usually register as Democrat or Republican. This allows you to vote in the primaries.

Regardless of affiliation, you can vote in the general for whichever candidate each party selected (or independent, etc.) that you like.

Doesn't it make sense for some people (not all, obviously) that intend to vote, say, left leaning, to register as the most right-leaning party, just to make sure the alternative is also as moderate to left as possible?

Granted, this probably would also mean that the most left-leaning party ends up gravitating more to the right since you didn't vote in *their* primaries...

No, because your hypothetical left-leaner wants the Democrats to win, and to accomplish that goal he wants the best Democrat running. In this case, the "best Democrat" is the one that supports *his* beliefs and desires best, of course. While yes, you could have a bunch of voters go sabotage the other party...it's not a great idea, because then you've ruined the other guy's ability to get votes (since he's presumably unliked by the right-leaning Republicans who did not manage to get their candidate since you've spoiled their primary, and now don't feel so inclined to vote for the other guy and thus will have lower turnout), and now when the Democrats win you won't necessarily get YOUR candidate.

[McTraveller]

I wonder if the system should be, you vote for the person you don't want, and the lowest vote count (above some threshold, to avoid a million-way-tie with zero votes) wins.  So to get elected president, you have to have at least 10% of the votes, but the fewest amount overall.

Maybe that will play to the "people being more willing to give negative feedback than positive" phenomenon.

To be clear, I'd rather we have a rank voting system, but I suspect that too many people would complain that's too difficult or confusing.

[Madman198237]

There are a few ways to game that system, though, such as telling party members "just don't vote for the other guy, he'll then lose for sure", etc. Better to just institute logical ranked voting.

[Frumple]

In practice, it doesn't make much difference. You wind up with just as many flipping to your party to affect that election, or people deciding to switch and "vote for the worst" to make their party more viable. In the end, it mostly cancels out without affecting the outcome much.

For what it's worth, I've never noticed actual data supporting that conclusion, iirc. From what I do recall it's not been studied much on a wide enough scale to identify a particularly strong pattern.

It'd make sense for it to balance out, but reality doesn't have to make sense, at the end of the day. Wouldn't exactly be a surprise if some demographic or another would actually react disproportionately given the opportunity. Whether or not it'd be a particularly large one, on the other hand...

[Lord Shonus]

Hard data is always hard to find, but I've yet to see any case where a lot of people stated an intention to do it before the election, claimed to have done it after the election, and had the polls be wrong outside of a normal error.

[hector13]

So, Wisconsin votes out Republican incumbents in the governor’s office and the AG, but Republicans retain control of the state senate and assembly, despite Democrats winning a majority of votes in the state (“representative” democracy: the representatives pass laws so they can win seats with less votes)

Republican-controlled state legislature proceeds to pass legislation looking at curtailing the powers of these state offices in an effort to “keep the balance of power”, though senate majority leader Scott Fitzgerald accidentally confirms it’s because governor elect Tony Evers is a (fucking!) liberal.

Tong Evers is looking at litigating the matter.

Link to the past faff.

Republicans be sore losers, y’all.

[sluissa]

Something along the same lines going on in Florida although on a slightly smaller scale.

Nicole Fried is the new Commissioner of Agriculture. She's also a democrat. Currently that's the office that deals with concealed carry weapon licenses. It was recently revealed that for 13 months they failed to run any of the background checks on new applicants. Ms. Fried wants to move the whole process over to the department of law enforcement, with the argument they have to run the background checks anyway. The NRA and a few Florida republicans are (or at least were, seems it might have gotten shut down) trying to slip the powers out from under her and into the hands of the Florida Chief Financial Officer, another republican held seat, before she took office in January.

They're doing anything they can to hold onto power at the state and local levels. They know that's where their power lies now.

[Reelya]

I wonder if the system should be, you vote for the person you don't want, and the lowest vote count wins.

No, that would be too easy to rig.

If you had extra Trump clones then the "don't want" votes would be split among them, meaning that each individual Trump would be more appealing, according to the rules.