Another way to 'cheat'
Community
That's a meaty one, Ill have to sit with it and really read it. That said, one thing caught my eye, a comment about voters being able to vote in primaries, by selecting an affiliation that day. I think I read that correctly.
That's been the case in MA for ever as far as I know. I just assumed it was everywhere. That said, I'm "Unenrolled", so perhaps it's only those of us flirting with the middle who can do that here...
Regardless though, I always thought that was a good thing. If I look at a race, and the person I believe would be the best leader is an R, and I'm not sure if they are going to win, I'd support them. For example, I chose the D ballot last Tuesday due to a few local races where I was interested in supporting one candidate, but had I felt the governor's race was going to be closer, I'd have chosen the R ballot because I wanted no part of the challenger.
In that sense, it's always felt like it made sense to me that "we" could do this given there are 2 parties with a chance to win something, but a lot of folks in the middle like me, that have to live with the two parties decisions.
Can Unenrolleds or D/R's do that in NH SpikeBull?
Repubs do it too..."Operation Chaos".
Arkansas has always allowed ballot choice in the primaries. This year was the first year I ever voted in the Republican primary. I only did that because I had a cousin running on the Repug ticket for a state house.
I am of neither party, can't stand to associate myself with them. Most of the time I vote in the Democrat primary. Except in the last presidential primary where I couldn't bring myself to vote for Bernie and no way in the everloving world would I have voted for Hillary.
Missouri allows ballot choice in the primaries. I actually prefer it that way. I don't want to have to declare ahead of time a party affiliation. I get enough fund raising mail the way it is. If it were possible I would do away with political parties completely. I think they end up putting the party ahead of country way too often the way it is...Particularly the democrats, but the republican do it to some extent too...
Illinois allows you to choose the day of the primary. I've actually taken a demoncratic primary ballot twice in my voting life. One I would do again to this day. The other....... I'd like to kick my own a**!!!
South Dakota does not allow cross-over voting in the primaries, since the primaries are supposedly for each political party to select who they want on the ballot from their party. There has been a concerted effort the last few years to make it an open primary, and I'll give you one guess as to which party is pushing for that. There have also been registered Independents who complain that they have no choice in who the candidates for the two parties are for the primaries, and while I can see their point, they chose to not affiliate with a group so they should put forth their own candidate.
Illinois is an open state when it comes to primary voting, and I personally like it that way. Hell, I wish I could vote for both of the parties in the primary. That way I'd at least get a chance to vote for the person representing the other side that lined up with my beliefs the most. In Illinois, you generally know you're going to be stuck with a Dem, so I might as well get a choice in that too, while at the same time voting for the other side in the general election.
And in Illinois you also have the "post mortem" option to vote, which is used quite frequently.....especially in Crook County. That option is apparently only viable if you're voting Democrat though.
