For real, especially in States with closed primaries. In my state you can only vote in a party primary if you’re registered to vote as a member of that party. If I could participate in Democratic primaries without being a Democrat I’d still be unaffiliated.
But wouldn’t it be better to go vote in the Republican primaries? Then you can help influence whether they put in the merely horrible person instead of the actively evil one.
In fact this seems such an obvious loophole that I’m not sure why this isn’t done already? Especially since primaries have such low turnout that it would be much easier to influence.
It depends on where you are. Like where I am Republicans don’t win statewide. It might be somewhat effective if you’re organized with others in a closer state? But as an individual, no you’re going to get more mileage out of voting in the primaries of the party closer to you in political views.
Like if I’m closer to Bernie, then what good does it do for me to sabotage the Republican primary if me not voting in the Democratic primary leads to Hillary beating Bernie in the Democratic primary and now it’s a Republican I didn’t want vs a Democrat I didn’t want?
No, a lot of information about elections is actually public. Who you vote for is very secret, but your name, address, and the fact that you did or did not vote is often either public or available on request. This is important because if it was just a totally secret thing, there’s not much stopping a corrupt election official from dumping as many fake ballots into the total as they like or filling out ballots for people that didn’t show up.
In my country, the election officials are thoroughly watched and from various parties to ensure they keep each other in check. It would be near impossible to sneak in extra ballots (at least, a significant amount of ballots that would actually make a difference). There is a voter register but everyone is on that list, you don’t need to register to vote.
Wtf? Why is this stuff even collected? Aren’t elections supposed to be anonymous?
Most countries have some form of electoral roll to prevent fraud. The ‘party affiliation’ section is a US disease though.
For real, especially in States with closed primaries. In my state you can only vote in a party primary if you’re registered to vote as a member of that party. If I could participate in Democratic primaries without being a Democrat I’d still be unaffiliated.
But wouldn’t it be better to go vote in the Republican primaries? Then you can help influence whether they put in the merely horrible person instead of the actively evil one.
In fact this seems such an obvious loophole that I’m not sure why this isn’t done already? Especially since primaries have such low turnout that it would be much easier to influence.
It depends on where you are. Like where I am Republicans don’t win statewide. It might be somewhat effective if you’re organized with others in a closer state? But as an individual, no you’re going to get more mileage out of voting in the primaries of the party closer to you in political views.
Like if I’m closer to Bernie, then what good does it do for me to sabotage the Republican primary if me not voting in the Democratic primary leads to Hillary beating Bernie in the Democratic primary and now it’s a Republican I didn’t want vs a Democrat I didn’t want?
No, a lot of information about elections is actually public. Who you vote for is very secret, but your name, address, and the fact that you did or did not vote is often either public or available on request. This is important because if it was just a totally secret thing, there’s not much stopping a corrupt election official from dumping as many fake ballots into the total as they like or filling out ballots for people that didn’t show up.
In my country, the election officials are thoroughly watched and from various parties to ensure they keep each other in check. It would be near impossible to sneak in extra ballots (at least, a significant amount of ballots that would actually make a difference). There is a voter register but everyone is on that list, you don’t need to register to vote.