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Registering as an "Independent" party member doesn't mean you have no party affiliation; most states have an Independent party who has a platform that you may or may not agree with!

It’s a common misconception, but if you registered “Independent Party” you aren’t “independent” you are a member of your state’s Independent party, who has a platform and agenda you may or may not agree with. What you actually want is called an “unaffiliated” voter status. The good news is, all you have to do is…nothing!

LA Times had a good summary a few years back: latimes.com/…/la-pol-ca-american-independent-part…

You don’t need to register with any party to show you don’t like R or D, do nothing or choose "unaffiliated if you want to be “little i independent”.

Examples:

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Donebrach ,
@Donebrach@lemmy.world avatar

Pro tip: you can vote for whoever you want to in US elections, regardless of party registration—registering as a member of a political party in the US means literally nothing—save for getting sales calls, being combined with a meaningless cohort for reports on “polls” and being given the option to vote in some primaries.

So long as you are eligible to, and registered to vote in your municipality, you can exercise your civic duty to vote. Don’t let weird psy-op posts like this one imply you’re unable to make your voice heard.

Kolanaki ,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

registering as a member of a political party in the US means literally nothing

Not exactly… While it doesn’t stop you from voting for whoever you want in normal elections, you do have to be registered to a party to vote in their primaries. You also can use an absentee ballot to just automatically vote for your registered party. Or at least, you can do that in California.

Donebrach ,
@Donebrach@lemmy.world avatar

I literally said it allows you to vote in some state primaries.

ZombiFrancis ,

The American Independent Party is identified as the ‘American Independent Party’ or ‘AIP’ anywhere I have seen it. That’d be a pretty conscious mistake to make as far as I can tell.

Cryophilia ,

The name of the party is literally designed to con voters.

Cuberoot ,

Party affiliation as listed on voter registration isn’t a loyalty oath either. It’s just a way of asking which primaries you want to vote in. You might as well pick a party with relevant primaries in your area whether you agree with their platform or not.

(Voter registration is public information and may affect which candidates and PACs send you mail.)

Takumidesh ,

Voter registration may also affect relationships (professional or otherwise)

Cybermonk_Taiji ,

Well, this is total bullshit, at least in my State. I’m not checking others but it’s so very wrong as to seem like some kind of moron troll shit.

Or is it ‘to be rather than to seem’?

Hmm.

North Carolina recognizes five political parties: The Democratic Party, the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, the No Labels Party, and the Republican Party. A voter may choose one political party or can decide not to register with a political party. If a voter does not register with a political party, the voter will be registered as unaffiliated.

Fuck entirely off with your election year lies.

pdxfed OP ,

Political parties vary by state, and registration processes do also as noted elsewhere in the thread. There may not be an Independent party in your state, but there are in others and it causes confusion.

The point of the post is to share the point of confusion so people can read up on their registration or state party platforms. If you’re not going to bother to learn about the differences that do exist, but still want to broadly claim “election year bullshit”, maybe you’re part of the problem you’re raging about.

Cryophilia ,

That’s one state out of fifty, dumbass

Cybermonk_Taiji ,

Get fucked asshole

Cryophilia ,

Don’t worry, your mum comes over all the time

DrZoidbergYes ,

I’m not American. Can someone explain this to me? Why would you register a party you are aligned with? I’m Ireland we use proportional representation so most people will be voting for multiple parties in order of how closely they align with your views.

lengau ,

Because they’re doing it by mistake. They’re intending to register to vote as independent (no party aligned) voters, seeing “Independent” under party, and choosing that.

evasive_chimpanzee ,

In America, the government doesn’t technically have the right to know where you live. You don’t automatically get to vote without registering because the government doesn’t necessarily know where you live. You have to give your address to get a driver’s license, so often that government office also does voter registration.

Before our elections, we have primaries. That’s where each party picks who the candidates are from that party, but they are a state-run event. Technically a party doesn’t need to do this, they could just submit their candidate to the final election. Every state does it a little differently, but in many states, you need to declare which party you are a part of in order to take part in the decision for who that party is sending to the election. In some states, it’s optional, and when you go to vote in a primary, you tell them which party you want to select the candidate for, and they give you that ballot. Other states are weird and do what’s called “caucusing”, where everyone from a particular party within that voting district meets up, and they try to come to a decision on which candidate to send forward. In those states, it’s not a blind vote, but you essentially get a sort of instant runoff, at least in my understanding.

It looks like in Ireland, since you have multiple parties, you have more options at your elections, so you don’t have to help the parties pick their candidates?

Maggoty ,

To participate in the party’s election of a candidate. So you select a candidate within the party and then select the winner from the candidates each party selected.

Technically you don’t have to be affiliated to run for office. But once you’re talking about federal offices that route is functionally restricted to billionaires. And voters who are unaffiliated just don’t get the first round of voting. So it’s highly incentivized to affiliate.

MutilationWave ,

This is not always true. Here in West Virginia unaffiliated voters like me used to be able to vote in either primary. Then the Republicans canned that option. So now when I vote in a primary I am asked if I would like the Democrat or unaffiliated ballot. All the choices from the unaffiliated ballot are on the Democrat ballot.

Maggoty ,

I was just giving a general run down. I could start in on jungle primaries and caucuses too

Cryophilia ,

I’m Ireland we use proportional representation

America does not do that.

Drivebyhaiku ,

Canadian here, we don’t do that either. Primaries is one of the many additional structural barriers to representive voting being adopted in the US and a step away from having more than two parties in their system. It also increases the campaign costs for candidates and exacerbates the issues with first past the post voting meaning running people becomes an exclusive exercise for the wealthy or people with wealthy patrons who make handshake agreements.

As I understand it, Instead of having parties internally figure out who they are running on the docket as party head like sane people they open it up to basically a second first past the post election of internal candidates. You register as a member of those parties when you register to vote to participate (or not) in the election before the actual election. Personally to one outside that system that just seems like an additional bundle of problems to deal with by doubling down an already outdated voting system that creates further issues of populism but some Americans are very fond of archaic systems. You know something something founders of our nation blah blah can’t change anything our fathers who art in 6ft of dirt didn’t personally come up with blah.

Forgive my glibness. Being a neighbour is hard sometimes.

capt_wolf ,
@capt_wolf@lemmy.world avatar

It’s also important to check your registration now and then too. When my wife and I got married and moved, I went to vote in my new district and found that someone had illegally changed my party affiliation to Democrat.

Details for checking and changing your registration can be found here and here.

Nemo ,

Odd that you highlight Illinois when Illinois does not record party affiliation when registering to vote.

pdxfed OP ,

Picked some random states, they’re all different which is also part of the confusion when citizens move. They may not record it for the state but can those in the state still register or join a party on their own? Issue would still exist if so.

Nemo ,

Issue would not exist if so. Non-affiliated voters who aren’t tricked into it aren’t seeking out party registration.

pdxfed OP ,

People also just get confused by terminology and the mechanics and do it on accident, though much less common if state isn’t including it on voter reg for sure.

The genesis of this post was a family member in a very blue state, who went to an ivy league school and is extremely progressive and was sick of blue/red and googled “independent party” in her state and when I sent her the party platform she was registered for she lost her mind.

snooggums ,
@snooggums@midwest.social avatar

I did this accidentally when first voting, found out after a few years and had the hardest time convincing the person at the DMV when updating my license when moving that I was not a member of any party. It is like trying to answer ‘none’ when someone asks for my favorite team/drink/food/music/whatever.

Lojcs ,

What does the dmv guy care about your affiliation

dingdongmetacarples ,

I’m some states you can register to vote at the DMV when doing some other DMV things. Not sure why they’d give this person a hard time though.

snooggums ,
@snooggums@midwest.social avatar

In my state you can renew your voter registration at the DMV in renewing or updating your license when your address changes.

Serinus ,

But also you should generally just pick a primary to vote in. You are voting in primaries, right?

Ranvier ,

Some states have open primaries, you just vote in whatever one you want. Not every state requires registering with a party to vote in the primary.

snooggums ,
@snooggums@midwest.social avatar

Nope. I really dislike both parties that are going to win. It doesn’t matter who is the candidate for either party because at the national level my district will always go Republican anyway for representative, senators, and president.

I only vote to vote against Republicans and tell myself that maybe my vote mattered for some random local position. No interest in actually keeping up with the mediocre Democratic candidates, and trying to influence the Republican party is useless because my fellow idiots still keep absolutely obvious villains like Kobach back in power. Not worth getting harassed by fundraisers.

Serinus ,

I don’t like Republicans either, but I still vote in the Republican primary. You have a duty to yourself and your country to vote.

If you don’t vote, you’re just allowing others to choose for you. How do you think that’s gonna go?

snooggums ,
@snooggums@midwest.social avatar

I do vote, just not in the primaries. My stste requires me to be a member of a party to vote in their primary.

There is no chance in hell that I will be a registered Republican to vote in their primary, and the Dems aren’t worth the effort here.

over_clox ,

You mean people have to register under a particular political party? I’m a registered voter, and there’s no field for which party I’d be in support of.

I just looked at my registration card, sounds like a load of horse shit to me.

wjrii ,

It depends on the state. When I lived in Florida, there was a party on my id card. In Texas, there isn’t, though you can only vote in one party’s primary (including any runoffs) per election.

Today ,

Texas, no party listed, the last couple of cycles I’ve voted in the Republican primary to try to help a least worst candidate.

bitchkat ,

What ID card are you talking about?

wjrii ,

The voter registration card. Here’s a sample from a few years ago in a different county, but the one I had twenty years ago was similar.

bitchkat ,

Interesting we have no such thing in MN. When you do a change of address at the post office, you can opt to have them register you to vote at your new address. I don’t even recall if I had to show ID when I voted the first time at my new precinct.

wjrii ,

I don’t think I’ve ever had to show my registration card, but both states send them out. Since Voter ID passed in Texas, though, I have had to bring my Drivers License, which given the shitty way the state runs the DL offices is another bullshit voter suppression tactic.

Veraxus ,

I’m in California and I’ve been NPA (No Party Affiliation) for almost my entire voting-age life. So NPA is an option… at least in some states.

mibo80 ,

Exactly the same for me. Never saw any particular party as one worth affiliation with my voting choices though I do end up voting for Democrat backed choices most often.

over_clox ,

I guess you missed my point as well.

My question was which states even ask political association in the first place?

Veraxus ,

Red ones.

pdxfed OP ,

I’m in Oregon and it’s on the voter registration form, not required, but a big drop down with party name and no other info. Oregon is hardly red.

over_clox ,

I’m in a ‘red’ state. Wanna try again?

Cryophilia ,

In many states, in order to vote in the primary elections of a party you have to be registered to that party.

ramble81 ,

In Texas you must register with a party to vote in their primary. Now that doesn’t mean you have to vote for them in the general election. Quite often I’ve registered Republican to try and influence the primary since I’ll vote for whichever Democrat makes it past the primary.

Peppycito ,

In Canada you have to buy a membership to the party. That let’s you vote in the leadership elections. Mosty it means you and your next 7 generations get spam soliciting donations.

jeffw ,

That’s called a closed primary. Many states have open primaries but many are still closed

rjthyen ,

I’ve been considering changing my registration to Republican specifically for primaries. I’m in SD, and the Republican almost always wins so I feel I’d have more impact trying to push the right left and can still vote however I want in the general.

PeggyLouBaldwin ,

but what happens if you vote for someone and they end up winning?

rjthyen ,

I would be voting for the better GOP candidate in the primary hoping they win, and likely the Dem come general election, but since I’m in a red area I’d expect the Dem to lose but maybe help pick the lesser of two evils for the GOP?

PeggyLouBaldwin ,

i couldn’t do that.

rjthyen ,

If you lived somewhere where the GOP candidate is going to get 65 percent of the vote basically no matter what, and in the GOP primary you had an incumbent, somewhat average, right wing conservative that you’ve seen work across the aisle in the state legislator ruining against a hard core maga nut job, anti vaccine, anti public schools, openly racist etc. Do you think registering as a Republican to vote for the incumbent in that primary sounds like an okay idea? You can still vote for the Democrat and make your voice heard there at the general election even though it’s essentially guaranteed he loses.

Or is the argument against this that if the crazy maga guy wins the primary there’s a slightly better chance the Democrat can win? I’d call it unlikely where I’m at, but could see tighter districts working that way.

PeggyLouBaldwin ,

if i elect an average right wing conservative (which is redundant) and they go on to do bad things, which is practically guaranteed, I would not feel better.

baronvonj ,
@baronvonj@lemmy.world avatar

Texas doesn’t have party affiliation on your voter registration and we have open primaries.

www.sos.state.tx.us/…/advisory2020-05.shtml

ramble81 ,

Don’t suppose you read your own link….

  1. (§162.010). A voter who has affiliated themselves with a party is ineligible to participate in the party affairs of another party during the same calendar year. (§§162.012, 162.013)

Yes you can flip every year but you have to chose a party to vote in their primary. That’s what I said.

fadedmaster ,
@fadedmaster@sh.itjust.works avatar

Right after the section you quoted: "If a voter has not yet affiliated with a party, they are able to vote in either party’s primary election. "

So to your original point. You do not need to be affiliated to vote in the primary, but if you are affiliated you must vote in your affiliated party’s primary.

ramble81 ,

And the only way you can vote in a primary is to register with them you can do it on the spot if you want, but once you do it, that’s it. You can’t immediately turn around and go vote in another primary. For that year you’re noted as being with that party (I’ve gotten more than enough magat spam to prove that). You realize everything you’ve posted and said supports what I’m saying.

fadedmaster ,
@fadedmaster@sh.itjust.works avatar

Do I have to register or affiliate with a party before I vote in the primary?

No. A registered voter is not required to pre-register or take any steps towards affiliating themselves with a party before voting in a party’s primary election. (§162.003) Additionally, when a person registers to vote in Texas, they do not register with any kind of party affiliation.

This is all on that same source that you accused the other user of not reading…

baronvonj , (edited )
@baronvonj@lemmy.world avatar

Here’s the whole section you’re selectively quoting

How does party affiliation work in Texas? In Texas, there are several main ways for a voter to affiliate with a party: by being accepted to vote in a party’s primary election, by taking the required oath at a party precinct convention, or by taking a party oath of affiliation generally (§§162.003, 162.006, 162.007). A voter’s affiliation with a party automatically expires at the end of each calendar year, which is December 31. (§162.010). A voter who has affiliated themselves with a party is ineligible to participate in the party affairs of another party during the same calendar year. (§§162.012, 162.013)

Emphasis added to show that there is no persistent, year-over-year affiliation (I emphasize this word because there is no party registration in Texas)

And the only way you can vote in a primary is to register with them

I have never registered with a party. There is no field for party affiliation in the online voter registration form

vrapp.sos.state.tx.us/index.asp

And the registration certificate doesn’t include a party affiliation

votetexas.gov/…/voter-registration-certificate.ht…

And a Non-potato quality picture

disabilityrightstx.org/…/understanding-your-texas…

you can do it on the spot if you want, but once you do it, that’s it

Every primary election I’ve participated in the official who checks you in just asked which primary you want to vote in. And since voter registration in Texas does not track party affiliation you’re going to have a rough time convincing me this counts as registering with the party.

The spam you’re getting is simply because it’s public record whether you voted in any election, including which primary you voted in. But it’s not the same as other states recording your party affiliation as part of your voter registration, which Texas flat out does not do.

Reyali ,

Similarly, North Carolina allows unaffiliated to choose their primary, but R and D must vote in their registered primaries. Definitely good to know your state’s laws before taking OP at face value!

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