[Peace-discuss] Quit the Party

[Robert Naiman]

Yes, John, to answer your question about primaries - this varies by
state. There's really no such thing as a "registered Democrat" in
Illinois, where we have open primaries, in the sense that there is,
say, in the District of Columbia, where they have party registration.

When you register to vote in the District of Columbia, you choose a
party (I was registered with the DC Statehood/Greens - the District
was 80% Democratic, the Republican party barely exists, the
Statehood/Greens were almost the second party.) You cannot vote in any
primary for a party that you are not registered in, and if you want to
switch, you have to register with that party X many days before the
election (something like 30), just as you have to register X days
before a general election in order to vote.

In Illinois, virtually any voter can choose any primary ballot on
election day. The only exception to this is that you are not supposed
to switch in the same primary election cycle. This can really only
come into play, as far as I know, if you sign nominating petitions.
When you sign a nominating petition to get someone on the primary
ballot (such as are circulating now) you're affirming that you're a
valid primary elector, which means that you should vote in that
primary and not sign any petitions for any other primary.

But that's the only restriction that I'm aware of. Other than that,
political monogamy is not enforced in Illinois.

The fact that there is no such thing as a Republican or a Democrat in
Illinois in a technical sense sometimes shows itself when appointments
are made to local government bodies that are supposed to have a
certain partisan balance. When a slot is open that is supposed to be
"Democratic," discussion may ensue about whether candidate X "is
really a Democrat." A key point of evidence is their voting history,
which is a matter of public record - not which candidates they voted
for, but if they voted in a primary, and if so, if they took a
Democratic or Republican ballot. Of course, even "Democrats" sometimes
take Republican ballots...often it concerns a particularly brutal
judge...

On 9/28/07, John W. <jbw292002 at gmail.com> wrote:
> At 02:33 PM 9/28/2007, Matt Reichel wrote:
>
> >http://counterpunch.org/lindorff09272007.html
> >
> >Dave Lindorff suggests a mass escape from the Democratic party as an
> >organizing tactic between now and the 2008 election. I couldn't agree
> >more: never has it been as pressing for people to quit the Other Party of
> >neo-liberalism and American imperialism in favor of a new third party
> >movement which espouses the needs of workers, students, academics and
> >social movement activists.
> >
> >Note: Illinois has OPEN Primaries!! Many of you are probably registered as
> >Democrats for one reason or another, and you would lose NOTHING by
> >canceling your registration as a Democrat and re-registering as an
> >independent. You could still vote for Kucinich or Gravel in the primaries!
> >You could even get a Republican ballot and vote for Ron Paul if you so please!
> >
> >-
> >mer
>
>
> I didn't know you had to REGISTER as anything.  I thought you just went
> into the primary and requested a ballot of your choice....which can now
> include a Green Party ballot.
>
> John Wason
>
>
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-- 
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org

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