My history teacher was grumbling that to become a Democrat or Republican or Green, all you had to do was go to their local headquarters, and for about $5 they would give you a membership card, and of course a registration blank to turn in, but even that is optional.
(I think his main complaint was that in this state people can cross-register in primaries just to screw up the other party. But that’s not part of this poll.)
Anyhoo, did you get the card?
And do you actually carry it in your purse or wallet?
I belong to a political party, but it’s not a US political party. (It’s one in Australia, where political parties are real membership organisations – you pay an annual fee to belong, that gives you rights to participate, and you can get thrown out of the party for breaking its rules – and several of my friends, including 3 former members of parliament, recently did get thrown out of the party for breaking its rules).
Identifying with a political affiliation in the U.S. isn’t like belonging to a club, where you get a “card.” Instead, it just means you identified a particular party when you registered to vote. That record it used for primary elections (in most states), and for campaigning, fund-raising and aggregate statistical surveys. You can check off “Republican party” when you register, and then volunteer for Green party campaigns and no one will know the difference, except yourself, when the Republican party calls you up to ask for a contribution, and when you get a Republican ballot at the primary. If the party gives you a “card,” it’s probably just to placate you. It’s not like it gets you anything to have one; it serves no other purpose. Even the ACLU will send you a “card” unsolicited, but it’s just a way to encourage you to contribute. It doesn’t serve any other purpose either.
Some people do “cross-register,” I guess, but if they do, they can’t vote in the primary of their preferred party, unless they double register, which is illegal.
Well, I would hope I’m a card-carrying New Democrat, considering I’m on their federal council.
Party membership works somewhat differently in Canada than in the United States. Getting a membership is a matter of signing up with the party of your choice (and sending them a nominal contribution, which for us is $10) – there’s no such thing as being a publicly “registered” New Democrat or whatever as in the U.S., since parties govern their own membership and administer their own internal democracy.
Candidates are nominated by the party members in an electoral district, and the party leader is chosen by various means set by the party (in ours it’s a 75% weighted vote of all the members, plus a 25% weighted vote for our affiliated unions; in other parties they use a delegate system).
For decades I have carried my voter registration card in my purse. I’m still registered as a Democrat (the political affiliation of my youth). I still have my original Social Security card in my wallet, too.
The basic role for a political party is to try to get some of its members into government, by supporting them in elections. So, while the ACLU may be a political organisation, it’s not a political party.
I know, that’s why I said that many people accept it as functionally the same: while the ACLU is officially entirely non-partisan and non-political, there are some factions of society that nonetheless consider the ACLU’s actions to be extremely politically biased.
I donated $20 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and they sent me a “membership card” this year. And rewarded me with 10,000 phone calls. Oh, the phone calls…
The card doesn’t say I’m a Democrat so much as it says that I’m a member of the DCCC. Plus it’s made out of real cheap paperboard. It’s not even business card quality.
Last I knew, Illinois doesn’t have party registration. During the primary election, you walk in and specify which party’s ballot you want. (This is monitored by officials from the political parties, and very closely as my husband and I discovered when we got postcards asking why we hadn’t voted on the Republican ticket after a primary; we live in an overwhelmingly Republican suburb and I guess it was just assumed we’d follow the herd.) In general elections, you can vote cross-party as you wish.
I do not, as I am not a citizen and therefore not allowed to vote. My husband is a registered member of a political party, but only because Maryland has closed primaries.
