I believe you have. You may need to formalize it at the next primary by asking for the correct ballot–Illinois, for instance, won’t let me pick and choose so my affiliation changes depending on who I don’t want to get what nomination (yes, I have officially been a Republican at times). And you may need to remind yourself which telemarketers and canvassers you don’t yell at anymore. But party affiliation isn’t REALLY until death you do part and saying you are a whatever makes you, for the time being, a whatever.
The hamsters apparently swallowed the OP, so my generic reply is:
you go to your local Board of Elections office (in New York state it’s a county office) and fill out a form.
In some states, “party affiliation” means nothing. Only in states with “closed” primaries does “party affiliation” mean anything.
Wow, that’s the first time that happened to me. Good thing I didn’t go for a cryptic title.
I did want to make a formal change mainly because NYS does have closed primaries. Thanks for the info, folks.
You may want to check out the website of the New York City Board of Elections. Under Voter Registration it provides:
[quote]
To Change Your Party Affiliation
You can change your party affiliation by obtaining a Voter Registration Form, indicating the change and sending it to the Board of Elections. We will process the information and send you a new voter card reflecting the change in party. You cannot CHANGE your enrollment and vote in the NEW PARTY of your choice in the same year. Please Note: a change of enrollment will go into affect one week following the General Election. The last day to change your enrollment is the same as the last day to register for the General Election (25 days prior to the date of the General Election).
In other words, if you change your party affiliation this year at least 25 days before the November election, you will be able to vote in your new party’s primaries held next year (i.e. if you want to vote in another party’s 2004 presidential primary, you had better change soon). I believe that this answer applies for all of New York State.
Thanks for the heads-up on the deadline, Billdo. I’ve downloaded the form and will mail it out pronto.
So what states have a closed primaries? The idea seems strange to me that I would have to register with the state telling them my political persuasion. I guess that would make rounding up and deporting unpopular parties easier, huh?
CurtC, in New York you aren’t required to register with a particular party to vote in the general election, only the primaries. So if you don’t want the government to know your preferences, you can keep that to yourself, but you give up the chance to vote for your party candidate of choice.
This site comments on open vs. closed primaries and says that many states have closed primaries, but doesn’t give a list. Some interesting questions and answers about primary elections are posted here.
I think the idea is as follows: The Primaries are such that they let a political party choose their candidate for the general election. If the primaries are closed and only Republicans can vote for Republican nominees and Democrats for Democrat nominees, it lessens the chance a bunch of Republicans are going try to vote in the Democratic primary to choose the worst/weakest Democratic candidate for the general election (or visa versa).
Living in a closed primary state I find the idea of open primaries to be astonishing.
Why in the world would I want to allow anyone who can walk into a voting booth help decide who the candidates of my party will be? Isn’t getting to pick your candidates the whole (or a major) point of belonging to rather than just voting for a party in the first place?