I don’t know all that much about primary elections, so I could be wrong in the basis for this question. Just a heads-up.
In a primary in the U.S., the members of that political party are able to vote for the candidate they want to assume a position from a selection of candidates.
Say i’m a Democrat. What’s to stop me renouncing my Democratic party membership, signing up with the Republicans, and voting for the *worst * candidate - the one i’m sure would be least likely to win against the Republican (or independent) candidates.
Nothing really. Some primary procedures prohibit people from switching very close to the primaries for this reason but if you really want to, you can do what you describe.
It’s not like there is a lengthy interview process followed by a lie detector test.
It varies from state to state. In some states you state a party affiliation when you register (e.g., which is why we know Bill O’Reilly is a Republican and not an independent). If you want to change affiliations, you have to go and change your voter information much like changing your address. Normally a certain amount of time is needed before the election for the processing.
In other states, it’s whatever you say you are when you walk into the polling place. Georgia is notorious for having crossover voting affecting the outcome of primaries. Most congressional districts are vitually 1 party so the “out” group votes for their favorite on the other slate. Not always the same as the worst, btw. If there is a runoff in a primary, you can only vote in the runoff if you voted in the primary for that party.
In Ohio, there would be nothing to prevent you from doing that. You may switch your party affiliation back and forth as often as you wish - every election, if that floats your boat. Here, too, we sometimes have crossover voters who want to monkeywrench the opposing party’s primary - I doubt it’s very many votes, though, compared to the party faithful.
One deterrent to this type of conduct arises from the multiplicity of offices at stake in a typical American election.
Your Democratic Senator may be running unopposed in the primary, giving you a clean shot at sandbagging the Republican nomination. But there might be contested Democratic races for governor, Representative, state Senator, state Representative, state Treasurer, county board–and you may not want to blow off all of those. But you have to take one party’s ballot or the other.
(To be sure, until recently there was a variation in some states called the “blanket primary” or “jungle primary” in which you could jog back and forth from D to R for different offices within the same primary. These have been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, partly because they invited the type of manipulation which you describe.)
Pennsylvania requires you to change your registration no sooner than 30 days before the election. Its not a huge burden but doesn’t allow the same opportunity to meddle in the other party’s primary as in other states.
But to answer your question nothing would stop you from doing just that. No one gives you a loyalty oath nor do you have to promise to support Republican candidates. An area with a heavy GOP tilt may have some Democrats registered as Republicans. Since the general would be so heavily tilted, the primary is effectively the only election that matters.
If you are registered independent or with a third party you are sitting the primaries out unless there is a state or local question on the primary ballot.
In Missouri, you don’t even have to register a preference. When you walk into the polling place on primary day, you just tell them which ballot you want.
However, as Freddy noted, it’s an all-or-nothing thing. I can’t pick and choose which race I want to cross party lines for.
This is a good time to expose the fact that the Republican and Democratic “Parties” actually have no members and are not really parties at all.
You don’t believe me? Ok, then, ask the people who say they are D’s or R’s to show you their party card. Ask them which local party branch they belong to, how much the dues are, and the procedure for electing delegates to the next higher party organization. They will not have *any * idea what you are talking about.
In other countries with real political parties, this is how politics works. The Tories and Labor parties in the UK are true political parties.
In California, there are some Democratic Party clubs, but they have not power to elect the state leadership of the party.
When People say they are Democrats or Republicans, it merely means that they identify with a certain program and vote a certain way.
Why is this important? Because there are no real avenues for people to be politically active. Voting in a primary is meaningless, because your politidally knowledgeable vote is swamped by the votes of know-nothings who vote the way they do because of what they “learn” from the 30 second ads candidates put on the TV.
And how do those candidates get on the ballot? Here’s a little secret: they get there because the parties put them there and then support them in the primary and in the election.
No, you don’t have party membership cards like other countries. But the U.S. isn’t any other country, so this is meaningless. In the reality of party politics in the U.S. the parties are real, have real members - the ones who are active - and have real power.
Both of which have seen their membership numbers go into free fall over the last twenty years. I don’t have the stats handy, but the Conservative, Labor and Lib Dems all have membership totals today that are around a quarter to a half of what they were in the early eighties, with numbers continuing to plummet.
I don’t know how other states work. In PA, committee members are elected by folks registered with the party. Each county has a few hundred. The state committees have a couple hundred. Those individuals vote to endorse candidates locally and (sometimes) at the statewide level. The municipal committee members also vote on the chairman of the county party. State committee members vote on the state chairman and on our members of the national party committees.
In my county, there are at least 75 municipal committee seats with no candidates, so any schmuck could have gone out and gotten 10 signatures on a petition, get on the ballot and run unopposed. Alternately, you could go out and ask people to write you in on election day for a vacant ward. As long as you get 10 votes, you win. So it isn’t that hard to get involved. The only cost is some time on a Saturday to get out and knock on some doors. Do that and you can have your own say at the party level. Otherwise, you can sit back to get your ‘sample ballot’ to tell you who the party wants you to vote for.
There are dues of $30 a year, or $50 for two years. (You can of course, also volunteer, but volunteers can not vote in the Committee, or be appointed by the Committee) The County Democratic Committees appoint some of their members to the Congressional District Committee, and those members, along with elected officials in the respective Districts make up the District Committee. The District Committees appoint members to the State Committee, which in turn picks the delegates to the national convention.
The Republican Party of Virginia sells memberships. The basic membership is $45, but you can donate more for more perks.
However, that membership doesn’t entitle you to vote on Republican party business or anything like that…it’s just a way to recognize donations. Actual voting membership takes place on the county level, and is organized similarly to the Democratic Committee, except the county parties seem to have annual conferences, rather than bimonthly meetings. The membership fee is $50. Here are the membership application and plan of organization, both in PDF: