Registering as a Repub/Democrat: Whassat?

Factual Questions
1

A question from a Canadian; what the heck does it mean to “Register as a Republican/Democrat?”

Is this the same as registering to vote? If so, why do you have to register as a supporter of one party? (And why would you WANT to do this? I don’t want the government associating me with a particular political party.) I would imagine a lot of people don’t vote a straight party line. Or does this enable you to nominate candidates? Can you register as a Communist or a Libertarian or a Rhino?

Or is this a fancy way of saying you’re just joining the party, paid your annual dues, and are now a card-carrying elephant/donkey?

2

I’m not American, so my knowledge about the somewhat strange way US politics are done is limited, but AFAIK registering with one party allows you to vote in the party’s caucuses, where the party candidates are nominated. It’s not related to the real elections.

3

In most places, registering as a particular party member allows you to choose the party candidates, whether through primary elections or caucuses. In some places, though, voters can vote in primaries regardless of how they are registered.

4

“What it means” varies from state to state. In Texas, during the primaries (when each party’s candidates for general election are selected via election), you take your voter registration card to either the Republican or Democrat polling place to vote and your card gets stamped with either an “R” or “D”, meaning you de facto registered with either party. Hence, when a petition is going around to put someone on the ballot for the general election (e.g., Ross Perot and the Reform Party), you cannot legitimately sign it if you voted in the primary election and “registered” with one of the major parties.

5

No state requires you to register as either a Republican or a Democrat. So if you do not want to be associated with any particular party, you don’t have to be.

Traditionally, in many states in order to vote in a party primary, you have to be officially registered as a member of that party, under the theory that if you aren’t willing to go as far as to put the name of the party next to your name, why should you be allowed to participate in choosing candidates to represent the party?

Being registered with a particular party merely means that when you register to vote, you mark your party preference on the form. No one’s going to hold you to this and no one’s going to prevent you from changing your mind.

However, in many states, you can walk up to the polling place and ask for either the Republican or Democratic ballot (but not both) no matter what is noted after your name. They mark it down and the next time they print out the rolls, it will note which primary you voted in last time, but it won’t stop you from switching to the other party for the next primary.

Recently, California instituted a non-partisan primary, which to me is non-sensical.

6

Party registration is optional and works slightly differently from state to state. In order to vote in “real” elections you must register, but party registration is only required to vote in primaries (which aren’t “real” elections, since they are just used for parties to choose their candidates.) Most states, (California being perverse, as usual) hold to the theory that you should only be allowed to vote in one party’s primary.

You can register as members of third parties (Libertarians, Communists, etc) in many states, depending on if that state recognizes it as a “major” party. Each state has different requirements for what constitutes a major party and what constitutes a small group of whackos. The Libertarians are still trying to get officially recognized in New York, for example.

7

At least in Colorado, you can register as independent. This means nothing for the general election, but in primaries, you cannot vote for either candidate. You can still vote on any issue on the ballot, of course.

Bob

8

Ohio was/is the same as Colorado. I registered as an Independent the first time, and voted in the main elections, but the primaries were off limits.

When I moved to NY, I registered as a Democrat, so I could vote in the democratic primaries. I just felt that the Democratic party’s stance was more similar to mine than the Republican stance. However, I side with the Republicans on certain issues. So…I don’t vote straight party line, and nothing holds you to that. You can be a Democrat and pull the lever for all Republicans if you want.

Jman

9

I’m still baffled as to how New York’s system works. In Pennsylvania, you register for a party–Republican, Democrat, Independent, Libertarian, whatever. In New York, IIRC, you can be registered “independent” but still aligned with a party.

10

Rickjay, you can register to be a member of the Canadian political parties too. I was frequently hit up by some friends of mine who wanted me to join the Liberal party so I could make sure their uncle Nick Discepola became a Liberal candidate.

Just ask mattmcl how it’s done, since he’s a bona fide losing politician.

11

If you’re talking about the blanket primary, they re-implemented the normal type of primary in 2002.

There’s actually a great deal of variability in states as to open, closed and blanket primaries. Here are what each means:
Open: There are two types of open primaries. One allows party members and independents to vote for primary candidates, the other allows people of all primaries to vote for primary candidates. If you recall the 2000 primaries, John McCain won Michigan partially on the strength of independents voting in the Republican primary.
Closed: Party members only vote in this type of primary. It’s what many, but by no means most, states have.
Blanket: California had this in 2000, and so did Washington. I’m not sure what’s going on now in Washington (I’m pretty sure it was declared unconstitutional and they can’t use it any more), but California did in fact have a non-blanket primary (I can’t recall which). In blanket primaries you can vote for any member of any party but the votes aren’t tabulated like:
Democrats:
Candidate A: 30,000 votes, 60%
Candidate B: 20,000 votes, 40%
Republicans:
Candidate C: 40,000 votes, 80%
Candidate D: 10,000 votes, 20%
It looks like
All candidates
Candidate C: 40,000 votes, 40%
Candidate A: 30,000 votes, 30%
Candidate B: 20,000 votes, 20%
Candidate D: 10,000 votes, 10%
It’s quite bizarre.

Then there’s Louisiana’s primary system. For federal elections (not state elections for some reason) all candidates run on the first Tuesday in November. Then, the two top placers face off in a December runoff unless someone gets more than 50 percent, in which case he or she is declared winner. Roll Call recently reported on the Republican strategy to defeat Sen. Mary Landrieu. They’re going to try to run as many candidates as possible in the November election in the hopes of forcing Landrieu into a runoff in which they can put all their resources.

Finally, Georgia also requires all its candidates to get at least 50%, so even though they have a typical primary system they have December runoffs too because of third parties (The LP is stronger in Georgia than most states, so often Republicans benefit from the runoff system there).

12

Barberian, yes, you are correct: a Canadian may become a member of a Canadian political party. But this is, to my knowledge anyway, not the same thing as registering as a Republican or a Democrat in the United States. In the US, you can register to support the Republicans or Democrats; but you are not necessarily joining the party. Which you would have to do in order to select candidates, as in the case of Uncle Nick.

This is what I understand to be the situation in the United States: you may vote for whomever you choose, but you are encouraged to register as a supporter (not necessarily a member, as you suggest, Barberian) of either the Republicans or Democrats. In Canada, we are not encouraged to do the same thing by Elections Canada (the body that oversees elections), although party membership in the party you choose is always an option that is open to you.

Just as an aside, if Elections Canada ever said to me that I had to join one of Liberal, Conservative, NDP, Marxist-Leninist, Communist, Libertarian, Rhino, or whoever else is running, parties, I’d tell them to take a hike. Ultimately, it’s my decision, and I don’t have to tell anybody what or who I support. Or even give any hints.

13

I believe the odd primary and runoff systems that still exist in southern states like Louisiana and Georgia are relics of two related political threads.

One is that as late as the 1980s, there was no real Republican party in most southern states. They were for the most part single-party states in practice (except in presidential elections) and thus the primary could turn out to be the real election.

The second has to do with the Landrieu strategy. In the 1960s, when the federal government started to make it difficult for southern states to continue to keep black candidates off the ballot and to continue to deny black individuals their voting rights, the runoff system helped white voters get a second shot at defeating an otherwise popular black candidate.

14

Well, I don’t think “encouraged” is the right word. You can register for a party or not. There was never any pressure on me to register for a particular party. The only reason you [i[have* to register is if you want to vote in that party’s primary, except if you’re in a weird state.

15

Last time I checked (which admittedly was a while ago) no one in Washington was entirely sure what was going to go on after the court ruling (this is the most recent article I could find on the current situation).
But it seems that, as of now, we don’t register by party

16

As observed, every state is different. I think there is (or used to be when I took poly sci) at least one state that handed you a primary ballot with all candidates on it and, for each office individually, you chose in which party primary you wished to vote and voted. Where I grew in Pennsylvania, they used the traditional eastern US system of requiring a primary voter to register with a party and then getting only that party’s ballot. You could refuse to declare a party, but then you could not vote in the primary election at all.

This is probably as good a place as any to explain what may be the most important difference between the US and Canadian system. In Canada you can indeed join a party and take part in the caucus that chooses a candidate. But the party leader can some in to any riding and simply remove the candidate and substitute his own. Why would s/he do that? Any of a number of reasons, but the most important is that the person failed to support the leader on a vote in parliament (or, in the provincial assembly, for a provincial leader). No mavericks allowed. Even absence without leave on a key vote can be grounds for expulsion from the party and bye-bye at the next election. Other reasons include that the leader may have someone he particularly wants in his cabinet and asks (or, rather tells) the chosen candidate to get lost. Usually, the displaced candidate gets something in return, a cushy job or maybe an ambassadorship (there now is something rotten in the state of Denmark and it is named Alfonso Galiano; but I digress). And if he should choose to run as an independent, not a prayer. There was one case I recall. He had won the previous election with something like 80% of the vote (talk about safe seats) and was asked to move over. He decided to run as an independent instead. Not only did he lose ignominiously, but he also didn’t get the cushy job. Anyway, the result is that the prime minister can get any bill through parliament he wants. He is an elected dictator for his four or five years. Occasionally some MP will fail to support him. This will usually be followed by an abject apology, which is generally accepted, so this weapon is rarely used. But it is there. Politicians have no independent power base.

In the US, by contrast, a politician’s primary job is to win the primary. For even if he loses the general election, there is still a lot of power that accrues to him because he controls his party in his district. And that is an enormous difference in the systems. As far as I know, this is pretty much standard in every parliamentary system. It is not clear why they even need MPs, except that they are the source of cabinet ministers. Otherwise wax dummies could do the job as well. Come to think of it, it is hard to tell if some of them aren’t wax dummies.

17

Checking in from North Carolina:

I’m registered as ‘unaffiliated,’ which is different from Independent. In fact, until I registered, I was unaware that ‘Independent’ actually constituted a party, as opposed to just being ‘unaffiliated’ with any party.

In NC, if you’re ‘unaffiliated,’ then you can vote in either the Democratic or Libertarian primaries. But you may not vote in the Republican primaries. Kinda crappy, I thought. Not that I’d be voting in the Republican primaries to begin with, but for those who are more minded towards that line of thinking and don’t wish to register as a certain party, it’s kind of a gip.

Lastly, just as a hoorah mention, the Green party finally got recognised in North Carolina last year. I was pleased. Although I’d never register as Green (or any party), they are the party I throw the most support behind.

18

The key difference between registration in the US and membership in a party in Canada, as I understand it, is that the American primaries are considered part of the electoral law and therefore registration is part of the electoral law.

In Canada, political parties are private associations, governed by their own constitutions and bylaws. Internal party elections, such as nominations for the local riding, are governed solely by the party’s own constitution, not by provincial or federal election law.

Which is better? Well, the American system provides greater transparency, at least in some states, but on the other hand the Canadian system keeps the government out of the political activities of the parties. Personally, I think that the Canadian system provides for greater flexibility in the party system - it’s a lot easier to start a new party if you don’t have a lot of hoops to jump through, like socialxray’s example of the Green Party “finally” getting registered. Why should that be a big deal?

Contrast the federal parties in the two countries: the US has had the same two parties pretty much since 1860 or thereabout. In Canada, of the five parties currently represented in the Commons, two date from the 19th century, one from the 60s, one from the 90s, and one from just two years ago - and that one, the Alliance, is now the Official Opposition (i.e. - second largest). I’m not saying that the differences in electoral laws between the two countries is the sole reason for the differences, but I do think it’s a major contributing factor.

In response to Hari Seldon’s point - in the Canadian system, the leader’s powers over the nomination of local candidates will depend on the party’s own constitution. It’s not possible to say that the same principles apply for each party.

For example, in the federal Liberal Party, the leader can directly nominate a certain number of candidates in each general election, overruling the local constituency association. However, the constitution of the Canadian Alliance does not give the leader that power. I’m not sure what the constitutions of the ohter three parties provide.

19

Wisconsin was the first state to have “open” primaries: You do not have to state any party preference when voting in the primary elections, and you can cross party lines as you wish, e.g., voting for a Democrat in one race, a Republican in another race, and an Independent in a third.

No state requires that you be a member of any political party to vote in the primaries or caucuses. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that such a requirement (the membership fee you would have to pay to join a political party) amounts to a poll tax, which the U.S. Constitution prohibits. So, in those states that do not have open primaries or caucuses, you are asked to state your political “preference”.

20

California’s primary system was altered again for the 2002 primary.

The primaries are open only to registered members of the party. However, if you are registered as “decline to state” (which is what you put down if you want to be an Independent), you can vote in some parties’ primaries provided that you stick with one party’s ballot.

That is if you are Independent you can be a Democrat or a Republican for a day (you can’t be Green), but you can’t switch back and forth between Republican and Democratic races.

There are exceptions for some minor offices.

It was an extraordinarily confusing election and it took forever to count the ballots out here last March.