So I’m 20-sumthing and never voted because ever since I’ve been old enough to vote, I’ve neglected to (once I lost the absentee ballot, once I was mislead about my circumstance and the ballot didn’t get in on time…)…believe me, I feel like trash about it. This year, I’m determined to do it. I’m going to vote in the August 10 primary runoff.
Question: It seems I have to get an absentee ballot because I’m voting from outside my home state (GA). The absentee ballot request form says if I’m voting in a primary, I have to specify if I’m voting Democrat or Republican. But this is a runoff and I think I read somewhere if I didn’t vote in the General Primary, I can vote in both Democrat and Republican races. So should I check the box indicating what party primary I’m voting in (Republican, in my district your vote doesn’t count much otherwise)?
The law varies from state to state. In some states people can vote in whatever primary they want to. In others, they can only vote in a primary of the party they registered in.
In Georgia, voter registration is handled by the Elections Division of the Secretary of State’s office. Their website is here or you can call them at 404-656-2871.
In Georgia, you can vote in any party’s primary, no party affiliation is kept track of in the long term. But if you vote in one party’s primary, you cannot switch and vote in the other party’s primary runoff. Oddly enough, if you didn’t vote in the primary, you can choose either party’s ballot in the runoff (assuming you there’s a runoff in contests involving both parties). From the SoS’s website:
“If voters do not vote at all in today’s General Primary, but choose to participate in the Primary Runoff three weeks from today, they are not restricted in the ballot they select at that time.”