In Texas you must register with a party to vote in their primary. Now that doesn’t mean you have to vote for them in the general election. Quite often I’ve registered Republican to try and influence the primary since I’ll vote for whichever Democrat makes it past the primary.
this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2024
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Texas doesn't have party affiliation on your voter registration and we have open primaries.
https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/laws/advisory2020-05.shtml
Don’t suppose you read your own link….
31. (§162.010). A voter who has affiliated themselves with a party is ineligible to participate in the party affairs of another party during the same calendar year. (§§162.012, 162.013)
Yes you can flip every year but you have to chose a party to vote in their primary. That’s what I said.
Right after the section you quoted: "If a voter has not yet affiliated with a party, they are able to vote in either party’s primary election. "
So to your original point. You do not need to be affiliated to vote in the primary, but if you are affiliated you must vote in your affiliated party's primary.
And the only way you can vote in a primary is to register with them you can do it on the spot if you want, but once you do it, that’s it. You can’t immediately turn around and go vote in another primary. For that year you’re noted as being with that party (I’ve gotten more than enough magat spam to prove that). You realize everything you’ve posted and said supports what I’m saying.
Do I have to register or affiliate with a party before I vote in the primary?
No. A registered voter is not required to pre-register or take any steps towards affiliating themselves with a party before voting in a party’s primary election. (§162.003) Additionally, when a person registers to vote in Texas, they do not register with any kind of party affiliation.
This is all on that same source that you accused the other user of not reading...
Here's the whole section you're selectively quoting
How does party affiliation work in Texas? In Texas, there are several main ways for a voter to affiliate with a party: by being accepted to vote in a party’s primary election, by taking the required oath at a party precinct convention, or by taking a party oath of affiliation generally (§§162.003, 162.006, 162.007). A voter’s affiliation with a party automatically expires at the end of each calendar year, which is December 31. (§162.010). A voter who has affiliated themselves with a party is ineligible to participate in the party affairs of another party during the same calendar year. (§§162.012, 162.013)
Emphasis added to show that there is no persistent, year-over-year affiliation (I emphasize this word because there is no party registration in Texas)
And the only way you can vote in a primary is to register with them
I have never registered with a party. There is no field for party affiliation in the online voter registration form
https://vrapp.sos.state.tx.us/index.asp
And the registration certificate doesn't include a party affiliation
https://www.votetexas.gov/register-to-vote/voter-registration-certificate.html
And a Non-potato quality picture
https://disabilityrightstx.org/en/handout/understanding-your-texas-voter-registration-certificate/
you can do it on the spot if you want, but once you do it, that’s it
Every primary election I've participated in the official who checks you in just asked which primary you want to vote in. And since voter registration in Texas does not track party affiliation you're going to have a rough time convincing me this counts as registering with the party.
The spam you're getting is simply because it's public record whether you voted in any election, including which primary you voted in. But it's not the same as other states recording your party affiliation as part of your voter registration, which Texas flat out does not do.
I've been considering changing my registration to Republican specifically for primaries. I'm in SD, and the Republican almost always wins so I feel I'd have more impact trying to push the right left and can still vote however I want in the general.
That’s called a closed primary. Many states have open primaries but many are still closed
In Canada you have to buy a membership to the party. That let's you vote in the leadership elections. Mosty it means you and your next 7 generations get spam soliciting donations.
Similarly, North Carolina allows unaffiliated to choose their primary, but R and D must vote in their registered primaries. Definitely good to know your state’s laws before taking OP at face value!
I did this accidentally when first voting, found out after a few years and had the hardest time convincing the person at the DMV when updating my license when moving that I was not a member of any party. It is like trying to answer 'none' when someone asks for my favorite team/drink/food/music/whatever.
What does the dmv guy care about your affiliation
In my state you can renew your voter registration at the DMV in renewing or updating your license when your address changes.
I'm some states you can register to vote at the DMV when doing some other DMV things. Not sure why they'd give this person a hard time though.
But also you should generally just pick a primary to vote in. You are voting in primaries, right?
Some states have open primaries, you just vote in whatever one you want. Not every state requires registering with a party to vote in the primary.
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Odd that you highlight Illinois when Illinois does not record party affiliation when registering to vote.
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The American Independent Party is identified as the 'American Independent Party' or 'AIP' anywhere I have seen it. That'd be a pretty conscious mistake to make as far as I can tell.
The name of the party is literally designed to con voters.
You mean people have to register under a particular political party? I'm a registered voter, and there's no field for which party I'd be in support of.
I just looked at my registration card, sounds like a load of horse shit to me.
I’m in California and I’ve been NPA (No Party Affiliation) for almost my entire voting-age life. So NPA is an option… at least in some states.
I guess you missed my point as well.
My question was which states even ask political association in the first place?
Exactly the same for me. Never saw any particular party as one worth affiliation with my voting choices though I do end up voting for Democrat backed choices most often.
It depends on the state. When I lived in Florida, there was a party on my id card. In Texas, there isn’t, though you can only vote in one party’s primary (including any runoffs) per election.
Texas, no party listed, the last couple of cycles I've voted in the Republican primary to try to help a least worst candidate.
What ID card are you talking about?
The voter registration card. Here’s a sample from a few years ago in a different county, but the one I had twenty years ago was similar.
Interesting we have no such thing in MN. When you do a change of address at the post office, you can opt to have them register you to vote at your new address. I don't even recall if I had to show ID when I voted the first time at my new precinct.
I don’t think I’ve ever had to show my registration card, but both states send them out. Since Voter ID passed in Texas, though, I have had to bring my Drivers License, which given the shitty way the state runs the DL offices is another bullshit voter suppression tactic.
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Party affiliation as listed on voter registration isn't a loyalty oath either. It's just a way of asking which primaries you want to vote in. You might as well pick a party with relevant primaries in your area whether you agree with their platform or not.
(Voter registration is public information and may affect which candidates and PACs send you mail.)
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I'm not American. Can someone explain this to me? Why would you register a party you are aligned with? I'm Ireland we use proportional representation so most people will be voting for multiple parties in order of how closely they align with your views.
Because they're doing it by mistake. They're intending to register to vote as independent (no party aligned) voters, seeing "Independent" under party, and choosing that.
To participate in the party's election of a candidate. So you select a candidate within the party and then select the winner from the candidates each party selected.
Technically you don't have to be affiliated to run for office. But once you're talking about federal offices that route is functionally restricted to billionaires. And voters who are unaffiliated just don't get the first round of voting. So it's highly incentivized to affiliate.
This is not always true. Here in West Virginia unaffiliated voters like me used to be able to vote in either primary. Then the Republicans canned that option. So now when I vote in a primary I am asked if I would like the Democrat or unaffiliated ballot. All the choices from the unaffiliated ballot are on the Democrat ballot.
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Canadian here, we don't do that either. Primaries is one of the many additional structural barriers to representive voting being adopted in the US and a step away from having more than two parties in their system. It also increases the campaign costs for candidates and exacerbates the issues with first past the post voting meaning running people becomes an exclusive exercise for the wealthy or people with wealthy patrons who make handshake agreements.
As I understand it, Instead of having parties internally figure out who they are running on the docket as party head like sane people they open it up to basically a second first past the post election of internal candidates. You register as a member of those parties when you register to vote to participate (or not) in the election before the actual election. Personally to one outside that system that just seems like an additional bundle of problems to deal with by doubling down an already outdated voting system that creates further issues of populism but some Americans are very fond of archaic systems. You know something something founders of our nation blah blah can't change anything our fathers who art in 6ft of dirt didn't personally come up with blah.
Forgive my glibness. Being a neighbour is hard sometimes.
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Pro tip: you can vote for whoever you want to in US elections, regardless of party registration—registering as a member of a political party in the US means literally nothing—save for getting sales calls, being combined with a meaningless cohort for reports on “polls” and being given the option to vote in some primaries.
So long as you are eligible to, and registered to vote in your municipality, you can exercise your civic duty to vote. Don’t let weird psy-op posts like this one imply you’re unable to make your voice heard.
registering as a member of a political party in the US means literally nothing
Not exactly... While it doesn't stop you from voting for whoever you want in normal elections, you do have to be registered to a party to vote in their primaries. You also can use an absentee ballot to just automatically vote for your registered party. Or at least, you can do that in California.
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