Originally posted by Duke Togo
If you are a registered Republican, you cannot vote in a Democratic Primary (and vice versa). Come on, you guys should know stuff like this.
First of all, you CAN vote in some democratic primaries as a registered republican. Second of all, if I'm not mistaken it's fairly easy to switch from a registered republican to a registered democrat (and vice versa). Third of all, not all anti-democrats are republicans. (But I suppose most are, so you can ignore that point.) Edit: Nevermind, missed your edit.
Originally posted by Little Raven
In lots of cases....nothing. It hasn't traditionally been a big conern. I mean, you'd need a lot of votes to really make much of a difference in most cases.
Yeah, but why don't more people do this? Could humans actually be honest?
Edit: Oh, and how do we even know it's not a big problem? It's not like you can easily tell which primary votes are honest.
Originally posted by SeleucusNicator
Many states hold Senatorial and Congressional primaries on the same day as Presidential primaries. The Republican race for President may be uncontested, but there may be a hot local race that they'd want to be a part of.
Hmm, good point. But couldn't they switch sides on the same day? (Sounds kinda silly of course, but still seems possible to me.) Or did I miss your point?
Originally posted by SeleucusNicator
In states that hold separate local and Presidential primaries, I don't know. It may be a sense of "I won't care who the other party picks, our guy is better anyway", it may be the embarassment of registering as a member of the other party, it may be a matter of principle, or a combination of all these and more.
I seriously doubt people would have the first mindset, the second one might be true, but it's kinda silly, and I also doubt the third. I suppose the real answer might be...
Originally posted by Shadylookin
yes one could do that, but since we can only get 50% tops to vote in what many would call the most important vote you'll make in 4 years. Now do you really think people are going to just go around and screw over the entire system when only 50% are willing to get up and go to the voting booths I don't think that many will do the extra work of changing parties just to give their true party a possible edge.
Yeah, I suppose you're right. Most people are probably too apathetic (with a healthy dose of personal ethics) to sabotage primaries of the opposite party. But I imagine
some do.
Originally posted by Shadylookin
in 10 months people can change their minds so they shouldn't be locked in to either supporting a guy they dislike or just not showing up and giving the guy he dislikes a better chance because he can't vote against him. Besides it screws over the whole secret ballot thing anyway.
Yeah, my solution isn't the best in the world. In fact, it sucks. Still, though, the original problem just seems too big to ignore...