Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[Tanner Lovelace <lovelace AT wayfarer.org>]

Diana Duncan said the following on 7/20/04 9:34 AM:

> Primaries are today!
>
> It turns out that registered independents *are* allowed to choose to 
> vote in Democratic or Republican primaries in NC.  While I find this 
> weird, unsettling and wrong...I would urge all who wish to vote today to 
> remember to go.  The Republican primaries are particularly interesting, 
> as 1) there's this big fight going on in NC between moderates and crazy 
> conservatives (I actually agree with many moderate Repub. principles) 
> and 2) for some of the seats, there is no Democratic challenger, so 
> basically the winner of the primary is the winner.

And, this is why independents are allowed to vote in the primaries.
For many years, it has been the case that for many races, the winner
of the primary is the winner of the election.  It used to be the
winner of the Democratic primary, but recently (i.e. the last 24 years)
it's been the winner of the Republican primary.  Therefore, in order
to not be disenfranchised (man, I hate that word, but whatever...), it
makes sense to have independents vote in the primary.  It is not weird,
unsettling, or wrong, it's just the way things are.  Why should I have
to do something I find unsettling or wrong (registering with a political
party) just to exercise my democratic rights?

Now, I'll grant that it's probably not idea.  A better solution would be
to make local elections non-partisan.  I'd much rather have that, but
unfortunately, I don't see it happening any time soon. :-(

Cheers,
Tanner