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[Tarus Balog <tarus AT opennms.org>]

On Jul 20, 2004, at 11:12 AM, Tanner Lovelace wrote:

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

> 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.

I don't see this as wrong, with the idea being that the unaffiliated  
voter will vote for the candidate who eventually wins (i.e. if you vote  
in the Democratic primary, you are supposed to vote Democratic in the  
main election - not enforceable, but that's the idea).

And as Tanner mentions it, in Chatham County the commissioners are all  
Democrats. If you don't vote in the primary you really have no say.

One final note. If you are unaffiliated, you will be asked to "declare"  
a party when you vote. This does not mean you are changing your  
affiliation, and the folks at the polls aren't really allowed to  
explain it. This has confused some people. I walked in and said "I want  
to vote in the Democratic primary" and was given a ballot without a  
fuss.

-T

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