4 ms·

What I don't get is that the state tracks party affiliation and publishes it. This information should not be public or even better not tracked.

pavpanchekha 8y ago
Not all states track a party affiliation (mine doesn't), but most of those that do do it to track voting in primaries.
- briffle 8y ago
  I wish I understood why the state runs a primary election. That seems like it should be the responsibility of the party to decide who their nominee is. Should be their own rules, and cost
  - forapurpose 8y ago
    I agree that it makes sense in the abstract that ostensibly private organizations conduct themselves as they see fit. But in the U.S. the practical reality is that the Democratic and Republican Parties are effectively official institutions. If voters' only input was to choose between two people secretly selected by these organizations, it wouldn't be very democratic. And imagine that happening in the many U.S. voting districts where the same party always wins - it would be completely undemocratic. On the other hand, IIRC my history, before maybe the 1970s the U.S. parties did use more private processes, selecting candidates in the 'smoke-filled room' (the image is of fat old men smoking cigars and making deals). Some say the quality of candidate was better then.
  - pavpanchekha 8y ago
    Some states they do. In my state, the Democrats hold caucuses instead of primaries (even though the state runs primaries anyway—weird story), and I think at their own expense. Running an election is a pretty big operation (you need to register voters, check that they're eligible, set up and staff either polling places or mail-in sites, and so on. The state already has most of that infrastructure, and it seems wasteful to duplicate it. I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if some (or all) primary states allow third parties to register to have their primaries run as well.
DannyBee 8y ago
Next you will discover they hand it to a usually partisan vendor that runs their voter file.
maxerickson 8y ago
The parties want it, they have given themselves special privileges and don't want non-members to share.
ericcumbee 8y ago
The notion that the state of Georgia tracks party affiliation is false. Georgia Does not have party registration. the only thing it tracks is which party ballot you pull in a primary election. You can make some inferences about party affiliation by looking at the voter's history....but that is not always a reliable indicator of true party affiliation.
epaulson 8y ago
If the state runs a partisan primary, they often want to know which party you're registered in so they can give you the correct ballot. Some state like mine put everyone on the same ballot for the partisan primaries, and the instructions tell you to only vote in the column for your party, and if you vote in multiple parties your ballot is tossed out. Hence, we don't track which party you're "registered" as, because we don't need it - with the tradeoff of slightly more complex ballots .

pavpanchekha 8y ago

Not all states track a party affiliation (mine doesn't), but most of those that do do it to track voting in primaries.

briffle 8y ago
I wish I understood why the state runs a primary election. That seems like it should be the responsibility of the party to decide who their nominee is. Should be their own rules, and cost
- forapurpose 8y ago
  I agree that it makes sense in the abstract that ostensibly private organizations conduct themselves as they see fit. But in the U.S. the practical reality is that the Democratic and Republican Parties are effectively official institutions. If voters' only input was to choose between two people secretly selected by these organizations, it wouldn't be very democratic. And imagine that happening in the many U.S. voting districts where the same party always wins - it would be completely undemocratic. On the other hand, IIRC my history, before maybe the 1970s the U.S. parties did use more private processes, selecting candidates in the 'smoke-filled room' (the image is of fat old men smoking cigars and making deals). Some say the quality of candidate was better then.
- pavpanchekha 8y ago
  Some states they do. In my state, the Democrats hold caucuses instead of primaries (even though the state runs primaries anyway—weird story), and I think at their own expense. Running an election is a pretty big operation (you need to register voters, check that they're eligible, set up and staff either polling places or mail-in sites, and so on. The state already has most of that infrastructure, and it seems wasteful to duplicate it. I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if some (or all) primary states allow third parties to register to have their primaries run as well.

DannyBee 8y ago

Next you will discover they hand it to a usually partisan vendor that runs their voter file.

maxerickson 8y ago

The parties want it, they have given themselves special privileges and don't want non-members to share.

ericcumbee 8y ago

The notion that the state of Georgia tracks party affiliation is false. Georgia Does not have party registration. the only thing it tracks is which party ballot you pull in a primary election. You can make some inferences about party affiliation by looking at the voter's history....but that is not always a reliable indicator of true party affiliation.

epaulson 8y ago

If the state runs a partisan primary, they often want to know which party you're registered in so they can give you the correct ballot. Some state like mine put everyone on the same ballot for the partisan primaries, and the instructions tell you to only vote in the column for your party, and if you vote in multiple parties your ballot is tossed out. Hence, we don't track which party you're "registered" as, because we don't need it - with the tradeoff of slightly more complex ballots .