Voter Registration Fun

ICBM · January 9, 2004, 03:09

[rant]
I turned 18 last month, so I decided to get a voter registration form today... I first went to the post office, and they had lots of tax forms, but no voter registration forms, so next I went to the library in my town. They had an empty box where there were voter registation forms... so I went to another branch of the county library, and they had two boxes labelled "Voter Registration Forms," but they both contained other junk, so I went to *shudder* the DMV... went in and went to the front desk, asked for a voter registration form, and amazingly enough, got one after only having to ask once.
[/rant]

So, what party should I register for? I was originally thinking of registering independent, but then I wouldn't be able to vote in the primary, so I might register Democrat, so I can vote in the primary. I don't particularly like either the Republicans or the Democrats, though.

Al B. Sure! · January 9, 2004, 03:17

you mean you want us to figure out what party you should register as? you? who are you?

Ramo · January 9, 2004, 03:19

If you're going to vote in the primary, there's no reason not to register as a Democrat.

Nubclear · January 9, 2004, 03:19

Workers party.

ICBM · January 9, 2004, 03:20

Oh, and anything you say will have no impact on my final decision, so I don't really care if Speer doesn't know who I am.

Nubclear · January 9, 2004, 03:21

Spam thread! Yay!!!!

Harry Tuttle · January 9, 2004, 04:40

Banana. If you don't know, we don't want you.

Jaguar · January 9, 2004, 04:48

Aren't we forgetting a certain dance?

KrazyHorse · January 9, 2004, 05:06

So what's this thing about "registering" as a certain type of voter? Is it equivalent to joining the party in question?

DRoseDARs · January 9, 2004, 05:38

I registered as the lesser of two evils. Since the US only has two parties, the choice was simple. Third parties you ask? Riiight...

Pick whichever party you hate the least and register as them. Your vote will at least help balance against the party you hate more. Given they are both beholden to special interests (re:not you or me) it doesn't really matter either way.

DRoseDARs · January 9, 2004, 05:41

Quote:

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
So what's this thing about "registering" as a certain type of voter? Is it equivalent to joining the party in question?

That was never made clear to me: what the point was. The only thing I'm aware of is voting in the primaries. I still receive spam from candidates of BOTH parties (even got two or three from "3rd" parties) and I don't receive any kind of newsletter from my registered party.

Imran Siddiqui · January 9, 2004, 16:26

Quote:

So what's this thing about "registering" as a certain type of voter? Is it equivalent to joining the party in question?

Well basically. You get to vote in party's primaries because you are considered a member of the party. But that's as far as it goes. You are listed as a member of the party, so you will tend to get more phone calls from your party around election time.

Drogue · January 9, 2004, 16:30

Go for Democrat. No reason not to, and you get to vote in the primaries. Switch to whichever is not the incumbant's party if you wish, and so vote in every primary

Japher · January 9, 2004, 16:31

I try to be independent, but if I can't decide I always vote Republican. Go Republican. An Elephant for your mascot is much better than a Jackass.

(What bad mascots. Repubs should actually be a weasel and the Dems... well, I guess Jackass fits

)

chequita guevara · January 9, 2004, 16:32

Socialist!

Stuie · January 9, 2004, 16:50

Funny thing is, I'm a registered Green and the only calls I ever get are from Republicans. Every time they call I explain that I'm a registered Green, and they apologize for bothering me and hang up. They've been very nice about it anyway.

Finally I asked them to PLEASE take me off whatever list they were using, and I haven't heard from them since. Then again, that was toward the end of October, so maybe the phone will start ringing again as the primary approaches....

Imran Siddiqui · January 9, 2004, 16:55

Quote:

Funny thing is, I'm a registered Green and the only calls I ever get are from Republicans.

That's because on the list you come up as 'I': Independant.

Stuie · January 9, 2004, 16:59

Shouldn't I come up as "G"?

I mean, the registration cards in my state actually have "Green" pre-printed, along with "Democrat", "Republican", "Independent" and "Other _________________". So you'd think they'd get the correct information.

Japher · January 9, 2004, 17:00

Quote:

So you'd think they'd get the correct information.

I think I pee'd a little

Stuie · January 9, 2004, 17:01

Quote:

Originally posted by Japher

I think I pee'd a little

Yeah, well, put your Depends on when I post. Ok?

GhengisFarb™ · January 9, 2004, 17:01

Republicans get issued guns and are allowed to shoot things.

Imran Siddiqui · January 9, 2004, 17:10

Quote:

Shouldn't I come up as "G"?

No... the phone bank info is divided into registered Republicans, registered Democrats, and all others (indeps).

Ogie Oglethorpe · January 9, 2004, 17:16

Register Dem. Vote for whoever you think has the least likely chace to win.

The Emperor Fabulous · January 9, 2004, 17:22

Register Dem, for two reasons.

1.) There are some dems in the primary you may like better than others. This allows you to vote for that candidate who may be able to beat Bush.

2.) Registering as an independent means that you'll get telephone calls and solicitations from every candidate under the sun. If you register with a party, that'll lessen the spam.

I was registered as Independent for 2 years. Back then, when I made that decision, it was because I thought that there was no difference between Democrat and Republican, yet I didn't want to align myself with a 3rd party. Now, with what Bush has done, I see that there is a difference between the parties, and I registered democrat so that I could help my candidate take the nomination.