A cleveland.com reporter was on Nicole Wallace today

[Marthe48]

The reporter, Chris Quinn, said that over 70% of Ohio voters are not affiliated with either major party. That means that for primaries, less than 30% of Ohio voters choose who is on the ballot in November. For me, this explains several things, for one thing, how the crummy rwnj reps keep getting into office. They win the primary and are the candidates for the general. For m e, it also explains the huge difference in the people elected and their outlook, and the voters who want abortion rights, want recreational marijuana, want fair voting districts and vote in majority numbers to get those things on the ballot and then translated into law.

But I bet many of the independent voters register like that thinking they can vote however they want on primaries or the general. A long time ago, I registered as an independent, not realizing that I wouldn't get to vote on any candidate of any party in the primary. I changed my affiliation as soon as I could, but how many people think that being an independent voter frees them up in some way? In the general election, you do get see all the candidates for all the parties and vote the way you want. Which I know now.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I was a poll worker in NJ for its primary election.

Lots of voters were "unaffiliated" (i.e., Independent). They insisted on voting without choosing a party. They accused us of denying them the right to vote. We carefully explained a primary election versus a general election. They still argued with us over the most mundane points. Like "If I choose a party, then everyone will know how I voted." Again, we carefully explained how some slots had multiple candidates and we wouldn't know who they voted for.

My guess is that they haven't voted much and have prepared assumptions how voting works.

[Raven123]

2. Voters in primaries can request either major party candidate list

https://ballotpedia.org/Primary_elections_in_Ohio

[Marthe48]

3. Thanks for the link

Washington County sheriff was on the primary this spring. There were no Democratic candidates running for sheriff, and I heard that over 1000 Democrats changed parties just to vote for the r candidate they wanted on the ballot this fall. Maybe whoever explained what happened last spring oversimplified it and maybe the Dems who voted for the r candidates didn't have to switch their affiliation to vote.

Anyway, this is good to know. We have to know as much as possible and share it.

[Srkdqltr]

4. In primaries on my ballot you can vote for only one party. You don't have to declare for aparty

But you can only vote for one . If you cross vote your ballot is void. That's Michigan.

[summer_in_TX]

5. Depends on the state. In Texas you don't register for a party.

When you choose a ballot during the primary, election officials then mark you as an R or D. But the next time there's a primary, you come in without a party label.

BTW, when I was the Democratic club chair in my town 15 years or so ago, one of the Dems in my group had a vendetta against a conservative D state rep. She got a lot of people to vote against him in the primary. His primary opponent won but lost the general. And we've never been able to elect another Dem for state rep. For a long time no Dems would even run, because the stats they got said this area had too few Dems for them to win.

We were purple, but our "representative" is Tea Party, Trumpist red. We have never recovered from that misguided idea. I can see crossing over in a red county where no Dem runs, but it was a blow to us as a purple county.