Re: those who can't, teach

[Jon Gabriel]

From: William T Goodall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Killer Bs Discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: those who can't, teach
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2003 00:50:46 +0100
On Friday, September 5, 2003, at 11:39  pm, Horn, John wrote:

From: Julia Thompson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]

OK, my understanding is that voter registration rolls are public
information.  Is party affiliation part of the public record
on those?
If so, checking that as a back-up might help.  (Didn't read
the article
to see anything about methodology, just a thought off the top of
my
head.)
Don't forget that there are states like Missouri where you don't
have to declare your party affiliation.  You just walk in during the
primaries and request a Republican, Democratic, or whatever ballot.
Freaked me out when I first got here.
Freaks me out that anyone anywhere has to declare a 'party affiliation'. 
[1]
Imnsho, you should probably take the time to read about the system before 
generalizing and worrying about it. ;)  The primary system has its 
negatives, but was actually developed as a counter to abuses of the original 
secret ballot voting system.

Isn't that counter to the whole secret ballot democracy thing?
It depends on if it is a closed or open primary.  You can't vote in a closed 
primary election unless you have declared your party affiliation because you 
must be (frex) a declared republican to vote in a closed republican primary.

From: http://gi.grolier.com/presidents/ea/side/primary.html
"Primary Election, a method by which a political party chooses its nominees 
for public office.  Winners of primary elections run against nominees of 
other parties in the general election. The primary is a unique U.S. 
institution, born in the era of political reform at the beginning of the 
20th century."

The page is very informative.

[1] Outside the former USSR anyway...
:-)

Jon

Le Blog:  http://zarq.livejournal.com

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