Polling place asking which party you wanted to vote for?

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

Hi - I voted at Dilboy and they asked me who I was going to vote for (in order, I guess to give me a red or blue ballot). I was a bit taken aback since I can't recall ever having been asked before. The people at the desk said they didn't know why they were asking- they just asked and marked down my response. (the blue pill). There was no independent option.

Anyone know what is up with this? A primary thing?

Comments

[ron_newman]

This is a party primary. If you are registered as unenrolled (independent), the poll worker has to ask you which party's ballot you want. Each party has its own separate paper ballot. I'm not sure why this is a surprise to you.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

It may be a suprise because this person hasnt voted in a primary before. On the news they said this particular election will turn out a LOT more voters who dont typically vote in the primary.

[cowhockey.livejournal.com]

Its a primary, you have to choose for the day

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

Some people are registered to a particular party; other people aren't. In Massachusetts, if you aren't a registered member of a party, then you get to pick one party's primary to vote in; you don't get to vote in each of them. They shouldn't be asking you which *candidate* you were going to vote for, though, just which *party*, so they could give you the appropriate ballot.

Perhaps you haven't voted in a primary before? The primary isn't really one election, it's one election for each different party. If you aren't a party member, you can pick which party you want to help decide.

[kpht.livejournal.com]

What they said.

[twe.livejournal.com]

If you are unenrolled, they were also noting down which party ballot you took each time to see how many unenrolleds took each party ballot and to have a sort of sanity check on the total number of ballots of each type, at least according to one of the poll workers at my polling place. (I imagine that, among other things, this helps them estimate the number of ballots of each type in a state that has a lot of unenrolleds.)

[ron_newman]

This is necessary because every polling station has to reconcile the number of ballots handed out with the number cast (or voided). If there's any discrepancy at all, it taints the voting process.

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

ok - thanks for all the clarification. I haven't voted in a primary for a while so I didn't recall how it works.

[marphod.livejournal.com]

If they asked WHO you were going to vote for, that was illegal.

If they asked which party, that's fine.

I believe, but do not recall, that if you are an independent and vote in a primary, you have to file again to become independent, rather than registered for a specific party.

Massachusetts Primary ballots are per-party, and you can only vote for the party for which you are registered, or pick (if not registered with a party).


There are some states where everyone can pick a ballot, regardless of registrations. Or where there is only one ballot, with every party's options. MA is not one of them.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

I am a registered independent and have voted mostly democratic with the exception of a few times. I have never been unenrolled as independent.

[ron_newman]

"unenrolled" and "independent" mean the exact same thing: you are registered to vote, without a party designation.

The reason Massachusetts had to adopt the term "unenrolled" is that a decade or two ago, someone actually created a party called the "Independent High-Tech Party" and collected enough signatures to get that party's nominees on the state ballot.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

I know that. I used the wrong words to describe what I meant. I am saying...I have never been changed over to democrat just because I voted democrat. The person above thought this was the case.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

That used to happen.

[jadelennox]

Until a few years ago, this was the case.

[ron_newman]

if you are an independent and vote in a primary, you have to file again to become independent

This is no longer true. It used to be, but it isn't anymore.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

I am an independant...so they asked me which party I wanted to vote for. However they cant ask you WHO you are voting for.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

They needed to ask you which party ballot you wanted so they could give you a ballot.

How else would you suggest they do it?

[lizzielizzie.livejournal.com]

They should ask which party ballot you want, not which candidate you are voting for. My voting place asked me if I was voting in the Democratic or Republican primary in order to determine which ballot to give me.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

That seems to be what the poster suggested they asked, at least from the title of the post.

How come your polling place didn't ask if you were voting in the Green/Rainbow primary? They had a ballot, too.

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

HEY! I was just asking. Geez.

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

take your pill (the red one) it's time.

[ron_newman]

This is not b0st0n.

[fantastic-salad.livejournal.com]

...yet.

[ron_newman]

And I'm trying to keep it that way.

[fantastic-salad.livejournal.com]

best of luck.

I think davis_snark has opened the floodgates though.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Pfui.

davis_snark is like a little overflow channel.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Hey, Geez, I was just asking, too.

[komos.livejournal.com]

Is there any way to determine party affiliation according to who has and who has not shoveled their sidewalks after storms?

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

oh..ah...the snark returns... lol...yawn

[komos.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I probably should have left this one. There's no challenge in it.

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

FAIL

[komos.livejournal.com]

Sure thing. I got served. Etc.

Do please keep in mind, though, that the answer for "Polling place asking which party you wanted to vote for?" was given on at least two previous occasions: before the voter registration deadline (http://community.livejournal.com/davis_square/1110821.html) and yesterday (http://community.livejournal.com/davis_square/1136881.html).

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

thank you for your continued diligence

[fantastic-salad.livejournal.com]

it's hard to pull off an air of world-weary sophistication when you have a history of asking really dumb questions.

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

glad you are keeping count. we need folks like you. keep up the good work

[zenala.livejournal.com]

Well, you can just assume everyone's a democrat around here, anyway...

(I've shoveled the sidewalk for my building every storm this season, and I'm not one, fyi... officially "unregistered"...)

[ron_newman]

Unregistered? Or just unenrolled (independent)?

[zenala.livejournal.com]

unenrolled. I was up too late.

[ron_newman]

My apologies if I misunderstood you. Did they ask you what candidate you wanted to vote for (very illegal and wrong), or what party you wanted to vote for (necessary if you are registered as an independent)?

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

Actually they asked "who" are you voting for - as a shorthand I guess for party. That is what gave me pause - but I haven't voted in a primary in a while so I had forgotten the points that folks have kindly clarified here.

Nothing wrong or bad - just a "huh?!" moment to be asked baldly who I was voting for.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Well, that's a problematic word choice. I'd drop an email to the Election Commission and tell them that you were confused by the way the question was worded.

They really should have asked "Which party's ballot would you like?"

[duffless2323.livejournal.com]

I saw a guy refuse to answer on the way out, he was kind of a jerk, which was unfortunate because being a jerk to nice old lady's helping you vote is an all time low. Perhaps he was having a bad day.

Anyway, when asked on the way out what ballot he had, he refused to answer and ran for the door. They stopped him and said they needed to know, and he spat back "I'm unenrolled". They then asked again and said they needed to know dem or repub, and he said, The pink one and stormed out the door. Right then his wife who was a few back kept saying he voted republican. They marked him Dem as that one was red and they said, he probably confused the pink and red. She kept trying to tell them he took a republican ballot, but they had to go by what he had said. It was really f'd up, the guy was a jerk.

However, it got me thinking that it might be hard to say you are a republican in a room full of democrats. All the other unenrolled people i saw were Dems...maybe he felt awkward, or maybe he was just a giant douchebag.

There is probably some sort of counting reason you need to indicate on both the way in and way out which ballot you used, but maybe there is a way to do it non verbally?

[zenala.livejournal.com]

Given some of the responses I've gotten from people I thought were my friends around here for innocently hinting at my political leanings, I can understand how someone who's dealt with it for years would get a bit paranoid about being asked...

[ron_newman]

Yes, it's very important that they match the number of ballots they give out with the number of ballots that are handed in.

[tt02144.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of people are confused by the way a primary works because this is the first presidential elecion in Massachusetts that allowed those who are unenrolled to vote. Because it is, as was explained above, the party's primary in order that a particular party picks their candidate. Did you notice that South Carolina had their reppublican and democratic primaries on different days? In some respects, perhaps those who don't belong to a party (myself included) shouldn't vote in the party primary. I go back and forth on this. As far as the wording of the poll workers' question...I've worked at the polls, and it's a very long day which begins at 6 am and ends sometime after 8 - whenever you have finished with your compilations and have reconciled everything. On a busy day it can run late. Perhaps the poll worker was tired, and after asking the same question all day long, simply misspoke. I'm sure she didn't really want to know which candidate you were voting for.

[duffless2323.livejournal.com]

Are you sure this was the first year, I could have sworn last time around I voted in the primary?

[ron_newman]

I think a lot of people are confused by the way a primary works because this is the first presidential elecion in Massachusetts that allowed those who are unenrolled to vote.

This is not true. It may, however, be the first one where taking a party ballot doesn't automatically enroll you in the party.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

It's either the first or second one. I can't get a straight answer on this; after the election dust settles, I'll call Bill Galvin's office and ask.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

this is the first presidential elecion in Massachusetts that allowed those who are unenrolled to vote

THIS IS COMPLETELY FALSE.

Seriously, I've been an unaffiliated voter for 25 years and I've voted in presidential primaries many times.