Day: December 29, 2011

From the Richmond Times Dispatch:

The state Republican Party will require voters to sign a loyalty oath in order to participate in the March 6 presidential primary.

Anyone who wants to vote must sign a form at the polling place pledging to support the eventual Republican nominee for president. Anyone who refuses to sign will be barred from voting in the primary.

During a brief meeting Wednesday at the state Capitol, the State Board of Elections voted 3-0 to approve three forms developed by the election board’s staff to implement the loyalty pledge requested by the state GOP.

Is that even legal?  I thought that Virginia primaries were open to any registered voter, regardless of party.   If Republicans want to keep their votes ‘pure’ it seems to me that they should have a convention primary.  That’s a little easier to keep the ‘riff raff’ out of. 

I expect there will be legal challenges.  If I were a Republican, I would not like being held to the standard of voting for anyone who happens to win the nomination.  In fact, that was one reason I left the Democrats.  I didn’t like having to pledge a vote. 

If Republicans want to keep their primary pure, then they need to change the state laws so that one must register as either a Democrat or Republican to be able to vote in a primary (or some other combination for third party Independents).  Until that happens, I would say that any registered voter should get to vote in an election.

From  the State Board of Elections website:

Can I vote for candidates from different parties?
   Virginia is an open primary state which means that any qualified voter can vote in either party’s primary election. Virginia does not have party registration in its voter registration process. In other words, citizens do not designate a political party affiliation when registering to vote in Virginia. The only restriction is when more than one party primary is held on the same day, also known as a dual primary. While Virginia election law stipulates that any qualified voter may voter in either political party’s primary, no voter may vote in more than one political party’s primary on the same election day.

 If I vote in a particular party’s primary, will my voter registration records become affiliated with that party?
   No.  Voting in any party’s primary election in Virginia does not affiliate the voter with either of the political parties.  The fact that you voted in the party’s primary becomes part of your voting history but, does not affiliate you with either political party.  Voting in a party’s primary does not hinder the voter’s choices in future elections (primary or general).  (Emphasis mine)