burlingtonfreepress.com

Sponsored by:

vt.Buzz ~ a political blog

Political notes from Free Press staff writers Terri Hallenbeck, Sam Hemingway and Nancy Remsen


2.18.2008

 

Primarily speaking

When you go down to your city or town hall to vote in the presidential primary March 4, you will have the option of choosing which party's ballot you want. Before you do, I thought you should know your choice goes on your permanent record.

Poll workers mark which ballot you choose _ Democrat, Republican or Liberty Union (those are the only three with presidential primary ballots this year). Not who you voted for - that, of course, is quite private, but which party's primary you chose to take part in. The parties hold onto that information, as one of the few ways they have of compiling information about which voters lean their way.

In November, when you get blitzed with phone calls or mailings from a particular party while hearing virtually nothing from the others, this is how that party decided to target you. Your presidential primary vote put you on a list.

Making my way down State Street in Montpelier today, through the lake-sized puddles generated by this Delaware-like weather we're having, I ran into Secretary of State Deb Markowitz. It had been bugging me why this it is that this presidential primary info is public, so I asked her.

It's the result of a compromise reached some 15 years ago, she said. Vermont doesn't have registration by party, so the political parties wanted some way of ensuring that those who vote in their primaries are committed to them.

That commitment has a tangible payoff for the parties. Because Vermonters do not register to vote by party, as many other states do, it means the political parties in Vermont don't have an easy way of telling who's with them and who isn't. Their counterparts in New York merely have to call up the voter registration files, but here they have to scramble for every indication of which way Joe and Jo Voter lean.

If you donate to a candidate or a cause, they'll know something about your preferences, but otherwise, this bit of information about which ballot you chose in the presidential primary is key to their efforts of building voter profiles that let them target their campaign strategies.

In a sense, Vermont voters are fortunate that we don't have registration by party and a closed primary. Then, you'd be limited to voting in the primary of the party you were registered with. If you were independent-minded and didn't want to register with a party, you wouldn't get to vote in the primary at all.

OK, so our system is better than that, but wouldn't it be even better if the only thing that was recorded was that you voted, without any indication of how you voted?

Comments:
If you live in a small town, having to request one party's ballot also means all the little old lady gossips who staff the polls know which party you support.
 
Simplistic. This is only one part of how voters are identified and targeted. And what exactly is so wrong with targeting anyway? Would you prefer campaigns be 10 times as expensive and literally paper the whole state with literature?

It's also the basis for who can be a party delegate, so they have at least some sense that their processes aren't being filled up with ringers. Is that also a sleazy political trick of some kind?

This is just goony faux populism pretending to be "regular folks" wisdom. Tiresome.
 
You left out the Progressive Party. You know, the one that has a candidate opposing the governor?
 
Open primaries appeal to independent voters, but have a down side. When there is no meaningful competition within a party, some unscrupulous voters vote in an opposing party's primary to skew their opponent's results. This tactic is largely ineffectual, but annoying nevertheless.

There's no perfect system. Registration by party and primary check lists both cut down on unwelcome phone calls and mailings.

To the writer who asked a question about the Progressive Party: this system applies to Presidential primaries, not to parties with no Presidential candidate.
 
I'm glad the Republicans know not to reach out to me. W
 
So which reporter wrote this??? I see they have decided to sign this as vt.buzz. Why hide???
 
I don't know that open primaries are particularly helpful to independent voters. The bottom line is primaries are by definition a party decision, ergo independents don't necessarily have any "right" to vote in them.

The notion that anyone can vote in a political organization's internal contest without belonging to -- or at a minimum identifying with -- that organization is sort of antithetical to the party process.
 
"This is just goony faux populism pretending to be "regular folks" wisdom. Tiresome."

No need to insult the author.

I agree with the author: I want to cast my vote and be left the hell alone.
 
"I want to cast my vote and be left the hell alone."

Sure, that sounds great, but it will never happen.

If you get your way hte political parties will send mail to every mailbox and call every telephone number in the book.

If that happens, you'll get 3 times as much mail and 3 times as many phone calls ...

Under the current system, it's just the folks in your political party that call and send you mail.

Under the system you propose, every party will call.

Under the current system, you get contacted by politicians less.
 
IndependentVter said...

"I don't know that open primaries are particularly helpful to independent voters. The bottom line is primaries are by definition a party decision, ergo independents don't necessarily have any "right" to vote in them."

Ya mean nameless nitwits claiming to be loyal "dues-paying" Democrats by voting Republican are not loyal, "dues-paying" Democrats?

Imagine that.

"The notion that anyone can vote in a political organization's internal contest without belonging to -- or at a minimum identifying with -- that organization is sort of antithetical to the party process."

Only if you think the "party process" is more important than the electoral process, Indie.
 
Choosing one party's ballot doesn't necesarily mean you support that party. Sometimes people will vote for the weakest candidate on "the other side."

Logic says that with McCain having secured the R nomination, a lot more people will be interested in the still-contested D race, regardless of political leanings.
 
"Choosing one party's ballot.... Voting for the weakest candidate on the other side is a dirty trick. Why not be above-board and simply vote for the candidate you really support.
Isn't the other way"using the system" which Republicans like to throw at people who need help; or, more correctly MISusing the system?
 
Oh, so "nitwit" is the new hip insult?

Retard.
 
"by voting for gops?"

So tell me again why me and thousands of other Dems choosing the decent, liberal, compassionate Jeffords in 2000 makes us "gops?"

You are truly a retard.
 
A "decent.. compassionate" blogger would never use the word "retard" to describe anyone.
 
Yeah, but we're not dealing with decent or compassionate bloggers, we're dealin' with bubbles and his nameless-nitwit posse.

Big difference.

On the other hand, now that bubble boy has embraced his inner bigot and enlisted in the White Citizens Council, it'll be interesting to see how many nameless-nitwits sign on to his cause and join his posse.
 
I am a Vermonter living in California. I'm quite distressed that my fellow Vermonters would fall for the empty rhetoric of Senator Obama. The Vermonters I know can see right through style, and vote for substance. I'm really shocked that there aren't more Clinton supporters out there.

Senator Obama has 2 years as a Junior senator, and his speeches sound like something at a Baptist church revivalist meeting. His marketing machine is very very good, and his volunteers are instructed not to dwell on policy when discussing him, but stress "faith" and "emotion".

I ask you to rethink this overwhelming support for a man that has no substance, and take a moment to do something historic---vote for the first woman president.
 
Move on.
 
Post a Comment



<< Home

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives

June 2006   July 2006   August 2006   September 2006   October 2006   November 2006   December 2006   January 2007   February 2007   March 2007   April 2007   May 2007   June 2007   July 2007   August 2007   September 2007   October 2007   November 2007   December 2007   January 2008   February 2008   March 2008   April 2008   May 2008   June 2008   July 2008   August 2008   September 2008   October 2008   November 2008   December 2008   January 2009   February 2009   March 2009   April 2009   May 2009   June 2009   July 2009   August 2009   September 2009   October 2009   November 2009   December 2009   January 2010   February 2010   March 2010   April 2010