voter registration
Mar. 23rd, 2008 06:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cellioPSA: tomorrow is the deadline for registering to vote in the PA primary.
I'm curious about the numbers of new and party-change registrations. Apparently there have been 111,000 new Democratic registrations since the fall election and the number of registered Republicans has gone down by 13,000 in the same time period. But, of the remaining 98,000, how many are brand-new registrations and how many are changes from third-party or independent voters? I'm curious.
According to this article linked by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
byronhaverford, they're a few thousand shy of 4 million Dem registrations. That says to me that, while 111,000 new (nominal or actual) Democrats is impressive, it's not nearly the number of cross-registrations I would have expected. Of course, this number will change in the next few days, but even so, I guess I was expecting a lot more non-Dems to temporarily switch, like I did.
So for those of you who kept your Republican registrations, I have a thought. Your primary is sealed up already, but instead of staying home or wasting votes on McCain (who doesn't need them), how about casting votes for whichever Republican candidate you feel best represents what the GOP should be and was before the far-righteous got into power? You're not voting for a person (that's already over with), but you could vote for an idea or a direction. Were I registered Republican I would be voting for Ron Paul because he's the only Republican who's against the Iraq war and he seems to actually be for smaller government. (That latter used to be definitive for Republicans, but it hasn't been true for a while.) Could he win? Of course not. If he did, could he implement his agenda? Not very much. But if he showed up with a primary win, that just might get people to start talking about those ideas.
Or not. Up to you. I'm just suggesting that you make your votes count in this late state.
I'm curious about the numbers of new and party-change registrations. Apparently there have been 111,000 new Democratic registrations since the fall election and the number of registered Republicans has gone down by 13,000 in the same time period. But, of the remaining 98,000, how many are brand-new registrations and how many are changes from third-party or independent voters? I'm curious.
According to this article linked by
byronhaverford, they're a few thousand shy of 4 million Dem registrations. That says to me that, while 111,000 new (nominal or actual) Democrats is impressive, it's not nearly the number of cross-registrations I would have expected. Of course, this number will change in the next few days, but even so, I guess I was expecting a lot more non-Dems to temporarily switch, like I did.So for those of you who kept your Republican registrations, I have a thought. Your primary is sealed up already, but instead of staying home or wasting votes on McCain (who doesn't need them), how about casting votes for whichever Republican candidate you feel best represents what the GOP should be and was before the far-righteous got into power? You're not voting for a person (that's already over with), but you could vote for an idea or a direction. Were I registered Republican I would be voting for Ron Paul because he's the only Republican who's against the Iraq war and he seems to actually be for smaller government. (That latter used to be definitive for Republicans, but it hasn't been true for a while.) Could he win? Of course not. If he did, could he implement his agenda? Not very much. But if he showed up with a primary win, that just might get people to start talking about those ideas.
Or not. Up to you. I'm just suggesting that you make your votes count in this late state.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-23 10:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-23 11:07 pm (UTC)