Poll - Democrat or Republican?

I am very curious about this bizness of registering. Up here in Canada the only registration that occurs is that of getting onto the voters' list in your riding. The various parties will come around to your front door and court you for your vote and of course there will be lots of paid media promotion.
If you happen to believe in a particular candidate and his or her party you can indicate that he or she does have your vote. You can go further and agree to have a party sign on your lawn or in your window or whatever...and by doing this you agree to advertise your choice. (Green routinely does this.) The next level of involvement is to donate your time/money in order to help your candidate and your party with their campaign. You can even become a party member.
You can do all of the above, then go into the polling booth and vote for another candidate, another party. I am now asking about registration because an earlier poster on this thread mentioned that he would like to vote for a particular party but would be unable to because he was a registered voter for the other major party. Is it this true? Cannot registered voters change their minds? Why then do people register? This foreigner is very curious about this aspect of your voting system.

Green - in the presidential election we can vote for whomever we chose regardless of party. Here in the States when you turn 18 you register to vote and I think you have to pick a party be it Dems, Rep, Indep, Green etc

Since I a registered as a democrate i get alot of junk mail about the candiates -and all the propositions (indian gaming) - and during the primaries you only get a ballott with your parties canidates -- I thought this was suppost to change but didn't notice it on my mail in ballott for tomorrow's super tuesday primary here in California... I think if you register independant you do get all parties on your ballot but not sure.

It's all b.s. anyway - they all make all these promises - that they don't live up to or fight congress - or fights between the dem & rep - is just a big mess - but it's the AMERICAN way - and it's all we got - so you just try and figure out who is lieing less - ya let's build a wall to keep the illegals out - ya that's really going to work - lets spend billions of dollars for them to find away over or under it - health care - I don't know how they are going to fix that one - Indio's pea brain can't think that large - so like I said - you just vote for whomever you think will do the best job and cross your fingers. period end of story a very very simplified answer and could be all wrong - not super up on my politics...

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IndioGirl55 Lucky #7
Starting Weight 250 - Current Weight 140
Dr. Bobby Bhasker-Rao Palm Springs CA - 7/17/07

Thanks, Indio. Up here it is all just a question of getting your name on the voters' list. This is very, very easy. And once it is there it stays there for all elections - municipal, provincial (state) and federal - until you move. Even if you have moved, establishing your right to vote is no big deal beaurocracy wise.

P.S. Congratulations with your splendid weight loss, Indio.

Thanks Green I am doing the work

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IndioGirl55 Lucky #7
Starting Weight 250 - Current Weight 140
Dr. Bobby Bhasker-Rao Palm Springs CA - 7/17/07

There are some rules about registering and voting that do seem to put people off. I agree with Canada. One shouldn't really have to declare and align with a particular party. I used to know why they did this, but I've forgotten I guess. It honestly doesn't make sense from a freedom to choose standpoint.

I believe it is discriminatory anyway. Why it is anyone's business which party you choose to align with?

I am registered as one thing and my DH, DD, DS, DIL, and SIL are all registered as another. They were all called to serve on jury duty - even multiple times - and I wasn't called. After 8 years, I finally got a summons last year. They use your voter registeration to register you for jury duty here. I couldn't help but scratch my head over that one.

Jack may have the answers for you.

Ugh! I was called up for jury duty twice in the past 3 years. This in a large city! Talk about yer lightning strikes!
Fortunately I am a depressive loon and was able to get a note from my doctor to that effect. In fact I didn't want to do it because I am not an AM person and because I hear that it is very boring. And I have social claustrophia, get restless, and must be able to move around; um, I guess that would be the loony aspect of my personality, right? lol

I am going to my first caucus, not as a voter, because I am independent, but I hope to get a clearer view of the Hillary vs Obama positions. I think it will be chaotic, but what the heck? What a country!

I lean more democratic, especially after our dear President Bush , our war, and our deficit. But I maintain an open mind until voting day in November. I agree that it is a crock. It seems that whatever platform they run on they change once in office. I have a concern that Obama doesn't have the know how to get stuff done in Washington (like Carter - who was brilliant but unable to get his ideas into practice). I think a lot of it is who is around the President that makes stuff happen. Both good and bad. Maybe we should look beyond the candidates, to the machines that are putting them into office.

Wow! I didn't know I had so much to say about this.

Hugs to you all and happy voting,
Michelle

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DynamoMini from Colorado

First fill 5/17/07- .9 cc
Second fill 6/08/07 - 2.4 cc (didn't work)
Third fill 7/12/07 - who knows? but tighter
Fourth fill 12/27/07 - 2.8 total (seems good)

Dynamo, I'd wager that a lot of Americans have feelings and information that they often don't make public because it is such a volatile topic. Most people I know don't want to discuss it because, like with religion, there's always someone in the crowd who likes to viciously shoot down everyone else's beliefs. Few people are prepared or want to defend their ideas when there's a person lurking who is just waiting to pounce of them.

Green you definitely do not sound like someone who would enjoy jury duty.

I have been on a grisly murder trial (we had her skull and bloody clothes in the deliberation room) and a traffic accident trial (rear ender) that were both very interesting.

The process of the deliberations is pretty grueling though because with a few exceptions, everyone on the jury wants to do the job they're expected to do. So it can be a long, drawn out affair.

We actually had a woman who we were pretty sure was being paid by the Defendant's attorney on the murder jury. Fortunately we had a foreman who was extremely savvy and he put her in a position where she couldn't argue with the fact that the killer did it. Otherwise I am sure that we'd still be debating it today. That's one reason you might not enjoy it. You would be frustrated by overwhelming stupidity.

The point which you introduce in your final paragraph was the only issue which made me feel guilty about skiving off jury duty. I am a fairly detached and savvy individual. I am also fairly good at taking charge. All of this would have been something of value to offer up to our legal system as a member of a jury panel. But I am also a raving neurotic. Whaddya gonna do?

Dynamo! It is so nice to hear your voice again, grrl! You have been MIA for awhile now. Welcome home.

re: "I am now asking about registration because an earlier poster on this thread mentioned that he would like to vote for a particular party but would be unable to because he was a registered voter for the other major party. Is it this true? Cannot registered voters change their minds? Why then do people register? This foreigner is very curious about this aspect of your voting system."

To add further confusion, these general rules vary depending on the state laws.

Personally, I believe they are a bit the same as "Daylight Savings Time"....seemed like a good idea once upon a time, but nobody now living actually has a clue.

In the dim boring past before high speed communication and cable network advertising under other guises, 'registering' gave some type of idea regarding questions of how to assign various prizes and political paybacks....and notions on 'which party' would 'represent' a district. Sort of a governmental representation of da hood...

A local governmental "Representative" had particular constituency in a certain geographic area. Depending on population, the number of representatives a demographic area could send to a regional/state legislature.

Now of course, the district lines are redrawn from time to time, and strive to contain single-party similarly inclined voters...who would vote their representative into office time and again, to gain more access to the seniority system power that runs the legislative process here.

"Gerrymandering" in its various spellings, is the process of redrawing the lines of that district such that a highly-homogenous group of people can claim some form of representation they might otherwise not enjoy, such as a minority group with special interests. Draw the lines right and you can suddenly claim that you represent that group....very odd shaped districts have emerged in places from this practice.

Instead of a roughly checker-board shaped geographic districts....some resemble a bowl of demographic spaghetti.

Hope this helps. Reset your clock now.

And in my state, as an independent you can only vote in the general, NOT the primary election. But then you can vote any way you wish.

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373/258
"Carpe mañana"
*Oldtimers posse: surgery 12/21/04*

My Quest is Victory over the Dragons of Habit, Gluttony, Sloth, Desperation...

Well done, Jack. I think a lot of people have been confused by this. We probably all learned about it in grade school, but many of us could use a refresher course.

I worked for the Attorney General of Virginia years ago and watched cases progress that were centered around this very topic. So it is quite real and one reason why I am a bit frustrated when I hear people talk about political parties being of little importance.

Thanks, Jack. I am a little less confused but only a little less confused. Though it is understandable that successful parties will naturally desire to have the electoral lines in their districts redrawn in order ensure their future successes at the local polls, I still don't understand why voters should be required to publically indicate their affiliations with certain parties through this biz of registering. It is, afterall, pretty easy to discern by the results of a clutch of polls and the results of the election proper as to where the sympathies of an electoral district may lie without its voters being required to reveal their own political sympathies. It strikes me that the essence of the democratic election is that we all have the freedom to chose our own poison without scrutiny. This point of privacy is awful important, I think. This means that no one will be forced to suffer a smack-down by either one's government or one's fellow men for having had the courage or the blind stupidity to have opted for the wrong/unpopular choice.

As for the desire of winning parties to have the geographical lines re-drawn in order that these new boundaries satisfy the noisiest political voices in the hood, well, I can see advantages to this. All communities are naturally anxious to elect representatives who do reflect the values and the interests of their own neighbourhoods. This makes sense, doncha think? We all want to elect representatives who will speak for us, who will represent our own local concerns. Gerrymandering may be viewed as a very, very shady activity or as a legitimate desire to ensure that those neighbourhoods who are relatively homogeneous will have a chance of being able to elect representatives who are truly able to express their concerns. Although I do not personally agree with the practice of gerrymandering I thought that it might be fun to toss out the above argument.