Aug 3 primary - what to do?

Who knows the rules about MI primaries? I have never voted in one, because I thought that to vote in one you had to register as a Democrat or Republican. I refuse to do that although I normally vote Democratic. In the upcoming governor election I am leaning toward Republican, I will decide after the primary some time. Therefore, I would only want to vote in the primary if I could vote for whichever party I decide, but not to be locked in to a specific party for the governor election.

Does anyone know the MI primary/election laws??

You have to sign up for the party primary because the parties conduct the primaries here.

You are not forever doomed to vote for that party though. It's just for that one primary. Next primary you can sign up for the other party's primary if you want. In the general election you can vote for anyone you choose. Even if the candidate you chose in the primary made it to the general election, you can vote for the other candidate.

You might get on some interesting mailing lists.

My grandpa used to sign up for the opposite party and vote for their worst guys in the primary or caucus. Or whatever they did then. I think Republicans had primaries and Democrats had a caucus then.

I know what I do? I'm voting YES, YES, YES, on the SMART bus millage renewal and a new DEMOCRATIC governor. No Republicans should be governor in Michigan.

I don't think you have to "register" as a Dem. or Repub. You just can't vote a split ticket. I did absentee ballot this year and they had both parties on there. I can't remember how it worked at the polling place last time.

http://www.michigan.gov/som/0,1607,7...1051--,00.html

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Land reminds voters that since this is a primary election, ballots must be cast under one political party. Casting votes in a partisan primary for both Republican and Democratic candidates invalidates the partisan section of the primary ballot. Nonpartisan offices and proposals will appear after the partisan section of the ballot.

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Originally Posted by Pam

I don't think you have to "register" as a Dem. or Repub...... I think they just give you either a Dem. or Repub. ballot.

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That is correct. It doesn't matter what you're registered as. You are given the choice for either a Dem or Repub ballot at the poll. Other states require you to be registered for the primary you're voting in, but not Michigan.

Gazhekwe is correct, but to add my 2 cents... If you get a democratic ballot, you can only vote for democratic candidates. If you try to vote for a candidate in another party your ballot will be thrown out. Hence, if you don't like republican Mike Cox and cast your vote for Hoekstra, you can't vote for Hansen Clarke.

I understand folks think this system is unfair to indy voters, but that is how the State's constitution is written. Granted this process essentially guarantees a lock on the political system by the two major political parties. Morover that may be the reason both the Republican and Democratic parties are against a new Con-con where their locks could be picked. If there was a re-write of the Constitution the control of the main parties could be challenged.

I happen to think a new con-con is beyond being nessesary. Michigan has historically re-written its constituion every 50 yrs to mirror the changes in society and technology. By law, the voters of Michigan are asked every 16 years if they would like a re-write, the last time was we were asked was in 1994 were it went down like the Hindenberg. This November we will be asked again.

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.ph...oposal_1_[[2010)

There are many things in the Constitution which need an overhaul, one of those is the issue of slipt-ballot primary voting.

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Originally Posted by kryptonite

Who knows the rules about MI primaries? I have never voted in one, because I thought that to vote in one you had to register as a Democrat or Republican. I refuse to do that although I normally vote Democratic. In the upcoming governor election I am leaning toward Republican, I will decide after the primary some time. Therefore, I would only want to vote in the primary if I could vote for whichever party I decide, but not to be locked in to a specific party for the governor election.

Does anyone know the MI primary/election laws??

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If you have not registered at least 30 days before an election, you are ineligible to vote August 3rd. This is from the Secretary of State.

If you do want to vote in the future [[the next election is in November), you can go to your local city/county clerk to register.

As was pointed out above, in Michigan you are not allow to "split" your ballot, or vote for candidates from different political parties.The political parties wrote the laws and don't chip in one cent to pay for the elections, but unfortunately that's how things are here in Michigan. In the General Election in November, you can vote for whomever you want, from whatever party you want.

If you do decide to vote in November, I cannot stress enough how important it is to know WHAT is on the ballot before stepping into that booth.

Two great sources to see your ballot before election day are the Secretary of State,

and Publius.

Hopefully, this helped.

Oh, I am registered and vote in most elections. I have just never understood the rules in MI's primaries, consequently I have never voted in a MI primary. But since I won't officially declare a party preference, I guess I just won't bother on Tuesday. I do NOT want any type of mail, phone, email solicitations from either party. Those things drive me nuts.

K- I strongly urge you to re-think that decision. The spector of getting on some political mailing list is much less than when you signed up for your Kroger Savings-Plus card. Or a mortgage, credit card, gym membership, phone number, cable service or any number of other hazzards that modern Americans face.

The trade-off: you are placing into the hands of others your fate as it relates to the laws that rule your life.

We could very well be faced with a Benero vs Cox choice in November and with a strong outstate hatred against all-things Democratic [[read: Granholm) that could translate into having Mike Cox governing the air you breath.

By my lights, the possiblity of having to throw away some junk mail once a week is a fair trade for keeping Cox out of office.

Another dilemma that I have is that I guess in the primary I would vote for the Republican that I could most comfortably vote for as governor. Personally, I won't vote for Bernero or Cox in November. I'm skeptical about pro-life Dillon as well. That limits me to voting for one of three Republicans in November, and outside chance Dillon.

but I guess voting for someone in the opposition because you don't approve of the party in control [[even when it is your preferred party) is a valid vote?

Regardless, I appreciate the posts, you have cleared up my confusion on MI primary election rules.

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Originally Posted by kryptonite

Oh, I am registered and vote in most elections. I have just never understood the rules in MI's primaries, consequently I have never voted in a MI primary. But since I won't officially declare a party preference, I guess I just won't bother on Tuesday. I do NOT want any type of mail, phone, email solicitations from either party. Those things drive me nuts.

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The thing about voting in the Primary is you don't have to "declare" anything.

Once you enter the precinct and fill out the forms, the poll worker will hand you a ballot with both parties listed on them [[but you can only vote for candidates from one party).

They don't collect anything after you turn in your ballot either.

The only reason people get literature, phone calls, etc, is because even though you do not state a party preference, the fact that you have voted is recorded and is available through public records, which politicians and political parties use heavily.

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Originally Posted by kryptonite

Oh, I am registered and vote in most elections. I have just never understood the rules in MI's primaries, consequently I have never voted in a MI primary. But since I won't officially declare a party preference, I guess I just won't bother on Tuesday. I do NOT want any type of mail, phone, email solicitations from either party. Those things drive me nuts.

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Get an absentee ballot. They didn't ask me anything except name and address.

Dillon is a blue-dog
Bernero is in Matty's pocket
Cox is a bald-face liar/teabagger
Bouchard is a douchard

that leaves me with Hoekstra and Nerd Boy

Nerd Boy will get shell shock as soon as he tries to do anything
Hoekstra, it seems, gets my vote by default

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Originally Posted by rb336

Hoekstra, it seems, gets my vote by default

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I'm the Dalai Lama!

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Would the Dalai Lama vote for Hoekstra?

We just received a glossy negative political ad from "Macomb County's Republican Future" containing the sentence "That's wrong and we deserves better." [[sic)

Yep. Anger does have that effect on people. :D

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Originally Posted by Pam

Would the Dalai Lama vote for Hoekstra?

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nope. he wouldn't. I am very close to just not voting at all

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Originally Posted by rb336

nope. he wouldn't. I am very close to just not voting at all

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Write in a name then. You should still vote. There are ballot proposals.

By chance, I just now discovered this humorous idea at I Think - Freakish Musings On the Way Life Should Be

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Some states in the United States hold what's known as "open primaries." This means that you don't have to be a member of a political party to go into its primary and screw it up. We should do this in the corporate world. Wouldn't it be cool to have open stockholder meetings? So what if you don't hold any stock? Why should that stop you from attending meetings and voting on things? Besides, it would create jobs. To stay competitive, companies would have to hire a whole slate of Stockholder Meeting Attendees [[SMAs for short!) to go to their competitors' meetings and do crazy stuff, like electing weirdos to the board and approving obscene corporate logos. I think the really good professional SMAs could make big money.

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Check out the rest of that web site while you're there. The guy's a genius.