Tomorrow May 18, 2010, is primary day in some key states for independent voters: Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Arkansas. Lots of media including this one from Liz Halloran at NPR talking about the anti-incumbent mood in the country.
Pennsylvania primaries (thanks to FairVote for these definitions) are closed (winners in 2008 2343 Clinton, McCain in the primary; November: Obama), meaning that only registered Dems or Repubs can vote in that party's primary. If you're an independent, you're flat outa luck. See Independent Pennsylvanians for redress!
Kentucky (Closed primaries: Clinton, McCain in primaries 2008; November: McCain) Voters of any affiliation may vote for the slate of any party (which seems to mean that independents can vote but can only vote in the party primary that they choose for that election, according to FairVote.) You might want to contact at Michael Lewis on Facebook or at Independent Kentucky.
Arkansas primaries are open except for runoff elections. Voters went for Clinton and Huckabee in the primary and for McCain in the general in 2008. (Little known fact: Arkansas is the birth state of The Hankster...)
See the Open Primaries page on The Hankster for resources!
1 comment:
Kentucky registers voters by party. Unless it has changed recently, neither party invites independents to vote in its primary. Independents can only vote in the general election.
Arkansas, which does not have party registration, has true open primaries, in which each voter picks a party on primary day. A voter much stick with the same party in the runoff (or second) primaries (a voter who skips the first round may vote in either party's second primary).
To my knowledge, Alabama's Republicans are the only party which invites people who voted in the other party's primary to cross over and vote in the Republican runoff several weeks later. The Republicans are able to do this because Alabama law does not prohibit it.
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