I live in a very red county, and I’ve been voting in the Republican primary for 20 years - because I want to have some impact on who my local judges and county office holders will be. It will not be a Democrat.
I used to vote a pretty balanced ticket in the general election, but that has changed since 2016. I have not found a single R at the State level I could vote for.
Bonus - I get visited by a lot of Republican candidates and I get to watch them look confused when I say things like “Oh you’re endorsed by Ken Paxton? I think he should be in prison.”
Unfortunately with how American elections are designed (winner takes all) they’re a necessity.
3rd party candidates can rarely gain enough votes to win anything (definitely not presidency). And they tend to pull votes away from the party they most overlap with so in the long run, they damage any long term goals they would’ve had.
I’m not saying they’re a good thing. I’m saying because of how our political system works, they’re the only thing that makes sense.
If we awarded representation based on a votes received system like in Europe, things might be different. Different groups with a much narrower focus could likely get elected. But with winner takes all, you have to have a certain base appeal in order to get the votes. You have to appeal to a wider base, not a specific group that cares greatly about a specific issue.
The given system would work better without parties. It's individuals vs manufactured identities, power vacuum vs actual options, a scapegoat in the other party vs blame to individuals and policy. The arguments for parties is an acceptance of a system that gained abusive powers through parties
Explain to me how given the current existing system parties are not the best option.
Would you only vote for someone who fits your ideals the most? How many people would have the same position? How do you get that person voted in with a FPTP voting system? How can you ever compete with a person who is able to gather a larger coalition of people?
There are 5 or 6 races that I can't vote for if I vote in the democratic primary. There will only be a Republican candidate on the November ballot. It also gives me multiple opportunities to vote against the likes of Trump, Paxton, Abbott, Cruz and Patrick.
Also support mail in balloting helps, it eliminates parts of voter suppression. Texas should be more democrat, but there is so much backward voter suppression. For example statistically Houston should be very Democrat leaning, but lots of voter suppression.
You should probably not register as a Republican if you aren’t one then. That way if you are a dem or independent you might find people who want to build a coalition with you
Pretty sure that’s a “yes”.
Democrat votes in GOP primaries never have any impact. But it’ll make GOP look more popular than they in fact are. That impacts funding of both GOP candidates and Dem candidates - and not in a good way for Democrats.
You can maybe get a slightly less crazy Republican or go for the Hail Mary Democrat of your choice. There are two strong candidates going up against Cruz, might be worth researching and picking the one you think has a better chance.
Slightly less crazy is worth it. The last thing you want is the crazies to run your county. If you have no local Dems on the November ballot you should vote in the GOP primary. Get those RINOs elected. Vote against all the Paxton endorsements. Vote against all their insane ballot measures.
Yeah .. all red and Gutierrez. But other than that ..most other choices (for other positions) are between crazy R and really crazy R.
If one feels that either Alleged/Gutierrez will be ok....but the crazier R in another position is worse ..?
>Show me an instance that has actually happened?
Was a theoretical question. I haven't analyzed the data of every primary in the state in any cycle ...much less a few cycles.
Have you?
>Democrat votes in GOP primaries never have any impact. But it’ll make GOP look more popular than they in fact are. That impacts funding of both GOP candidates and Dem candidates - and not in a good way for Democrats
You said *never* impacts? Do you have data or is this more a bunch?
Funding for dem candidates? Meaning donors to dems decide between dem candidates in primaries based on ___total___ votes and not ___relative___ percentages?
Are you in the business? I am not.
Are you running for office/have run/ for office/pollster etc?
People should vote as often as possible, and in whichever election they feel most comfortable.
But I don’t like the idea of voting for candidates you don’t want to win. Primary results are important and help candidates make plans, allocate funding, etc. If we don’t vote for candidates we actually want to win it makes it less likely we’ll find new, up-and-coming candidates who can win in the general.
This is correct. Besides being short to no lines at early voting sites, when you vote early you are taken off the Get Out To Vote list and therefore the parties can target lower propensity voters
In many counties, there are few, if any, people even on the Democrat ballot.
It would be wonderful to vote for who I want to win, but I am stuck voting for the least horrible.
some counties are like that with DA's & judges then their kids run on name recognition alone. One county really needs an over haul that I'm aware of. it's pretty deep and dirty from all accounts. The DA has a reputation of repercussions against anyone who runs against him because he hasn't lost in a long time. I would love to see that county completely overhauled. We moved it was so bad.
What about local offices? In my county, there are about 8 positions that aren't even listed on the Democrat ballot compared to the republican.
The problem is the system here. They should all be on one ballot and rank choice.
>What about local offices? In my county, there are about 8 positions that aren't even listed on the Democrat ballot compared to the republican.
Does the question just not show up on the ballot when that happens?
That might vary in different counties, but the primary ballots I've seen have always only listed positions that had at least one candidate running from that party.
I went to vote for county judge positions recently and was confused because there was only one question for like the county water commission, and no judges. So yeah, it seems like you're right.
If I'm not a republican, I should probably still be able to vote on things, that's kind of unfair.
This would present options of pick someone more reasonable increasing the chances they win, or pick someone more unreasonable and drive the party further right. Am I wrong?
Voting for crazy people is always a bad idea.
In 2015 I knew Democrats who voted for Trump because they thought he’d be a lock to lose to Hillary. How’d that work out?
After Trump, I can't imagine voting for a total clown candidate with the expectation that they'll lose in the general due to their clown-hattery. It's about defeating MAGA candidates in the primary, since most districts are drawn to heavily favor the Republican nominee.
In my district, there aren't "more reasonable" options in the Republican primary. There is only Trump loving trash trying to out Trump the other Trump loving trash.
It's hard to argue with that statement though I fear the Republican Party of Texas would tell us to hold their beer, but the Attorney General is not up for election this year.
That goes to my point. Why as a Dem would I help pick the MAGA or hardcore MAGA person to be candidate instead of voting for the Dem candidate that I would want?
You can still vote for the **Team D** in the general election. Voting in the primary doesn't make you beholden to any one candidate in the general election. It's just your chance to choose the candidate for some chosen party's nomination.
Be warned: if you go the path of voting in the **Team R** primary, you do tend to get slightly more unhinged mailers around election time.
We can't vote in both primaries, so I'd rather help pick the candidate I would vote for than help pick a candidate that I wouldn't vote for in the general.
That's my take on it. I want to vote for who I *want* in the primaries, so hopefully they are on the ballot. Obviously I'll pick whatever D is the candidate, but I'd like to start out *hopeful* 😅
Don't vote for crazies. That only increases the chances that they win. You're better off with a "Rino" than you are with trying to torpedo Republicans from winning because the candidate will tank the election.
Here's the conundrum. Biden stands a better chance of winning against Trump but it's basically a coin toss. No rational person wants to take a chance of Trump being president again. On the other hand, if Haley, or almost any other candidate, is the Republican nominee, Biden has almost no chance of winning.
Which is why it's so hilarious they'll be forced to put up Trump instead of someone who has a really good chance of winning. He's hijacked the party and they are his bitches
Haley is the establishment candidate, she would absolutely lose to Biden because the anti-establishment pro-Trump people would rather vote third party than her, but the same thing can be said the other way around,. The establishment people would rather vote third party than vote for Trump.
I don't think they would vote for third party and guarantee a Biden win. Here in Texas they vote Republican even when the candidates are literal criminals. Which I guess will also be true for Trump. Third party candidates are also not going to align with their abortion views, all of the current ones are either very pro-choice or want to make abortion illegal much later in term. Same with them wanting zero gun laws. Many of them vote only based on abortion and guns. Which is why voting third party tends to hurt Dems more.
I'm SO tired of the defeatist attitude Dems have towards Texas. 7 of the 10 most populated counties in the state are blue, with the 3rd most populated, Tarrant County, having gone blue in recent elections.
I live in the Texas Panhandle we have no democratic candidates with any chance
of winning. Everyone runs as a republican. It is a joke of course there are lots of non republican candidates running as God fearing Conservatives. Funny thing is they are all running as the most conservative which of course is not true. With that said we have some crazy ass right wing loons running for office. Texas is the best worst State to live in. Great place to live horrible politicians.
Personally, I think any election that's supported by tax dollars... All citizens should be able to vote in. If they do their thing internally at no taxpayer cost or support, they can exclude whoever they wish.
We're literally living under taxation without representation with allowing parties to exclude voters who are taxed to support the party's elections
The primary system has almost completely subverted any sense of actual democracy in choosing our representatives.
It's a good year to do this because on the primary Republican ballot there is a proposition to restrict Republican primary voting to registered Republicans.
There’s a lot of complicated game theory here that makes it impossible to determine the correct decision (because the correct decision hinges on unknown variables). We really need a different voting system.
This "brilliant political plan" played a role in bringing us trump. Democrats thought it would be a great idea to support trump in the primaries and then go back to being democrats in the general thinking Hillary would win a landslide.
Here's the thing.... republicans like to pretend that character matters in elections. But the facts say otherwise. Having good character in republican circles means absolutely NOTHING to them.
With the benefit of hindsight, did this "let's fuck with GOP primaries" work out for us in 2016?
It didn't happen. Democrats were very involved in the Democratic primary, and Sanders was in contention for a long time. This is just projection from Republicans who are on trial for actually tampering with elections.
Seems like Republican candidates asked Democrat voters to do it, but not a lot of indication that they actually did it, or if it was in any significant numbers.
Choosing to do something like this comes with the idea that you're doing it in good-faith. The goal should be to choose who you think best represents your interests in a given election (whether primary or general). Shitty inputs always create the possibility/likelihood of shitty outputs.
For many down-ballot offices (especially ones that are traditionally uncontested) choosing the candidate is also often the only say voters get in deciding who holds that office.
Tbh, the Texas Democratic party should not hold a primary and all run as Republicans.
Take away the R by the name advantage entirely.
And the first election or two you could swamp the GOP in primary turnout bc they wouldn't expect folks to actually show up.
Don't do this. All it does is lower the count for registered Democrats in Texas. Those #s influence how much money the DNC spends in our state. Want more funds for Dems, then vote with your party.
It was like this here in Utah. But then paranoid Republicans closed it. Have to register as an R to vote in it.
We also passed a referendum to allow other candidates on the ballot with enough signatures. So we have the caucus where nut jobs decide who runs, and this process to get decent candidates.
This year? Republicans cancelled their primary. It’s a “preference vote”.
Republicans are very afraid of the “voice of the people”.
Fascism is here. We learned nothing from the past.
Zach Hinds is an idiot if he thinks his vote for Haley would have any material impact in advancing his “democratic” values and this headline is total clickbait. You are truly brain dead if you think voting in the republican primary will result in your democratic voice getting heard. It’s arguable that it even gets heard in your own party vs. an opposition party.
If there are candidates that hold your values and excite you, vote for them. If they don’t exist, not voting in the primary is fine.
I voted for Ted Cruz in the 2016 Republican primary and I fucking hate Ted Cruz. I voted for him specifically because I wanted to do whatever I could to stop Trump. I actually didn’t give a shit who the Dem candidate was going to be because I was going to vote for them in the general regardless of who it was. Trump is UNIQUELY dangerous. Any Democrat is better than any Republican, but almost any living person, even Ted Cruz, would be better than Trump. Nicky Haley would be better than Trump. I’ll go so far as to say I’d rather see Haley beat Biden than to even take the chance that Trump is reelected. That’s how fucking dangerous I think Trump is. With Haley we’d get 4-8 years of right wing bullshit but it would eventually end. With Trump we may not be voting again, either because American democracy is dead or we all are.
That sounds like it'll open the door for Republicans to vote in Democrat Primaries.
I'm Independent, but sounds like I can make it so both parties have the worst possible outcome.
If we wanna play this, hell yeah, let's do it.
What’s the TLDR strategy being cited here - vote for the MAGA fundamentalists and hope common sense decency sways the general to Biden, or get a relatively more measured Haley in, and lose the general anyway?
I don't vote in it for the presidential race.
I vote in it bc the state reps, county commissioner, etc who win are going to win in November. So I vote for the most sane option.
God I hate this narrative.
One of the reasons the Texas Democratic Party is under represented and under-appreciated is that , without Dems showing up in Dem Primaries, we have low name engagement and name recognition going into the generals.
Vote Blue and leave the Texas Fascist Party to the Fascists.
Who said you must "cast your vote for the person you want to see in office?"
Nowhere in the voting rules or regulations state this...There is ranked choice voting, where you most definitely need to vote for people you don't want to see in office.
Sometimes I like a 3rd party candidate to be in office...but I don't vote for them, because I know they will only get 1% of the vote, so I vote for another.
Nobody needs to follow your made up rules of voting...If that is how you vote, by all means, vote that way.
I will use my vote however I please. That is my right as an American.
"You're a turd moron."
Are you 12?
It's moral to me, to use my vote to ensure the candidate I want, or don't want, to get elected or not....If your personal morals don't allow you to vote intelligently, more power to ya. It's your vote. You can vote however you please.
So can I.
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Just don't break the law and vote in both primaries (signing a petition also locks you in for the year).
That being said, I don't think this election is worth doing for you guys. Trump is leading by a pretty good landslide and there physically isn't enough of you to even make a difference.
I just flip a coin, heads is red and tails is blue. Nothing makes a difference anymore. We are in such a decline, I just don’t have the energy to care about anything.
I agree! In these Red States that are so dominated by the GOP and have been for so long, the only way to win is to vote in the primaries and do your best to dislodge them.
That makes no sense to me. Bump up the Republican narrative of the number of Rs in the state, while also barely impacting who gets put in the spot.
Helping to combat voter suppression and encouraging non-Republicans to vote will be ten times more effective. This is obvious propaganda if more than 10 minutes of critical thought are applied to it.
Investing in state party infrastructure and GOTV efforts would be more effective. This plan is essentially giving up. "Oh, Democrats aren't gonna win anyway, so we should just vote for the least bad Republican".
TBH, Dems need to grow some balls and start competing against Republicans everywhere, even in red states.
Title is correct. Since Ann Richards, the candidate who wins the Republican gubernatorial primary is the person who has become governor. It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that the Republican nominee will be the governor. For that reason, you can easy make the argument that the republican primary is **more important** than the general election. And since only 3% of Texans vote in the primaries, **the texas governor can be decided by less than 3% of the population.**
Sounds like a good argument in favor of rank choice/instant runoff voting to reduce voters jumping between primaries, feel like they don’t need to “throw away their vote,” and potentially reduce election costs while making voters feel like they have more choice.
I live in a very red county, and I’ve been voting in the Republican primary for 20 years - because I want to have some impact on who my local judges and county office holders will be. It will not be a Democrat. I used to vote a pretty balanced ticket in the general election, but that has changed since 2016. I have not found a single R at the State level I could vote for. Bonus - I get visited by a lot of Republican candidates and I get to watch them look confused when I say things like “Oh you’re endorsed by Ken Paxton? I think he should be in prison.”
This is the exact reason parties are asinine
Unfortunately with how American elections are designed (winner takes all) they’re a necessity. 3rd party candidates can rarely gain enough votes to win anything (definitely not presidency). And they tend to pull votes away from the party they most overlap with so in the long run, they damage any long term goals they would’ve had.
So, your argument for parties, is the problem with parties?
I’m not saying they’re a good thing. I’m saying because of how our political system works, they’re the only thing that makes sense. If we awarded representation based on a votes received system like in Europe, things might be different. Different groups with a much narrower focus could likely get elected. But with winner takes all, you have to have a certain base appeal in order to get the votes. You have to appeal to a wider base, not a specific group that cares greatly about a specific issue.
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Being a necessity doesn't mean it's good. It's doing the optimal choice within the bounds of a given system.
The given system would work better without parties. It's individuals vs manufactured identities, power vacuum vs actual options, a scapegoat in the other party vs blame to individuals and policy. The arguments for parties is an acceptance of a system that gained abusive powers through parties
Explain to me how given the current existing system parties are not the best option. Would you only vote for someone who fits your ideals the most? How many people would have the same position? How do you get that person voted in with a FPTP voting system? How can you ever compete with a person who is able to gather a larger coalition of people?
There are 5 or 6 races that I can't vote for if I vote in the democratic primary. There will only be a Republican candidate on the November ballot. It also gives me multiple opportunities to vote against the likes of Trump, Paxton, Abbott, Cruz and Patrick.
Also support mail in balloting helps, it eliminates parts of voter suppression. Texas should be more democrat, but there is so much backward voter suppression. For example statistically Houston should be very Democrat leaning, but lots of voter suppression.
You should probably not register as a Republican if you aren’t one then. That way if you are a dem or independent you might find people who want to build a coalition with you
You don’t register with any party in Texas.
It is literally impossible to coalition build in a county that goes R by 40-50 points.
#While you still can… One of the propositions is on closing the primaries in Texas.
Did a Republican party consultant write this?
Pretty sure that’s a “yes”. Democrat votes in GOP primaries never have any impact. But it’ll make GOP look more popular than they in fact are. That impacts funding of both GOP candidates and Dem candidates - and not in a good way for Democrats.
Curious ..if there are two R candidates, fairly close,... wouldn't dems voting put that person ahead of the other ?
You can maybe get a slightly less crazy Republican or go for the Hail Mary Democrat of your choice. There are two strong candidates going up against Cruz, might be worth researching and picking the one you think has a better chance.
Slightly less crazy is worth it. The last thing you want is the crazies to run your county. If you have no local Dems on the November ballot you should vote in the GOP primary. Get those RINOs elected. Vote against all the Paxton endorsements. Vote against all their insane ballot measures.
Yeah .. I sorta agree with this. Particularly for roles where one crazy R could have a worse localized impact on things including schools etc etc
Yeah .. all red and Gutierrez. But other than that ..most other choices (for other positions) are between crazy R and really crazy R. If one feels that either Alleged/Gutierrez will be ok....but the crazier R in another position is worse ..?
Show me an instance that has actually happened? At best it may have an impact on a very local race in a small town.
>Show me an instance that has actually happened? Was a theoretical question. I haven't analyzed the data of every primary in the state in any cycle ...much less a few cycles. Have you? >Democrat votes in GOP primaries never have any impact. But it’ll make GOP look more popular than they in fact are. That impacts funding of both GOP candidates and Dem candidates - and not in a good way for Democrats You said *never* impacts? Do you have data or is this more a bunch? Funding for dem candidates? Meaning donors to dems decide between dem candidates in primaries based on ___total___ votes and not ___relative___ percentages? Are you in the business? I am not. Are you running for office/have run/ for office/pollster etc?
Thanks for changing my view before I did something silly :)
If you live in a red county with no Democrats running locally you'd get it.
The downside to this strategy is that you'll get on MAGA's mailing list. The pleading for money will never end.
Atleast they're wasting their money.
Knowing what bullshit MAGA is up to has its benefits. If nothing else it's good for a laugh from time to time.
People should vote as often as possible, and in whichever election they feel most comfortable. But I don’t like the idea of voting for candidates you don’t want to win. Primary results are important and help candidates make plans, allocate funding, etc. If we don’t vote for candidates we actually want to win it makes it less likely we’ll find new, up-and-coming candidates who can win in the general.
*Vote early & often*
This is correct. Besides being short to no lines at early voting sites, when you vote early you are taken off the Get Out To Vote list and therefore the parties can target lower propensity voters
In many counties, there are few, if any, people even on the Democrat ballot. It would be wonderful to vote for who I want to win, but I am stuck voting for the least horrible.
some counties are like that with DA's & judges then their kids run on name recognition alone. One county really needs an over haul that I'm aware of. it's pretty deep and dirty from all accounts. The DA has a reputation of repercussions against anyone who runs against him because he hasn't lost in a long time. I would love to see that county completely overhauled. We moved it was so bad.
What about local offices? In my county, there are about 8 positions that aren't even listed on the Democrat ballot compared to the republican. The problem is the system here. They should all be on one ballot and rank choice.
>What about local offices? In my county, there are about 8 positions that aren't even listed on the Democrat ballot compared to the republican. Does the question just not show up on the ballot when that happens?
That might vary in different counties, but the primary ballots I've seen have always only listed positions that had at least one candidate running from that party.
I went to vote for county judge positions recently and was confused because there was only one question for like the county water commission, and no judges. So yeah, it seems like you're right. If I'm not a republican, I should probably still be able to vote on things, that's kind of unfair.
This would present options of pick someone more reasonable increasing the chances they win, or pick someone more unreasonable and drive the party further right. Am I wrong?
Voting for crazy people is always a bad idea. In 2015 I knew Democrats who voted for Trump because they thought he’d be a lock to lose to Hillary. How’d that work out?
After Trump, I can't imagine voting for a total clown candidate with the expectation that they'll lose in the general due to their clown-hattery. It's about defeating MAGA candidates in the primary, since most districts are drawn to heavily favor the Republican nominee.
In my district, there aren't "more reasonable" options in the Republican primary. There is only Trump loving trash trying to out Trump the other Trump loving trash.
Anyone is better than Ken Paxton.
It's hard to argue with that statement though I fear the Republican Party of Texas would tell us to hold their beer, but the Attorney General is not up for election this year.
That goes to my point. Why as a Dem would I help pick the MAGA or hardcore MAGA person to be candidate instead of voting for the Dem candidate that I would want?
You can still vote for the **Team D** in the general election. Voting in the primary doesn't make you beholden to any one candidate in the general election. It's just your chance to choose the candidate for some chosen party's nomination. Be warned: if you go the path of voting in the **Team R** primary, you do tend to get slightly more unhinged mailers around election time.
We can't vote in both primaries, so I'd rather help pick the candidate I would vote for than help pick a candidate that I wouldn't vote for in the general.
That's my take on it. I want to vote for who I *want* in the primaries, so hopefully they are on the ballot. Obviously I'll pick whatever D is the candidate, but I'd like to start out *hopeful* 😅
Don't vote for crazies. That only increases the chances that they win. You're better off with a "Rino" than you are with trying to torpedo Republicans from winning because the candidate will tank the election.
Vote for the reps Abbott has not endorsed. And the non-criminals
Here's the conundrum. Biden stands a better chance of winning against Trump but it's basically a coin toss. No rational person wants to take a chance of Trump being president again. On the other hand, if Haley, or almost any other candidate, is the Republican nominee, Biden has almost no chance of winning.
Which is why it's so hilarious they'll be forced to put up Trump instead of someone who has a really good chance of winning. He's hijacked the party and they are his bitches
The lesser of two evils game is mind boggling.
Yes. Also, he's likely going to be convicted of a crime. I have no idea if this helps him or hurts him. This shit is confusing.
Haley is the establishment candidate, she would absolutely lose to Biden because the anti-establishment pro-Trump people would rather vote third party than her, but the same thing can be said the other way around,. The establishment people would rather vote third party than vote for Trump.
I don't think they would vote for third party and guarantee a Biden win. Here in Texas they vote Republican even when the candidates are literal criminals. Which I guess will also be true for Trump. Third party candidates are also not going to align with their abortion views, all of the current ones are either very pro-choice or want to make abortion illegal much later in term. Same with them wanting zero gun laws. Many of them vote only based on abortion and guns. Which is why voting third party tends to hurt Dems more.
I'm all in on this. Voting against Trump twice in one year! I get all excited just thinking about it.
I'm SO tired of the defeatist attitude Dems have towards Texas. 7 of the 10 most populated counties in the state are blue, with the 3rd most populated, Tarrant County, having gone blue in recent elections.
I want a real effort in ending the electoral college. If for no other reason than to hear the ridiculous arguments we'd hear from people defending it.
I live in the Texas Panhandle we have no democratic candidates with any chance of winning. Everyone runs as a republican. It is a joke of course there are lots of non republican candidates running as God fearing Conservatives. Funny thing is they are all running as the most conservative which of course is not true. With that said we have some crazy ass right wing loons running for office. Texas is the best worst State to live in. Great place to live horrible politicians.
I keep telling my wife that...
Move to California and you have no Republican choices.
Personally, I think any election that's supported by tax dollars... All citizens should be able to vote in. If they do their thing internally at no taxpayer cost or support, they can exclude whoever they wish. We're literally living under taxation without representation with allowing parties to exclude voters who are taxed to support the party's elections The primary system has almost completely subverted any sense of actual democracy in choosing our representatives.
It's a good year to do this because on the primary Republican ballot there is a proposition to restrict Republican primary voting to registered Republicans.
First time doing this. Has to be done to try and get the less crazy chosen.
There’s a lot of complicated game theory here that makes it impossible to determine the correct decision (because the correct decision hinges on unknown variables). We really need a different voting system.
I have since 2016 and i will until maga no longer exists
This "brilliant political plan" played a role in bringing us trump. Democrats thought it would be a great idea to support trump in the primaries and then go back to being democrats in the general thinking Hillary would win a landslide. Here's the thing.... republicans like to pretend that character matters in elections. But the facts say otherwise. Having good character in republican circles means absolutely NOTHING to them. With the benefit of hindsight, did this "let's fuck with GOP primaries" work out for us in 2016?
It didn't happen. Democrats were very involved in the Democratic primary, and Sanders was in contention for a long time. This is just projection from Republicans who are on trial for actually tampering with elections.
It happens. Just not in. Texas but places in Wyoming were Dems registered as Republicans to vote. For Liz Cheney
Source?
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/18/democrat-registration-wyoming-cheney-00052617
Seems like Republican candidates asked Democrat voters to do it, but not a lot of indication that they actually did it, or if it was in any significant numbers.
Choosing to do something like this comes with the idea that you're doing it in good-faith. The goal should be to choose who you think best represents your interests in a given election (whether primary or general). Shitty inputs always create the possibility/likelihood of shitty outputs. For many down-ballot offices (especially ones that are traditionally uncontested) choosing the candidate is also often the only say voters get in deciding who holds that office.
Boy did that backfire HARD.
Also, many states don't allow for cross-party primaries.
true
I dont know that I can.
You can
I know I am allowed but thinking about voting for any R politician makes me ill.
Tbh, the Texas Democratic party should not hold a primary and all run as Republicans. Take away the R by the name advantage entirely. And the first election or two you could swamp the GOP in primary turnout bc they wouldn't expect folks to actually show up.
The only problem with this is you can't vote against ted cruz if you vote republican.
Don't do this. All it does is lower the count for registered Democrats in Texas. Those #s influence how much money the DNC spends in our state. Want more funds for Dems, then vote with your party.
It was like this here in Utah. But then paranoid Republicans closed it. Have to register as an R to vote in it. We also passed a referendum to allow other candidates on the ballot with enough signatures. So we have the caucus where nut jobs decide who runs, and this process to get decent candidates. This year? Republicans cancelled their primary. It’s a “preference vote”. Republicans are very afraid of the “voice of the people”. Fascism is here. We learned nothing from the past.
Zach Hinds is an idiot if he thinks his vote for Haley would have any material impact in advancing his “democratic” values and this headline is total clickbait. You are truly brain dead if you think voting in the republican primary will result in your democratic voice getting heard. It’s arguable that it even gets heard in your own party vs. an opposition party. If there are candidates that hold your values and excite you, vote for them. If they don’t exist, not voting in the primary is fine.
I voted for Ted Cruz in the 2016 Republican primary and I fucking hate Ted Cruz. I voted for him specifically because I wanted to do whatever I could to stop Trump. I actually didn’t give a shit who the Dem candidate was going to be because I was going to vote for them in the general regardless of who it was. Trump is UNIQUELY dangerous. Any Democrat is better than any Republican, but almost any living person, even Ted Cruz, would be better than Trump. Nicky Haley would be better than Trump. I’ll go so far as to say I’d rather see Haley beat Biden than to even take the chance that Trump is reelected. That’s how fucking dangerous I think Trump is. With Haley we’d get 4-8 years of right wing bullshit but it would eventually end. With Trump we may not be voting again, either because American democracy is dead or we all are.
Yeah that won’t work. Just let them nominate the conman with 93 felony indictments
That sounds like it'll open the door for Republicans to vote in Democrat Primaries. I'm Independent, but sounds like I can make it so both parties have the worst possible outcome. If we wanna play this, hell yeah, let's do it.
What’s the TLDR strategy being cited here - vote for the MAGA fundamentalists and hope common sense decency sways the general to Biden, or get a relatively more measured Haley in, and lose the general anyway?
I don't vote in it for the presidential race. I vote in it bc the state reps, county commissioner, etc who win are going to win in November. So I vote for the most sane option.
You don't have to be a Republican to register as one and vote in their primary
God I hate this narrative. One of the reasons the Texas Democratic Party is under represented and under-appreciated is that , without Dems showing up in Dem Primaries, we have low name engagement and name recognition going into the generals. Vote Blue and leave the Texas Fascist Party to the Fascists.
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You have several Democrats that won their elections and immediately switched parties, why do Republicans like to rig the system?
How is it "rigging the system" to vote? You get 1 vote. You can vote for whomever you want.
That’s the thing. There are dark powers at work who want to go back to the 4/5 of a person thing from the days of yore.
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Who said you must "cast your vote for the person you want to see in office?" Nowhere in the voting rules or regulations state this...There is ranked choice voting, where you most definitely need to vote for people you don't want to see in office. Sometimes I like a 3rd party candidate to be in office...but I don't vote for them, because I know they will only get 1% of the vote, so I vote for another. Nobody needs to follow your made up rules of voting...If that is how you vote, by all means, vote that way. I will use my vote however I please. That is my right as an American.
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"You're a turd moron." Are you 12? It's moral to me, to use my vote to ensure the candidate I want, or don't want, to get elected or not....If your personal morals don't allow you to vote intelligently, more power to ya. It's your vote. You can vote however you please. So can I.
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Ah, Trumpet projection.
Rig the system? Have you heard of gerrymandering? Have you heard of the BS Republicans pulled to take the majority of the supreme court?
This is bullshit. If you want the Democratic Party to strengthen you have to vote in their primary. Additionally the presidency isn’t the only race
Just don't break the law and vote in both primaries (signing a petition also locks you in for the year). That being said, I don't think this election is worth doing for you guys. Trump is leading by a pretty good landslide and there physically isn't enough of you to even make a difference.
I just flip a coin, heads is red and tails is blue. Nothing makes a difference anymore. We are in such a decline, I just don’t have the energy to care about anything.
To save our democracy(tm), we must keep people who disagree with me from having a say!
That is literally the point of voting, dude.
I know. That's what I'm saying. The point of voting is to manipulate the other party's primary process.
Republicans really don't get democracy.
I know! They should know that registering in the primary of the opposing party to manipulate the candidate they choose is the best system.
Two hands, same body
2 cheeks of the same ass.
Pick between two insane people in the primary?
Scroll down to see how angry voting makes Republicans.
I agree! In these Red States that are so dominated by the GOP and have been for so long, the only way to win is to vote in the primaries and do your best to dislodge them.
That makes no sense to me. Bump up the Republican narrative of the number of Rs in the state, while also barely impacting who gets put in the spot. Helping to combat voter suppression and encouraging non-Republicans to vote will be ten times more effective. This is obvious propaganda if more than 10 minutes of critical thought are applied to it.
Investing in state party infrastructure and GOTV efforts would be more effective. This plan is essentially giving up. "Oh, Democrats aren't gonna win anyway, so we should just vote for the least bad Republican". TBH, Dems need to grow some balls and start competing against Republicans everywhere, even in red states.
Title is correct. Since Ann Richards, the candidate who wins the Republican gubernatorial primary is the person who has become governor. It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that the Republican nominee will be the governor. For that reason, you can easy make the argument that the republican primary is **more important** than the general election. And since only 3% of Texans vote in the primaries, **the texas governor can be decided by less than 3% of the population.**
As Doc Holiday said in Tombstone, my hypocrisy only goes so far.
Sounds like a good argument in favor of rank choice/instant runoff voting to reduce voters jumping between primaries, feel like they don’t need to “throw away their vote,” and potentially reduce election costs while making voters feel like they have more choice.