Change it at the courthouse in Iowa. Probably can do it electronically in more sophisticated places. I want to change but I'm afraid I'll get calls from both! The idea is to get calls from none. Checking with my phone company tomorrow about caller ID.

Hmm, we don't have to register with a party here. When I went to the primaries on Tuesday, they asked if I wanted a Republican or Democrat ballot.

I didn't realize other states make you commit to one, that would drive me batty!

States vary a lot on this. Some states don't allow you to vote on party races, like primaries, while some states allow cross-overs between parties. To change your party affiliation or lack thereof, just re-register to vote wherever you register.

In California, you can get a voter registration form at a public library and the department of motor vehicles, and there are often registration drives where people will set up tables in mall parking lots. They're supposed to accept any registration, even if they represent a party. You can also go to the registrar of voters for your county, or possibly the county clerks office, and you can register online. They make it really easy to do.

The primary election system was created as a way for party members to indicate their preferences to their parties, and was traditionally "closed" and only for party members. The delegates to the party convention would then use that information to make nominations. After awhile, here, they put in rules that pledged delegates to vote according to the results in the primaries. Recently, all the state offices were changed from party nominated to voter nominated, cutting the parties out. The top two vote getters are the nominees for the general election.

The presidency, however, is not a state office, and we still have a partisan primary for that, and send delegates to the national conventions, as in the old days. The parties are allowed to choose whether to have a closed primary, in which only people who have registered that party's preference can vote, or a modified closed primary, where people who have not designated a party preference are also allowed to vote. The Democratic party in California has opted for the modified closed primary.

Thank you all.

Thanks for the lesson plllog, I've been a Texas resident all my life so I've never really had to pay much attention to how other states hold their primaries.

I looked it up and Texas has an open primary, along with 19 other states. We get new voter cards every two years and there isn't even an option to declare a party.

In FL Independants can't vote in primaries. I recently switched yo republican in order to participate in the primary on the 15th. I went online to the county board off elections and printed a form and mailed it in.

TG, I didn't know that Texas had open primaries! Thank-you for teaching me something in return. I wouldn't have guessed based on some of the politics that are reported. There was a big money block to open primaries here. My parents talk about at time when there was "cross filing" where I guess you could choose to vote in a different party's primary, but that didn't last long. The interesting thing about the voter nomination system is that both candidates can be from the same party. Also, the smaller parties don't get a candidate on the ballot for the general election. I mean, they could if they could get one to come in first or second, but this system prevents a strong third from splitting the vote. Of course, that's usually seen in a presidential vote, and that's not affected.

Something I really appreciate is the California voting materials. I was shocked, when I was travelling, to learn that many states don't have them at all. We have county prepared sample ballots that come in the mail and list where your voting place will be. There are also voting guides with the text of new laws being voted upon, an impartial analysis of what the law actually does, and arguments for and against that are submitted by interested parties. There are also sometimes candidate statements. It's expensive (comes out of taxes), but highly valuable.

I was shocked, when I was travelling, to learn that many states don't have them at all.

Wow, that is surprising! I have never lived outside of CA, and would never have guessed it wasn't done everywhere. That is very interesting.

plllog- we have the league of women voters who always distribute free literature during election time with sample ballots but it really doesn't seem to be enough to me.

I see such voter apathy, not only in my area but truly nationwide that it makes me sick.

Single issue voters, or worse; people that wouldn't even bother to vote until someone comes along spinning tales about candidates, how there's is the best and the alternative is the proverbial devil, convincing uneducated voters to vote, BUT only for THEIR candidate. Ugh. I've made a point of voting in EVERY primary and election that comes along and I encourage others to do the same BUT, I won't discuss my political beliefs with anyone, particularly a non-voter because I don't want to sway them. I truly don't.

I want INFORMED voters.

I don't care if you disagree with me, I just want you to actually vote with an informed conscience.

Opposing ideas is a GOOD thing, in fact it is part of what has made our country so great, in my opinion.

On Tuesday, I took my youngest 2 to a dentist appointment. On the way home, I stopped to vote.

I went by my regular polling location, found a parking spot and went inside.

After seeing the insanely long lines, and with two grumpy hungry toddlers in tow, I decided to leave and go to one of the other polling locations that is not as popular.

As I was walking out, my 4 year old was asking me why I didn't vote. We passed by a car with the windows open and the driver, an elderly woman, asked me how bad it was inside. Turns out she voted early but she had driven her grandson to the polling location and she was trying to figure out how long she would need to wait until he was done voting.

As we were saying goodbye to her, she told my daughters that she was "very proud of their mommy." When they asked why, she made a comment about the importance of voting and alluded to younger generations being generally apathetic towards politics.

Part of me wanted to be offended and say to her, "I have voted in EVERY single election, minor or major, since I was 18" but, I couldn't. Her analysis was unfortunately accurate.

I've been fighting the apathy among my friends and colleagues for years and now that most of them are in their late 20s-early 30s with student loans, mortgages, 401Ks, kids, etc, they finally care.

They care NOW because they see and feel how it can affect them.

I wish I would have been successful in previous years, showing them the importance of voting.

I actually made a blog post about it years ago and sadly, little has changed since then.

HOW do we wake up voters and make them realize the importance of making their voices heard?

How it is done in our house is we all get our ballots absentee. Leading up to the election, we gather information separately, for both offices and propositions. I tend to scribble my notes directly into the voting guide. Then on voting day, we sit around the table and discuss each individual item we are voting on. Everyone contributes information they have learned, interpretation, pros and cons, etc. Then we each vote how we decide individually--sometimes we all agree, but often we make different choices. Then we drive to the local polling location and drop off our ballots. There is no waiting or lines, because we just need to hand them our ballots.

I'm so with you, TG! Vote and make your voice heard. It's not about winning--it's about showing up and being counted. Years ago, during some kind of tumult, the TV news interviewed a well spoken, nicely put together young man, who was identified as a leader in the community that was outraged in that crisis. I stopped what I was doing to listen to him because I thought he'd have something informative to say. Instead, he was mostly angry (fair, given the situation) and was saying that his community weren't going to vote so long as whatever they were protesting continued. I don't remember the cause, but I do remember him. And I remember feeling so disappointed that a leader, and a seemingly intelligent and educated leader, would say something so ignorant and dangerous.

It's true that smaller communities, voting groups, ethnic blocks, etc., don't always see themselves in the winners of elections, but putting aside the importance of voting on the laws that make it to the ballot, it's the strength of the voting block, and the numbers of count-on-'em-to-show-up voters, that gets the attention from those who are elected, and from the party stalwarts of all parties. If you have voters in numbers, the bigwigs will come knocking and offering you a piece of the pie! The reason why so many cater to old white guys is that old white guys vote!

OTOH, I also agree with you on the informed electorate. In Australia, you're required to vote. I don't think you actually have to fill in the ballot, but you do have to put it in the box, or whatever they do. That means that the apathetic, who are forced to vote despite their druthers, are voting for the one with a pretty name or good hair or who has the voter's lucky number on the ballot.

Gyr_Falcon, there are places where the sample ballot was traditionally printed in the newspaper (so you'd have to pay for it, though it's probably also online now where you'd only have to pay for the paper and ink--though you might have to go to a library and ask the librarian to print it for you if you were a senior with no computer knowledge and failing eyesight, and that could in itself be onerous). These sample ballots don't look like the actual election materials, like ours do; they're formatted however the publisher feels like doing it. A couple of decades ago, parties and interest groups started mailing their own sample ballots that looked more like the election materials as part of their campaigning, though they often filled them out with the choices they were promoting. There are also probably third party analyses of the laws, and I think some places have far fewer referenda (if any) than we do, and, maybe they print the text in the newspaper too. But you have to work at it much harder if you have to chase all that down, that's for sure!

I'm unenrolled. When I voted on Tuesday I was asked whether I wanted a Democrat or Republican ballot. I had to choose one. That was annoying, because there were candidates for local office on the ballet, too, and I wanted to vote for the people I thought were best regardless of party. But - I had to choose, and did so, reluctantly.

I don't like it but here all candidates and offices are on a single ballot (which I like) but if you vote for a Party A candidate for one office, you cannot vote for a Party B candidate for another office.

Well said Texas_Gem about INFORMED voters, and voting too. I get SO frustrated when people listen to only one TV channel and vote by the tripe, fraud, lies and misinformation they spew. (And there's plenty of channels that spew different stuff for different parties so it's not just one.)

It's not difficult to become at least a little informed and then use your mind. I have always voted for the person, not the party and I'm proud of it. Parties swing like a pendulum but if you get the feel of what the person believes and wants to accomplish you'll do a lot better and get better representation.

And I also believe you have a duty to not just vote, but be a little informed when you vote. I wish more people felt that way. I respect people who are informed and disagree with me. I do not respect people who are misinformed and won't listen or better stated, who reject enlightenment.

It depends on the State. If you're registered as an independent -- in Missouri, for the primary you tell them whether you want the Democrat or Republican Ballot. In Kansas for the primary you get a ballot showing independent candidates only. Which means that basically there is no one to vote for!

In Massachusetts,I am an undeclared voter. When I go to the polls I can enroll in whatever party I want to get the appropriate ballot and then change it back again just like that. Its the most fair way to do it I think.

Some states keep tampering with the system trying to influence the outcome but it often comes back to bite them.

We do not declare a party affiliation when we register -- we can pull any party's ballot in a primary.

I was visiting in California year when I was asked about the "voter suppression" in my home state (Ohio).

I explained that we can register in person, or by mail; that we can drop off our registration form at any library, high school, BMV office, or state government office; that we have 30 days to vote in person or by absentee ballot (no restrictions on voting absentee); that we don't need a state ID -- we can show a pay stub, work ID, or any utility bill, or government letter, check, document etc that has our name and address on it.

Really not much different than California. The questioners were quite astonished. They had been convinced that it was nearly impossible for a poor person to vote in this state.

We are in the Houston area and did have to choose the party we wanted to vote for and received the ballot accordingly. My voter registration card also has my party choice on it. We voted by mail this year, received a packet in the mail with the ballot, a security envelope and the mailing envelope. The ballot was strictly for the party we had selected, no option to vote for any other party. I did extensive research online on the various candidates for the various offices and all things included on the ballot. I made my informed decisions and my husband did the same. We signed dated, sealed in the security envelope, you have to sign your name in a box across the seal after it's sealed much like the old wax seals. Then into the mailing envelope and add 49c postage. We did that at the post office and handed them to be mailed. There was some debate over whether a forever stamp would work, didn't want to risk anything so had the post office print individual 49c postage.

We usually do early voting but it's getting more difficult with my wheelchair and the lines. Some polling places have a dedicated handicap entrance which is much easier but unfortunately not all, our current location does not. I thought the vote by mail was a very good experience. I will definitely do it again. I have voted since I was old enough to do so, I value the experience and the ability to express my interest.

In NC you can ask for a ballot for any party in a primary if you are unaffiliated.