Posted on 03/04/2024 11:57:02 AM PST by cotton1706
Though the parties and pundits have been quick to anoint President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump as their presumptive nominees, many voters still have an important opportunity to make their voices heard on Super Tuesday. Republican Nikki Haley and Democrat Dean Phillips, for example, may be long shots within their primaries, but they are also legitimate vehicles for voters to express a desire for an alternative to a presidential rematch that more than two-thirds of Americans say they do not want.
This frustration with the likely 2024 presidential matchup is especially true among independent voters. Yet on Super Tuesday, closed presidential primaries (where only voters registered with a party can participate) in four states (Alaska, California, Oklahoma and Utah) deny 6.2 million independents a true choice in the contest for the White House. While the Democratic parties in these states allow independent voters to participate in their primaries this cycle, independents are not permitted to vote in the Republican primaries – which feature the only competitive national contest in 2024, between Trump and Haley.
This systemic silencing of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing segment of the electorate is outrageous – and it has profound negative consequences not only for our democracy, but the political parties themselves.
Nationally, 43% of voters identify as independent, compared to 27% for both Democrats and Republicans. In 22 states, 23.5 million independent voters are locked out of closed primaries for president or Congress in 2024 – up nearly 20% over the last decade. In fact, 3 out of 4 voters consider it a “violation of voting rights,” according to a January poll conducted by Change Research for Unite America. These “excluded independent” voters are disproportionately younger and more likely to be veterans than the general population.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
What oh what will we do without the blessed "independents" voting??
Then they should start their own party.
The real independents usually stay home in primaries.
Most of the ones who show up are leaning one way and trying to mess with the other party.
They should be banned from all Republican Party primaries.
If the Democrats want to play stupid games let them do it in their toxic waste dump.
I’ve always been an ‘independent’, and I’m not complaining.
I’m registered as ‘No Preference’ in Florida, so I don’t vote for anybody of either party in the primary.
I don’t get these ‘OPEN PRIMARY’ states that allow people to vote in party primaries that they don’t support. WHY EVEN HAVE PARTIES?..................
Independents just love to play the sought after coy virgin.
Anybody can change party to try and manipulate the primaries and ultimately the general election.
“I don’t get these ‘OPEN PRIMARY’ states that allow people to vote in party primaries that they don’t support. WHY EVEN HAVE PARTIES?..................”
Bottom line: it’s so conservatives can be defeated.
Some of us don’t trust politics and politicians in general; some want to vote for the man, not the party; and some of us just ain’t ‘joiners’.
There has always been a misunderstanding of independents.
They are not in the middle and unable to choose a side.
They generally reject the sides. Taxing and spending are not issue of interest. Drain the Swamp IS an issue of interest, and that points at both the fringe 27% parties. Build the Wall ditto. It points at neither of the fringe parties, because those parties don’t want it built.
Independents reject self declared elitism of the two fringe parties. Populism is ascendant and that is why Independents lean Trump.
They CHOSE to remove themselves from this decision. A primary election is a process by which the PARTY choses its candidate. People who have chosen not to affiliate with a PARTY are welcome to sit down and shut up. The primary election has nothing to do with them.
Boo Hoo
Corporate state media pimping for Nikita Rodham Randhawa.
“Corporate state media pimping for Nikita Rodham Randhawa.”
Otherwise known as Nikki “Birdbrain” McRomBush.
It's the only reason I register Republican, to vote in my closed primary. Independents are fee to make their own choice and stop complaining.
Nothing is stopping them from registering as republicans.
Independent is just a word they use because they think it’s cool.
You’re MAGA or your not.
Everything else is just NeverTrump.
Time to choose folks.
No sitting this one out.
Independents are also suspicious of a system where two very powerful political parties dominate.
We seem to be in good company - George Washington greatly feared the rise of what he called powerful political ‘factions’. he feared the divisiveness that might ensue. (And it looks like he was correct in his fears.)
“Independent is just a word they use because they think it’s cool.”
That’s correct. I used to have discussions/semi-arguments with a guy from work. He kept saying “I’m an independent.” He wasn’t. He was a Democrat. Which is fine. Had no problem with that. But he pretended to be “independent”
The only reason to register Republican is to vote in the primaries.
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