Registered Independent in Pennsylvania? Your vote doesn’t count!
I’m absolutely OUTRAGED right now.
This morning, I woke up and made my coffee. I checked my email, showered and walked up to my polling station at Kelker and Third streets in Harrisburg. What happened next nearly knocked my off my feet!
Perhaps I’m to blame for not reading the fine print of our agreement, but it appears that as a registered Independent, MY VOTE DOESN’T COUNT in this primary.
And the SICK part is- it seems as though people are WELL aware of this fact and have done NOTHING to change it!
Essentially, the government of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is PENALIZING those of us who are registered Independent for not siding with one party or another.
I CHOOSE to not align myself with any one party.
Both parties have their flaws.
I believe in personal credibility, willingness to take action, intelligent decision making and values which mirror my own.
I DO NOT believe in limiting my self to only two choices.
I believe in voting for the BEST CANDIDATE- regardless of which party he or she affiliates with.
By The Commonwealths logic- by BARRING me from the voting process and eliminating me from the collective decision making process, I should ALSO be dismissed from contributing my tax monies.
Oh, why’s that?
Because I do not have the right to cast my vote for the candidates I believe in during one of the most important elections in this city’s history- therefore, I’m unable to effectively make my voice heard as to which candidates I approve of-
So if the candidates who I oppose win this race and gain control of My City Council pass a legislation which I do not agree with- should I be required to follow that legislation?
Independents were EXCLUDED from this process.
Therefore, we should be EXCLUDED from suffering through several more years of fiscal and social mismanagement of this city.
Can someone PLEASE explain to me the logic behind this law?
I cannot think of one good reason why an of-age person living, working and paying taxes in a community should not be allowed to cast a vote.
If I can’t vote, why should I bother participating?
You can’t beat the system, just work it. You gotta change the registration back and forth or lose the right to vote in the primary. This is Pennsylvania.
You are allowed to vote on Act 1.
They will let you do that.
Yeah, it really sucks that we have a closed primary. I’ve had friends do what Anniken said many times so that they can vote for whomever in the primary and then change back before the general.
The only way it is going to change is if someone at the PA State Department decides a change is needed. Although, since the decision makers are all political appointees, I doubt that will ever happen.
So what’s the point of having a primary election, then? How long have you been registered Independent, because . . here’s a news flash for you . . . you can’t vote in the presidential or other federal election primaries either.
The primary elections are designed so that members of the political parties can decide who their best candidate(s) are heading into the general . . . they determine the future and course of the party. They’re not for everyone to vote in. Dems shouldn’t be choosing the direction of the GOP and vice versa . . . we Independents don’t get a choice b/c we haven’t signed on either side, and rightfully so, I say
This isn’t exactly a state secret, Mike . . . I think I learned this in 8th grade civics class.
As noted, Independents can vote on Act 1 this election, the only issue of broad application.
Thanks for the insight, Cogs, but in case you missed it, I didn’t go to 8th grade civics class in Pennsylvania.
Thought you would have been able to determine that from the domain name.
I’ve mentioned before and I’ll humbly say it again- I’m not an expert on the inner workings of our state government- but I know bullshit when I smell it.
Just because “that’s just the way it is here” doesn’t make it right.
Independents can’t vote in Jersey primaries either . . . Jersey does have a provision which allows you to declare a party affiliation on the date of the primary if you have not previously declared an affiliation, and vote in that party’s primary, but you can not maintain your independent status and vote in the primary . . . if you do vote in a primary, in New Jersey, you are no longer a registered independent . . . you become a dem or a repub and can only vote in that party’s primary.
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I never said that’s just the way it is here . . . I provided a perfectly sound explanation for it:
The primary elections are designed so that members of each political party can decide who their best candidate(s) are heading into the general . . . they determine the future and course of the party. They’re not for everyone to vote in. Dems shouldn’t be choosing the direction of the GOP and vice versa . . . we Independents don’t get a choice b/c we haven’t signed on either side, and rightfully so, I say.
They’re set up this way because primaries were traditionally not held by the state, but by the parties independently . . . they used to be on different days. It’s only been relatively recently that the state’s actual conduct the primaries . . . used to be the parties that conducted them because it’s a process among the members of a party to choose the direction they want to go.
By registering independent, we’ve decided we’re outside that bull shit, and, as such, we’re not involved in the primary.
A very small minority of states don’t have closed primaries like PA and NJ.
I really have little sympathy because you didn’t bother to look into what it meant when you chose to register independent and just assumed that it meant what you wanted it to . . . like I said, it’s not a big secret . . . did you think you could vote in Republican and Democratic Presidential primaries too? It’s relatively the same in New Jersey as PA, except for the above differences, as far as I can see (of course, I didn’t take civics in New Jersey).
Remember, it’s not just the Independents in the city who can’t vote for the 3 candidates who will effectively be our next councilmembers; all of the registered Republicans also have no vote.
Sorry Jersy, but I disagree with you on this one. Closed primaries make sense. They are an opportunity for the members of a political party to choose who they want to represent them in the open election.
There are unintended consequences that occurn in states with open primaries. For example, it is very common for people in these states to vote for the weakest candidate of the other party in order to try to stack the deck for the general election. This is not good. Democrats should not be able to select a Republican candidate and vice versa. Closed primaries are about the inner workings of an organization, and it does not make sense to allow outsiders to be part of that.
It is unfortunate that in a city, or area that is overwhelmingly one sided in party registration that a primary is effectually a general election, however, as others have said, a primary is for members of a declared party to decide which of their candidates is best suited to run in the general election. Taking this into account, even though you have independent leanings, it may behoove you to change your registration to D in time for the mayoral election in 2 years. You could always switch it back.
The other option is to get candidates to run as an independent….
You should have been allowed to vote on Act 1 and if you were refused, you need to contact the Election Board….
I’m registered with the Green party. I sympathize, because I often wish I could vote on the primaries of other parties too, but that wouldn’t be fair.
Only Democrats should be able to decide who they’re going to run for office. That’s the way it should work with every party.
Maybe you should join a party. Third parties need registered members in order to gain greater ballot access. Join a third party and you’d effectively remain independent in the primaries, but you’d help the cause of getting more ballot diversity in November. Then you could vote for whomever you want.