Do Americans have to register which way they vote?

Old Bookworm,

In the state of New Mexico, you must be registered as a Republican or as a Democratic to vote in the Primary. We have what is called a Closed Primary. The Primary is the election held before the general election to narrow the candidates down to one candidate for each office. In our Primary election we might have 8 candidates for Governor, 5 for Senator, 3 for U. S. Representative in the party. But we can only have one candidate for each race. Our Primary is in June. In our state only the Republicans can vote for the Republicans and only the Democrats can vote for the Democrats.

So in the Primary we decide if we are going to register as a Republican or register as a Democratic. Now if a voter registers as an independent they are not allowed to vote in either the Republican or the Democratic race because they have said that their loyalty is not with either party.

Now in the General Election, held in November, I as a registered voter may vote for people in either party. In other words, I can for for the Republican Senator candidate, the Democratic Mayor, and the Republican Secretary of State.

But in the New Mexico Primary held in June all of my candidates will be the same as I registered. I am picking the one candidate I want for each office to run against the other party's one candidate. The other people will get to vote for the candidates, I and the other voters will pick in June.

Map

Hope this helps.

Wow, while all the answers are technically correct I'll bet you're more confused than before you asked.

I suspect you're asking about the Presidential selection process.

In the general election you can vote for whichever candidate you prefer no matter how you're registered. You can be registered as any party, or no party. Your vote is secret.

In the primary election the party is selecting their candidates. You can only vote within one party. Some states have open primaries where you select the ballot (Republican or Democrat) when you vote. Others have closed primaries, which means you must pre-register your party affiliation to get a ballot. A few states have caucuses, which are not open to the public. In a caucus the party insiders select the candidate.

The reason for closed primaries is to keep opposing parties from causing mischief. Since President Obama is essentially unopposed for the Democratic nomination it might be tempting for Democrats to vote a republican ballot to influence the Republican primary. It frequently happens in open primary states. It requires forethought and the effort to change your registration in closed primary states.

The registration laws vary by state. In most states you have to either register for a party, or register as an "independent". You NEVER have to tell anyone who you will be voting for. States have primaries to narrow down the party candidates to one apiece. Some states run open primaries, where anyone can vote in either parties primary, or closed primaries where the voting is limited to whichever party you are registered with. Independent registered voters don't get to vote in closed primaries so there is an incentive to pick a party, even if you won't necessarily vote that way in the general election. Clear as mud?

It depends on the state and the candidate you want to vote for. For example, I consider myself an independent, but I wanted to vote for a Democrat in the last election. Because of the laws in my state, I had to register as a Democrat in order to do so.

Yes, but you can always register as an Independent, but that deprives you of voting in the primaries in some states.

You can be registered as Independent or Unaffiliated, but most people feel safer choosing Republican or Democrat. It makes them feel part of the crowd

It's the same as becoming a party member in Australia (Like the Liberal party), giving you the right to vote for who will run for your party in the election (which most people don't do)

You can register as independent or unaffiliated. It's mostly so only republicans vote in republican primaries and vice versa.

I didn't. I just had to fill out a form saying who I was and my address, then they mailed an acceptance.

I'm used to voting in a machine but where I've moved to they give you a paper to fill out. First time they gave me one for democrat and I had no idea who any of them were, I asked whats up and they gave me one for republican.

In most states, yes. In some states you just have to register.