14,500 Democrats Change Party Affiliation To Vote In RI GOP Primary

More than 14,500 Rhode Island Democrats have switched their voter affiliations within the past six months to participate in the Sept. 12 Republican primary, a figure that experts say will probably help incumbent Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee in his campaign against Cranston Mayor Stephen P. Laffey.

State elections records compiled by the secretary of state's office show that 13,596 Democrats switched their affiliations to independent -- or unaffiliated in the state's political argot -- which would make them eligible to vote in the primary. An additional 987 Democrats switched to Republican, thus making them eligible to vote in the GOP primary.

Under Rhode Island's hybrid primary system, these independents can vote in either the Republican or Democratic primaries. Registered Republicans however, are eligible to vote only in the Republican primary, and registered Democrats only in the Democratic primary.

Additional stats:

Switching from the GOP to unaffiliated were 3,768 voters, and changing from Republican to Democratic were 457. The number of unaffiliated voters switching to the Democratic Party was 2,432.

Ninety-seven Green Party enrollees moved to the unaffiliated column in the last six months.

http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20060617_rivote17.15a945c.html

In Georgia, we have a similar quandry. Do we vote in the GOP Lt. Governor's race againts Ralph Reed or do we root for Reed, believing his candidacy will drag Gov. Perdue down?

Time to get our game face on.

I used to laugh about what I did for their numbers when I voted straight Democratic in the General elections :evilgrin:

Can someone explain this to me? How can I help the Dems by registering as a Repig or Independent in the primaries?

Repug primary hoping to keep the total RW wackjob off the ballot

For a lot of people, its not about party affiliation, its about the person, and they want Chafee to be re-elected, so they switch their affiliation to vote for Chafee in his contentious primary.

What helps in a state like RI is that Chafee actually votes with the President and the Republicans less than Democrats like Ben Nelson and Mary Landreau.

in the general election.

Too cute. You're not going to get all of those 14,000+ to switch back, even if it's the original intention. They get off our registration lists and they stop getting the calls and mailings. Might get comfortable voting for someone other than our candidate. In a small populus state like RI, 14,000 is a chunk.

scale. Way to go Rhode Island Dems!