Luckily, here in Alabama we do not have to belong to a party in order to vote in a primary. You simply ask for a democrat or Republican ballot when you go to vote. I don't know how lucky that is, it totally invalidates the primary process. It allows RATs to choose GOP candidates and vice-versa.
I, for the life of me, don't understand how Republicans can stand for it, unless it is the e-GOP allowing it to combat conservativism.
I do understand you. It's just that ‘rats are a beleaguered minority down here, and their votes in our primary don't make any dents at all, as they're so eager fighting over the scraps in their own primaries. Then they get beat by us in the general.
We do need to change that at some point. Still, I love being an "independent" for the pollsters so I can help push that group rightward!