Posted on 04/19/2016 12:56:55 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Last week, I wrote a post titled, Hillary Clinton Will Win New York, Because New York is Running a Banana Republic Primary. Here’s an excerpt:
Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you’ll know that New Yorkers go to the primary voting booths on April 19th. Unfortunately, only a small sliver of the population will actually be able to vote. First, it’s a closed primary, so you have to be registered as a member of one of the two corrupt political parties in order to participate. As the Guardian recently reported, 27% of New York state’s active voters were not registered in either party as of April 2016, meaning these people will have no say in the primary. Even worse, what about all those residents who aren’t active voters, but would very likely vote in this particular election given the increased turnout seen in other states? They’re iced out as well.
New York has one of the most archaic primaries in the nation. Not only is it one of only 11 states with closed primaries, but if you are a registered voter who wanted to change your party affiliation in order to vote in next week’s primary, you would’ve had to do it by last October. In contrast, if you weren’t yet a registered voter you had until March 25th to register under one of the two parties in order to vote in the primary. So if you live in New York and haven’t registered by now, you can’t vote.
Well the big day is finally here, and as expected, the primary is already riddled with problems.
First, as reported by the New York Daily News in the article, New York City Primary Voters Outraged by Broken Machines, Closed Polling Places:
New York primary voting at some Brooklyn and Queens polling places was a disaster Tuesday morning — with early morning voters arriving to broken machines and belated polling.
Queens resident George Mack said he came to P.S. 52 in Springfield Gardens to vote right at 6 a.m. He, and about 50 other early voters, learned all three machines on site were broken. Volunteers at the school told voters to place their ballots in a slot, and they would all get processed later.
Meanwhile, voters at the Cooper Park Houses in Greenpoint, Brooklyn couldn’t even get close to a machine. More than two hours after polls were supposed to open at 6 a.m., that site was still closed.
A similar snafu happened at the Atlantic Terminal site in Brooklyn, which didn’t open until after 7:30.
“They told me the key to the building had not arrived yet,” voter Tara McCauley told the News.
A Board of Elections representative arrived around 8, she said, and told voters he had been busy tending to problems at other polls. Voting finally started at Atlantic Terminal around 8:30.
“I am sure there are many people who tried to vote and had to leave who will not be able to come back,” she said.
Reps at the New York State Board of Elections could not immediately be reached for comment, and the press office’s voicemail was full Tuesday morning.
But that’s not all. We learn the following from USUncut:
New York’s Democratic primary is starting to look an awful lot like the Arizona primary.
Hundreds of voters, most of them registered with the Democratic Party, are filing a class-action lawsuit against the New York State Board of Elections on Monday morning, claiming their voter registration was changed to “independent” or “no affiliation” without their consent.
For more on what transpired in Arizona, see: American Democracy – Allegations of Voter Suppression Emerge from the Arizona Primary
In closed primary states like New York, voters who are not registered as Democrats or Republicans can’t vote in those primaries. Voters identifying as independents wishing to vote in the Democratic primary had to change their registration to Democrat by October of 2015 — the earliest registration deadline in the country.
I didn’t call it a Banana Republic primary for nothing.
New York voters angry about the mysterious change in their party affiliation have taken to a Facebook group titled “Voters whose registration was changed without their knowledge in NY” to share their horror stories. Shelly Berry discovered that someone had changed her voter registration in 2012, even forging her signature on the document.
The party affiliation barrier these voters are struggling with will undoubtedly play a role in the New York primary on Tuesday. Some advocates are calling for New York to open its primary to independent voters to avoid disenfranchising thousands of voters.
But hey…
http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/a-republican-nomination-process
You may be interested in the above link which was written after the failed 2012 election. It goes into some of the old history of the process, more recent changes in the 1970’s (which you mention), the mess we are in now, and some possible fixes.
My summary of the article is that our process now leaves our contender bruised, bloodied and broke before the Main Event even gets started.
Good article. My take on the current process is that we are choosing the next President through a process that resembles “American Idol”. I for one, wants to have nothing to do with a President who might emerge out of the “American Idol” process. The “free stuff” crowd will select the lowest denominator winner of the Presidential contest. He or she will be a Democrat who will promise and deliver free bread and spectacular events at the Coliseum. All of this will be paid for by the citizens of the empire who are producing wealth and manning the defense of the limes against the barbarians. We will get the President that we deserve.
But at least better than the fiasco in both CO and in WY.
Lyin’ Ted must be up to his old tricks again
So true.
Probably Rafael.
RE: Lyin’ Ted must be up to his old tricks again
If we had BDS Bush Derangement Syndrome before, Now we have CDS ( Cruz Derangement Syndrome ).
For now that is, for now.
Yet this is why we have the mess we are now in with regard to the primary voting process.
Ain’t that the sad truth
We have a political system that is designed to nominate and elect a liberal, and eliminate the viable conservative early on. This is exactly what the Democrats and Media envisioned.
....And this why folks have had it with the same-old, same-old.
Strange hours but it’s their choice......
Primary Elections
In New York City and the counties of Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Putnam and Erie,
POLLS OPEN AT 6 AM - CLOSE AT 9 PM.
In all other counties,
POLLS OPEN AT 12 NOON and CLOSE AT 9 PM.
General Election
POLLS OPEN AT 6 AM - CLOSE AT 9 PM
http://www.elections.ny.gov/FAQ.html
But, my take on most of these is that they are falling into the trap that has been set by the liberals and we will end up doing exactly what the liberals want.
Just your opinion, that is all.
New York has one of the most archaic primaries in the nation. Not only is it one of only 11 states with closed primaries, no.... that's the way it's supposed to be stooopid!!! i don't want RATS having a say as to who my candidate is
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.