Interesting piece by DiLeo but he should know better. In Illinois as well as other states that have an open primary you do not dclare your party preference but once inside the polling booth and the curtain is closed. One goes to that section of the ballot which has your party preference and mark it. There are other means a good party poll watcher (precinct captain) can tell how they suspect you vote. But they don’t know for certain which way you voted.
Any precinct captain pulling this stuff off (suggesting they know how you voted) should have their name taken and a Fed complaint filed against him or her.Is what DiLeo should have advised. Wether the fed under todays conditions do anything about it is another matter but that poop stops right quick.
Good evening, Moses!
Thanks for your comments, but no, that’s not how it works, at least not in Illinois.
We do have to declare our party in the primary, so that they give us the right ballot. We announce ourselves, they check us in the list, and they ask “what party do you want?” We say Republican or Democrat, and they hand us whichever ballot we choose.
I have heard that there are a couple of states that actually allow a person to vote on both the Republican and Democrat primary races... that’s even more outrageous and insane than ours.
I believe in the closed primary process, but sadly, we don’t have one here.
So... while I can’t speak for exactly how every state does it, the way that I laid it out above is certainly exactly how it works in Illinois.
So it IS a matter of public record which party the person voted in the spring, and that’s why the Dems have the information to generate these letters in a lot of states.
Whether it’s a good idea, or it will backfire on them, of course, is quite another matter. Hence my column.
Cheers,
JFD
Got a letter last week Showed my voting record and several of my neighbors for the last 3 elections. Made me VERY angry that my voting record has been published. Do not think I will register again. So much fraud, voting does not make a difference anyway.