AP: Tons of Republicans switched sides in March (OpChaos Returns)

The number of Republicans who switched sides to vote for Democrats in Ohio’s March 4 presidential primary easily eclipsed President Bush’s 120,000-vote margin of victory in the state that decided the presidency four years ago, documents released Monday show.

Although a small portion of total voters, the 173,000 people who previously voted Republican but voted Democratic in the primary could be an important group in the November election, when Ohio is again expected to be crucial.

The party-switching in 85 of Ohio’s 88 counties with data available could be a sign of excitement about Democratic candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. But not all of these voters can be counted on to again vote Democratic against presumptive Republican nominee U.S. Sen. John McCain.

Some of the crossover voters felt their choice counted more on the Democratic side because McCain had all but won the Republican nomination. Some said they disliked Clinton so much that they wanted to vote against her. And some of the wild-card voters sought by both sides are still torn, but they voted in the Democratic contest to try to make sure each party had a nominee they could potentially support. The reasons were varied and complex.

“I could not stomach to have another Clinton in the White House,” said Karen Purdy, one of the Republicans who switched. “I thought the country needed a fresh start and I thought Obama could do that.”

Purdy, of Elida in traditionally Republican Allen County in northwest Ohio, doesn’t know which candidate will get her vote in the fall. Her husband, Dennis, switched to help out Obama as well but is voting for McCain in November.

Republicans switching sides represented roughly 8 percent of the 2.2 million Democratic ballots that were cast in Ohio in a contest in which Clinton beat Obama by about 10 points. About four of every five voters who switched parties for the primary went from Republican to Democrat.

The election shattered Ohio primary turnout records, with about 3.5 million people voting - or about 45 percent of registered voters.

Democrats have pointed to high turnout across the nation as a sign that voters are discouraged with the Republican majority in Washington and eager to vote for Democratic candidates who would both make history. Clinton, whose campaign is now on the ropes after a large defeat in North Carolina and a slim win in Indiana, would be the first female president. Obama would be the nation’s first black president.

Interviews with crossover voters in Allen County showed a wide range of reasons for the switch.

The county, which has twice voted for President Bush by a two-to-one margin, was one of several previously Republican-dominated counties that had more Democrats than Republicans after the primary, due largely to the number of newly registered Democratic voters.

Voters in Ohio may choose a ballot from either party but generally must sign a statement saying they uphold the principles of that party. Once voters choose a particular ballot, they are considered members of that party.

Allen County went from having 5,527 registered Democrats before the primary to 14,503 after. Republicans went from 14,115 to 13,379. The county had 1,500 voters switch parties - 1,399 of them went from Republican to Democrat.

Democrats are banking on voters such as Janet and Tom Stalter of the Lima area, who have voted Republican for 50 years but switched in March to vote for Obama.

“We just decided we like Obama the best of the three and we think he can help our country,” said Janet Stalter, who quipped that her die-hard Republican grandfather was probably rolling over in his grave as she spoke. Clinton wouldn’t have gotten them to switch: “We’ve had enough of ‘slick Willy’ so to say.”

But Carla Zerbe is the kind of crossover voter the Democrats may lose unless the unlikely happens and Clinton wins the nomination. If Obama wins, she will vote Democratic if he chooses Clinton as a his running mate. If not, she will probably vote for McCain.

“I think his minister did it for me,” Zerbe said about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the man who served as Obama’s pastor and made several controversial statements, including that the U.S. government may have developed the AIDS virus to infect blacks. Obama has since denounced Wright - Zerbe believes for political purposes.

“It’s a matter of loyalty and a matter of trust for me right now,” she said.

Lynn Gibson is still another version of the Ohio crossover voter. The “Harry Truman” Democrat switched to Republican for the first time in his life for local races, but he doesn’t plan to vote for any of the presidential candidates.

Obama and Clinton? “They’re socialists not Democrats,” Gibson said. McCain? “He’s a Democrat-light.”

“I’m tired of voting for someone who’s the lesser of two evils,” he said.

That's why I think the only hope is to keep the economy free enough that per capita the government shrinks relative to our growth.

Expanding economy and "the invisible hand" of free markets and free trade [and as a corollary, free movement of people and capital, interstate and/or overseas] are essential to keep at bay and limiting the growth of government's interference (taxes, regulations, mandates etc.) in our economic and private life. Without them there is nothing to stop governments from doing what is natural and what they do "best" - accumulation of more power and financial and human resources which would have nowhere else to go, no valve to escape and leave the "wells" of the oppressive government dry. That's about the only check on the oppressive government.

In that light, it's interesting what's going on regarding autonomy movement of some provinces and farms in Bolivia and financial no-confidence vote in currency and government of Argentina right now.

I have a serious problem with the GOP's primary process. It seems to have been tailored by the Country Clubbers to make sure that northeast liberals get the nomination. They emphasize Iowa and NH, let Dems vote in several of the key states, and use a winner take all system. When there are 2 main candidates (Bush vs. Reagan in 1980, or Bush vs. McCain in 2000) or when there is a strong frontrunner in the pack, like when a VP is running, it might work out ok. But when it's a wide open field, a 30 percent vote gets you 100 percent of the delegates. This allows the MSM to concentrate on the Pubbie they like the most (Dole, McCain) and work really really hard on behalf of that candidate. Dem voters come out and vote for that candidate, too. Then, when there are 3 or 4 or 5 other candidates, the good ones get lost in the shuffle. Especially if they split the conservative votes between evangelicals (Huckleberry) and security/fiscal conservatives (Thompson).

A proportional system like the Dems have would have given us a race that lasted longer, with conservative candidates in in to the end. Operation Chaos in reverse, except keeping conservatives in the race helps our party. Then they could go to the convention with no one having a majority and the convention would pick the winner. Even better would be to reshuffle the order of states and only allow Republican, genuine Republicans, to vote in the primaries. A $10/year charge for joining the party ought to suffice to keep the phony Republicans away.

Unfortunately, I see no sign that any of those things will happen in the GOP nominating process. 2012 will be a repeat of 2008, and we will have another RINO nominee. Therefore, whatever people choose to do this year with McCain, all conservatives need to look at setting up an alternative system for 2012, either within or outside the GOP.

When Marlin at- tempted to turn in his completed ballot, an election worker informed him he "could not cast his ballot while wearing the sticker." Affidavit of David H. Marlin

After a second election worker accepted Marlin's ballot, the first worker told Marlin he would not be permitted to vote in the general election if he was wearing "any sticker, button, emblem, or clothing that showed support for a candidate." Id. After the primary Marlin and his counsel contacted the Board, which told Marlin's counsel that the District's election regulations, promulgated by the Board,1 prohibited voters from wearing political paraphernalia inside a polling place but that, if Marlin insisted on wearing a campaign sticker, he would be permitted to vote curbside at the general election. Marlin wore a sticker and voted curbside on November 3, 1998.

Seems this refers more to actual candidates, rather than a political process - closing primaries - at the very least in FL, TX and OH.

Marlin wasn't the candidate: “The material facts are not in dispute. On September 15, 1998 Marlin, a resident and registered voter of the District of Columbia (District), went to his polling place to vote in a primary election while wearing a campaign sticker in support of mayoral candidate Anthony Williams.

Political stickers, clothing with political slogans, hats with political logos, and in at least one case I can recall a bumper sticker on a car, are all generally considered campaigning at polling places and will get you kicked out. I have lived in several states as an adult and all of them have the rule that you cannot campaign at polling places, period (they usually have a rule about X feet).

The basic rule seems very widespread. A quick search shows tons and tons of links to laws, cases, etc. This claims (not doesn't cite it's source) that all 50 states have some sort of law regarding that sort of thing: http://www.ehow.com/how_2121948_campaign-near-polling-place.html

It doesn't even have to be blatantly for one candidate or the other. Here is the bumper sticker case:

http://www.bloggernews.net/11202

The bumper sticker read "Grand Oil Party".

You would be better off wearing a RW&B bandana or something else that was noticable but not blatantly political. They hand out RW&B "I voted" stickers, so that should be ok.

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