Reverse “Operation Chaos” didn’t work.
In my polling place, they new if you voted in the 1st original primary or not.
If this was your 1st time to vote, they asked what party’s ballot you wanted.
If it was on record which primary you voted for, that was whose ballot you received now.
Brilliant.
My wife did not vote in the original primary and was asked which ballot she needed.(trust me, she was on the “right” side).
I was on record from the original primary, and I got my proper ballot.
They used to stamp your voter card (paper) when you voted in the primary. I used my driver’s license for both the primary and runoff but they properly gave me the GOP ballot in the runoff.
I do question the process by which someone who did not vote in any primary can vote in the runoff election. Not the legality of it, but why does the process permit this? You declare your party membership when you vote in a primary. You ain’t in the party if you skip the primary (although you can vote for “whoever” in the general election).
With no presidential contender in the DNC primary (and the GOP nominee was already sewn up), some sat it out. No sense in tolerating them mucking with the GOP’s runoff election. Only a subset of those who vote in a primary (and there were multiple contenders, reduced to two for the runoff) will show up for the runoff.
You can’t vote in a primary and sign a petition to get a third party candidate on the ballot. There are still ways to express yourself politically if you skip the primaries.