This can be misleading. Years ago I asked someone why so many people were registered as dimocrats in the NC county where I lived that looked like they would have better sense. I was told it was because of the local elections for sheriff in counties with large black populations. Why a sheriff position should be affiliated with a political party doesn’t seem right to me but that’s just the way it is. Before the ‘unaffiliated’ voter group, that can vote in either primary, was created people registered as dimocrats because the sheriff’s were always chosen in the primary. The sheriffs running had to run as dimocrats to get the black vote. I was told lots of these registered dimocrats voted republican in the general elections. There are still a lot of people, especially older voters, that don’t realize they don’t have to be dimocrats any longer in order to have a chance to vote for sheriffs. They simply don’t understand the ‘unaffiliated’ voter benefits.
I have always been unaffiliated in NC and occasionally I have had to explain to poll workers that I can vote in any primary. They do record on the public record which primary you voted in.