Glory hallelujah! When I was a teenager, and voting for the first time, I had to register as a Democrat, otherwise there was no one to vote for in the primaries. No one.
I was a conservative Democrat, but there were no Republicans running for office.
I don’t know if this was an anomaly or not, but that was my experience.
It was that way in Oklahoma, too. Now every single county voted Trump.
I was born and raised in Florida and it was the same for my parents. They were registered Democrats only because the Republicans stood zero chance at any elective office in Florida in those days. Of course Southern Democrats were more conservative than Northeastern Republicans. They voted Republican in all national elections.
Democratic partisans in Florida — including those in Democrat run Supervisors of Election — often discouraged Republican registrations. Gradually though, the influx of Republicans moving into the state and the realignment of the parties along ideological lines shifted registrations.
“Glory hallelujah! When I was a teenager, and voting for the first time, I had to register as a Democrat, otherwise there was no one to vote for in the primaries. No one.
I was a conservative Democrat, but there were no Republicans running for office.
I don’t know if this was an anomaly or not, but that was my experience.”
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Up until about the late 80’s most everywhere across North Florida had Courthouses filled by conservative Democrats, and you had to be a Democrat in order to vote for anyone. I ran for office in 1984 as one of the first attempts by a Republican to seek office in my home county. Supervisor of Elections, a family friend, tried to convince me to run as a Democrat and try to win in the Primaries cause that was when all the local offices were filled. Much has changed since. Now, every office is held by a Republican.
“I was a conservative Democrat, but there were no Republicans running for office.”
Same here, in Miami, before Cuban Exiles entered politics.
Today I’m thinking of registering “Independent”, to keep P-antifa off my trail.