Posted on 02/11/2016 5:42:51 AM PST by raccoonradio
Thousands may have mistakenly registered to vote with the United Independent Party in the Massachusetts presidential primary thinking their choice would let them draw a ballot for their favorite Republican or Democrat â only to learn later it doesnât, the stateâs top election official told the Herald.
In Massachusetts, voters not enrolled in a party can choose which primary to vote in. But the United Independent Party is a party like the others, and its members will get a blank UIP ballot unless they formally switched by midnight last night.
âMy concern is this: I donât want people who want to vote in a party primary to be disenfranchised because there was a mistake,â said Secretary of State William F. Galvin. âWe are being required by law â because of the partyâs existence â to print ballots with nothing on them.â
More than 5,500 voters have switched their voting status to âunenrolledâ from the United Independent Party since late January when the secretaryâs office sent letters to the roughly 21,000 voters registered with the party, Galvin said.
Evan Falchuk, the partyâs founder, expressed frustration, saying he was âstunnedâ by Galvinâs characterization that thousands made a mistake joining the party.
âI take them at their word that there were some people who made a mistake,â Falchuk said. âBut the overwhelming response that Iâve had from members and from social media posts and calls and texts is people saying, âI know what Iâm doing. I left the party because I want to vote in the primary, and Iâll be back.âââ
He said the UIP has spent months informing members that they needed to un-enroll if they want to vote in the presidential primary, and that membership has seen a steady increase by a few thousand each month in recent months, as opposed to a drastic one-time spike.
âThey just want to be able to vote,â Falchuk said. âWeâve been telling them that for weeks and weeks and weeks. ... This notion that there is this confusing thing going on and no one understands whatâs happening â and weâre somehow taking advantage of it â is really misguided.â
Falchuk said the party has launched an active voter registration push since it won its designation in November 2014, focusing on colleges, community centers and high schools, as well as social media outreach, helping build a base of new and young voters.
Galvin said the intense interest in the primary among non-traditional primary voters also fed the confusion.
âThis part of the presidential cycle â unlike â12 and even unlike â08 â is bringing people to the activity that might not have been involved before because of the campaigns on both sides,â Galvin said. âThey tend to be attracting people who are not traditional primary voters.â
Give me another one of the Dum Bass beers, Seamus!
Do we really want Dum Basses voting at all!
The Fix has started!
Didn’t they already get to vote in the NH Primary?
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