Just a reminder to folks in Connecticut — The first deadline to change party affiliation in time for the February primaries is a week away.
In Connecticut, if you wish to vote in a party primary, you must be registered to vote as a member of that party. If you are currently registered as a partisan and wish to change your affiliation, there’s a 90 day cooling-off period.
The ninety day mark ahead of the 5 February primary is next week — Wednesday, 7 November.
(However, if you’re unaffiliated, you can affiliate with a party as late as the day before the primary, and still get to vote.)
The last polls I saw for Connecticut indicated Clinton and Giulianni were far ahead of the pack in their respective races, which opens up some interesting “strategic voting” options for those who may be so inclined.
For example, if you’re a hard-core Republican, but would like to help ensure that the eventual GOP nominee gets to run against Hillary, perhaps you might want to flip your registration.
Or, if you’re a Democrat who has a particular GOP candidate in mind as lesser evil among the pachydermic throng, maybe you want to temporary cross the aisle.
And I think I heard rumors that there were a handful of registered Libertarian Party members, who surely would find the opportunity to boost Ron Paul’s numbers and media attention worth the price of temporarily donning a Republican label.
The paperwork to reaffiliate is simple — just fill out a new voter registration form, and fill in your new/temporary affiliation in the appropriate space. Then, after you’ve voted, you can resubmit the form, swapping back to your preferred party, or unaffiliated status.
And, for the record, yes, I think the concept of closed taxpayer-funded partisan primaries is stupid. Despite that, it’s the law, and the legislature seems disinclined to change the status quo. Thus, consider this a public service announcement to help you vote as your conscience or preferred strategery dictates.