The Observation Deck

In Ohio, can you only vote in the primaries for the party you are registered with?

I am curious about this, my husband and I were just talking about this like 2 minutes ago. I seem to remember in the past them asking which ballot we wanted, but I am not sure.

Jerry,

When you go in tomorrow you can ask for the ballot of either the Republican, the Democratic partys or you can request an issues only ballot where you would not be able to vote for either Republicans or Democrats but only on things like Issue 15.

The Board of Elections will record which ballot you pulled - so there is a record for example if you pulled a Democratic ballot once or visa versa if that matters to you.

We are still deciding which one to pull tomorrow.

Thanks for the info Lynn, we are undecided also.

As stated in other posts, the voter indicates to the poll worker which party's primary ballot he/she wants. When you walk up to the table, its your choice. There is a record kept at the Board of Elections and this essentially is the only indication of which, if any, party you are "registered with".

In a real sense this is where you choose your party affiliation for the record. Those who have political aspirations need to be a little carefull at this point.

Those who maintain their "independent voter" status give up the important right to play a part in the primary process. Independents who strongly support one of the presidential candidates might not want to sit this one out - and vote for a candidate, not just the issues. Of course to do so you must request a Dem or Republican ballot.

Lynn/Frank,
Thanks for the informative reply.
Jerry

Hi,
This may be a little late, but...
I just voted and you do have to get a Democrat, Republican or Issues only ballot. If you are registered as a Democrat but want to vote for a Republican (or vice versa) you just change your party affiliation to get your preferred ballot. It took about two seconds.
Hope that helps.
P.S. McKinley was busy!

Anyone else freaked out by the GIANT PIECES OF PAPER that replaced the simple and effective punch card system? Ugh. Sadly, I haven't kept up as much as I thought with the voting machine quandries. I heard they were getting rid of one system in favor of another but I didn't know they were going back to skills I lost when I last took a Standarized test. How many ballots will be rejected for dots not colored in or (gasp!) ones colored outside the lines. All those demerits in kindergarten for coloring outside the lines are all coming back to haunt me. Yeesh.

Still, I have to say this election day has been more exciting that most. People seem excited to vote FOR someone instead of against (as it has been the last few cycles). The only thing that boggled my mind is that all the judge candidates have one of three potential last names and they all flow together. One of these years I will get a handle on the judge elections.

Phil

It was busy at McKinley and I went at an off time. I certainly hope they have enough ballots.

I too was surpised by the size. An interesting note my brother in law lives in San Francisco. They have had scannning like this for a while. But after he votes - he scans it in and it tells him whether there are any problems right then. Plus it calculates the results without someone having to feed it in later.

I think someone mentioned it before Phil, but I too had lots of trouble with judges (calling friends who were attorneys etc - to try to get information) before I discovered www.Judge4yourself.com. It is extremely helpful. I also print my ballot from the board of elections and take it in with me in case I forget one of the people that I want to vote for.

Lynn, I think you posted this a long time ago, too, and I totally forgot about that website. My wife sent it to me today, too...about 3 hours after I voted. I feel like a rube but I have to remember this next time.

As for SF, I wish we were able to find out how the machine would read our results. There are automatically thrown out ballots and I filled everything in just in case. I worried that one wrong answer could boot my ballot. This system better not be in place come fall.

According to one of the poll workers who is also my neighbor this will be the same system we use to vote in the fall.

Shawna Shepherd wrote:According to one of the poll workers who is also my neighbor this will be the same system we use to vote in the fall.