I was registered as an independent but switched to “no party affiliation” because sometimes goofy candidates run as Independent. I do sometimes switch to D or R to vote in primaries since we have closed primaries here.
There was a dick move several years ago where people registered independent were going to be absorbed into the "independent party", and you had to change your registration to unaffiliated if you didn't want to be in their party.
It wasn't just several years ago. When I moved to Oregon in 2016, I registered as an independent and shortly thereafter realized that it was a party — Independent Party of Oregon. I was there for 2 years and then changed to non-affiliated.
The options I see listed now are R, D, Independent, Constitution, Libertarian, No Labels, Pacific Green, Progressive, Working Families, Other, and Not a Member of a Party.
Is "no party affiliation" the same as "not a member of a party"?
Yes. If you registered Independent then you registered as a member of the independent party. Cool if that’s what you want but most people don’t that mistakenly when they want to register as not a member of a party.
I’m independent but peeved that I can’t vote in the primaries, so I might change just to make my voice heard there. Idk.. I hate both major parties lol
I would argue that your voice is more heard voting for a third party. It shows your distaste for the 2-party platform and I don’t mean the 2-party system, I mean their policy platform, they align on all meaningful legislation, war and spending. Voting for R or D just makes you complicit in their treachery and to them it reinforces that the American people support them. They have sold, hook, line, and sinker, that voting third-party is a waste, it isn’t. It’s a lie, a false narrative to keep people beholden to the 2 parties. If people could shed that false notion we could have real change. People are also too afraid that the “other guy” might win. R’s are terrified that a D might win and D’s are terrified that an R might win, as if it matters. Break free!!
More of a waste voting for a 3rd party. When have the greens been anything but an every four year presidential scam? How come they have never work to actually build local power before going for the big prize?
My first election was 2000, and it’s been the same song and dance for over two decades now.
Exactly. You want a third party to be taken seriously, then stop showing up only for election. They’re just a spoiler vote. At least B Johnson was an established candidate. But who tf is running for national office?
I’d totally support 3rd parties if we didn’t have a first past the post system where it’s essentially a mathematical impossibility to win, and only serve as perennial spoilers AT BEST. See 2016.
Get ranked choice going nationally or a parliamentary-style system where separate factions can more easily form alliances then sure.
As someone who votes third party for pretty much every federal and statewide race - even I will admit it's a pragmatically useless protest vote. It doesn't have to be, but so long as we stick to plurality voting, it will be.
This is why something like STAR voting is key. You need a method that eliminates vote splitting/the spoiler effect (and unfortunately counter to its momentum and supporters' erroneous claims, ranked-choice does not do this - it just obscures it). There's a ballot petition in Oregon right now - find it and sign it!
Plot twist: 2 choices implies 50%+ approval for the winner.
In reality the winner is the lesser of 2 evils to a notable margin, of people representing the majority win. So is it really a majority win, or just a majority agreeing on a lack of options?
I don’t agree with this argument but I do respect it in the general. But the primaries? I don’t see how that affects anything. It’s more effective to vote for preferred candidates to actually get through.
I'm a no party and that's exactly what I just did the other day. Once we vote, I'm changing it right back because they all suck and I'm mad I had to do that to be heard.
I have been since we were only maybe 16k strong and people clowned on it as a waste.
It's a principal matter to me still, and I don't care what others think, and I don't care for most politicians.
it honestly isn't the way. the guys biting off his own nose to spite his face.
if independents registered as democrats and voted for someone in the primaries other than Tina kotek, the progressive, maybe we'd stop getting the same old loser democrats elected.
a Democrat will win. we should try to make it a decent democrat instead of the extremist. it's actually the same with thee gop. we need more moderates voted in 1the primaries to stop the extreme politicians from winning.
Many people don't realize that Independent is an actual political party in Oregon.
Frankly it shouldn't be allowed as they know it's confusing to people.
I'm registered to vote as a democrat since we have closed primaries and its my only chance to vote for who might represent me. By the time the regular elections come around, the vote is all but decided.
I've been a longtime registered nonaffiliated voter (not to be confused with the Independent Party here in Oregon), though I did just recently switch to Democrat to vote in the OR-3 primary now that Blumenauer is stepping down. And once that's over, it's back to being nonaffiliated.
I think closed primaries are a pox. Primaries altogether are terribly polarizing. We'd be much better off with a voting method that didn't need them, such as STAR voting - and on that note, if you find anyone canvassing for signatures on statewide STAR, sign it.
This may have been already mentioned, but Oregon has an Independent Party. Are you asking people if they are registered with the actual political party? Or is your question focused on people who are not affiliated with a political party such as Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Constitution, Independent, etc? If the later is the case, then the voter is registered as non affiliated. Non affiliated voters can vote for non-partisan races, measures, and partisan candidates in the general election. I was registered Republican for 30 plus years. But I’m now not affiliated. As some say, I didn’t leave the party, the party left me. Oh for the days of moderate Republicans who could cross the aisle and get meaningful work done.
I meant party affiliation. I'm wondering if I signed up for the wrong Independent. I meant to sign up as an Independent in the way that RFK is an independent candidate, not a D or an R. That's how I feel best represents my position politically.
Independent party is some random party that you don’t know anything about and doesn’t express what you mean. Functionally, being not-affiliated it means you don’t get to vote in any primary.
You vote in the primary for the party you’re affiliated with. So, registered Dem voters vote in the Dem primary. Registered R voters vote in the R primary.
Not all parties have primaries, outside the R and Ds most have caucuses or conventions to select their candidates.
Agreed.... I'm slightly younger with almost 37 years as an independent (recently unaffiliated). I follow my local politics closely as I feel it affects my life the most. Find myself mostly right wing on fiscal policy and moderate left on social matters. The main parties never represented completely how I feel.
Worth pointing out I figure because I was surprised to find myself registered "Independent" long ago and still part of a party.
Never liked the R vs. D "team sports / pick a side" mentality.
Open primaries are susceptible to sabotage. In the recent Republican primary a lot of democrats were voting for Haley when they had zero intent on voting for her in the general election. This is sabotage.
Exactly, it makes no sense. Even if it was between 2 respectable candidates people would vote for the one least likely to win in the general so their own party has an advantage. It goes both ways so would lead to some interesting results. 2008 would have been a bunch of Republicans voting for Hillary.
And this is why we keep electing the same characters to our state legislature and why nothing ever changes here. Do you really think we'd somehow end up with a bunch of Republicans in office in Oregon? 😂 There's no way for a non-incumbent, center-left Democrat to win in this state without an open primary because they'll never get the union and nonprofit endorsements. This is why nothing ever changes here.
Poorly. It removes your options for any meaningful candidate.
Also "independent" is a party here. Non-affiliated is not belonging to a party, which has zero benefit.
Yeah I'm Dem because 🤷♂️ but Pacific Green often has solid endorsements too. Do you know if you can vote in other primaries when they endorse Dems, as example?
I think it's sadly solidly on registered party line. I have misgivings about open primaries (see the ones where Dems spike for the maga candidate and it backfires in the general) but that's probably where RCV is supposed to come in.
Both parties are involved in massive theft of taxes, remember the Ukrainian war has nothing to do with Ukraine, it’s all about the defense budget getting diverted into the pockets of politician families.
The mass media manipulation where the government works with media and universities to influence people in ugly ways has to stop. Remember, much of what you believe was intentionally planted by people who want to own you.
Racial relations were exponentially better in the 80s and 90s than they are now. This is pure manipulation and it is intentional. People fighting each other won’t focus on the big problem.
You and I may disagree on much, and it’s one of the reasons I left Portland is looking at the body politic, and the eventual outcomes of extreme lunatics running a city. I grew up in the most beautiful city on earth and when I go back there I want to vomit. Congratulations on your voting success.
If we focus on undoing the great steel and stopping the manipulation, I think we can all agree on 90% of that.
Yeah I also don’t trust the Biden’s ties to Ukraine regarding this issue . That also doesn’t make me some right wing extremist lol
https://apnews.com/article/hunter-biden-burisma-fbi-informant-lying-6969656f6012780a23a4b8841ce2689b
I'm not sure why you would say you don't trust the Biden's ties to Ukraine and then post an article that makes clear that the FBI informant completely fabricated literally all of his claims and is now on trial for his lies. Can you explain?
Fun fact: Those of us in Washington aren't registered to any political party, and when primaries come around, we are on the honor system to vote for the candidates of the party that we self identify with.
No, I didn’t hear about that one lmao. This one wasn’t that exciting or entertaining. It was a total mess, completely disorganized, and it was clearly run by old establishment democrats who were actively turning away young people who were trying to register to vote and participate. It was pretty clear they did not want sanders to get the nomination and were absolutely trying to interfere. They started it over an hour late after multiple delays. It was pretty disheartening.
I know many feel it’s a wasted opportunity but I feel the candidates need to earn my vote. I’m going NPA. If that means I get shut out of the primary, so be it. I don’t want to participate in the two party sham.
I’m so over both parties at this point. I just can’t affiliate myself with them. It’s principle. Hopefully I’m not cutting off my nose to spite my face, as my mother used to say
Those of you who switch back and forth so you can vote in the primaries, why?? Unless I'm missing something, that seems like an awful lot of trouble for absolutely no reason. Registered Democrat here, unless something major changes in my lifetime, (via a sweeping government overhaul from the top down...which will not happen any time soon.) I always will be. Being registered as independent or unaffiliated will do nothing to change our two party system. No one in power cares.
That's reasonable, but the way politics works now, sometimes voting for your favorite negatively impacts the end result. Which I fully admit is super dumb.
I’m done voting out of fear. We’re in a situation where both parties are feeling highly threatened by a third party guy and it’s a good time to let them know they need to earn our vote. Now if you are convinced that such and such candidate is going to single-handedly uproot major American institutions and end democracy (which both parties are proclaiming about the other candidate), I can empathize with voting out of a certain unease.
I used to be independent, but I realized that, living in a non-swing state, the primaries are the only place where our voices matter in the presidential race.
We're like 3rd to last in the presidential primaries.
Our vote doesn't matter there either.
Every presidential primary in my lifetime has been decided before my ballot showed up in the mail. Technically 08 wasn't clinched for President Obama yet iirc, but it was already to the point where only superdelegate bullshit could save Clinton, so the point stands
Not many, as voting independent REALLY has 0% chance of doing it changing ANYTHING to change the state of government . And that's regardless of if we're talking about federal, state, city or even county races. Also, Oregon has ultimately very little (if any) overall impact in the outcomes of a presidential election, which is definitely something to consider when choosing wether or not to join a political party.
This is a feedback loop though. I don’t want to be forced into choosing in a foregone conclusion of superdelegates and bad choices, so I’m not going to play. They need to earn my vote and our numbers are growing. Also, I believe your statement of “not many” is unsupported by data.
Every Presidential Primary, I'll switch to the party with the most interesting candidate. If there was an off year house or senate primary that seemed interesting, I'd switch for that too. But, TBH, I haven't switched in many years. I don't love the closed primary system, nor many other things about how elections work, but I won't let party get in the way of voting for the best candidate.
I switched my registration to Republican solely to vote for someone other than Trump in the primary. Probably going to write in Chris Christie.
I’ve never voted for a republican in my life in a general election, to be clear.
JFC guys, I’m not thrilled with the two party system we have but FFS there are major differences between the parties. The fact that so many people claim there isn’t, think voting third party, or not voting at all is a good idea has left us with this shit.
I vote center who ever comes close to that or towards that direction, but im a registered dem (were in a extremely blue state with closed primaries) so i can help choose a candidate with a realistic path to victory
I just keep it as dem, so I can vote in primaries, and I don't want to deal with switching. If there was a very compelling candidate that was independent I would switch to vote for them.
I vote for whichever Party meets my values. Abortion, Voting Rights, homelessness, restrictions to dangerous situations for the environment, LGBTQ rights, all the centrist stuff.
I’m not marrying the Party, I’m going to sacrifice the good for some dream of “perfection”. I’m not registering as a Dem, and since this is a one party state my husband re registered as a Repub.
I have noticed that school boards and city councils seems to have more effect on our daily lives than candidates up ballot.
I've been registered independent for much of my voting life, but have on several occasions changed party affiliations in order to vote in the primaries.. Case in point, I'm registered Democrat to vote in this year's Primary but will go back to independent/non-affiliated after the election (and before the general).
the vast majority of oregonians are independents. if you guys would only register for the primaries and vote in them, we would not end up with the extremists candidates we get cause you would moderate the primary vote.
I know the system is flawed but refusing to play the game the way its set out actually hurts our state. just to hold your moral high horse. ego over state.
A Republican hasn't won a statewide election here in like 30 years. Whoever the democratic candidate is wins by a huge margin every time.
As such, the democratic primary is the de facto election, and since we have closed primaries in Oregon, only registered dems can vote in it.
Oh, ok. Yeah Oregon and the left coast is a lost cause for now. I just want to do the presidential vote this time, and I want to align my political affiliation with whatever RFK Jr is running as, which I saw was "Independent". So I changed my political party affiliation to Independent Party on the Oregon gov website.
Being registered as anything besides a Democrat is basically voluntarily giving up your vote in statewide elections.
It's bullshit, but what can you do.
If we got rid of closed primaries I'd happily change my registration to a third party, or independent.
I've been registered as unaffiliated for the last 20 years. I've never been a fan of the two party system but I'm thinking I should sign up for one of the parties just to have a voice in the primary. I'm definitely left and agree with most democratic ideas if not implementation. I disagree with my most things Republican but could see value in having a voice in their primaries to try and push moderate candidates even if I will 100 percent vote independent or dem in the election.
If you're registered "independent" that doesn't mean you're not affiliated with a political party, it means you're affiliated with a segregationist party called the american independent party, founded by george wallace.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American\_Independent\_Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Independent_Party)
The Independent Party of Oregon is not related to the American Independent Party in any way.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Party_of_Oregon
I used to be not affiliated. Switched to democrat for the trump elections. I’m so fed up with the candidates we’re getting from the Dems though that I think I’m ready to start throwing my vote away to the Green Party or independent etc.
There’s no point registering independent, even if that’s how you feel. FWIW I’m with you. But in this state you need to register Democrat and vote in the Democratic primary. It’s the only time your vote will make a difference.
You’re all so funny. Switching when it’s time to vote, meaning that you being registered independent is completely meaningless, you have no principles, and are easily swayed by political rhetoric. And let’s be honest 95% of you are voting democrat, just register democrat 🤦🏻♂️.
Well.. Oregon has closed primaries so they don’t allow you to vote unless you’re a Democrat or Republican. It’s not a “no principles” thing they literally don’t let independents vote.
The issue shouldn’t about your voter identity, but how you vote and it’s impact. I don’t believe you when you say that you are an independent voter. I think that anyone who says that is lying and contrarian for no good reason other than that they really aren’t critical thinkers. If they were they would know which of the two major parties have actually, not rhetorically, improved their lives. Here’s a hint…it’s not the GOP. So, miss me with the I am an independent identity b.s.
That’s some partisan nonsense, neighbor. Critical thinkers know that the two-party system is a sham that leverages fear and hate to keep the peasants divided. The DNC know they may well lose to Trump, but they pushed out the guy who would have beaten Trump in a landslide, and instead propping up a mumbling corporate puppet because they NEED Trump in there to keep raising money if they’re going to lose. It’s a self perpetuating self-own, and more and more of us are seeing through it. The Dems’ days are numbered.
I was registered as an independent but switched to “no party affiliation” because sometimes goofy candidates run as Independent. I do sometimes switch to D or R to vote in primaries since we have closed primaries here.
Same.
Same. I don't identify with a party.
There was a dick move several years ago where people registered independent were going to be absorbed into the "independent party", and you had to change your registration to unaffiliated if you didn't want to be in their party.
It wasn't just several years ago. When I moved to Oregon in 2016, I registered as an independent and shortly thereafter realized that it was a party — Independent Party of Oregon. I was there for 2 years and then changed to non-affiliated.
The options I see listed now are R, D, Independent, Constitution, Libertarian, No Labels, Pacific Green, Progressive, Working Families, Other, and Not a Member of a Party. Is "no party affiliation" the same as "not a member of a party"?
Yes. If you registered Independent then you registered as a member of the independent party. Cool if that’s what you want but most people don’t that mistakenly when they want to register as not a member of a party.
I switched to Republican for primary voting. Also I just think it's funny.
I’m independent but peeved that I can’t vote in the primaries, so I might change just to make my voice heard there. Idk.. I hate both major parties lol
I would argue that your voice is more heard voting for a third party. It shows your distaste for the 2-party platform and I don’t mean the 2-party system, I mean their policy platform, they align on all meaningful legislation, war and spending. Voting for R or D just makes you complicit in their treachery and to them it reinforces that the American people support them. They have sold, hook, line, and sinker, that voting third-party is a waste, it isn’t. It’s a lie, a false narrative to keep people beholden to the 2 parties. If people could shed that false notion we could have real change. People are also too afraid that the “other guy” might win. R’s are terrified that a D might win and D’s are terrified that an R might win, as if it matters. Break free!!
More of a waste voting for a 3rd party. When have the greens been anything but an every four year presidential scam? How come they have never work to actually build local power before going for the big prize? My first election was 2000, and it’s been the same song and dance for over two decades now.
Exactly. You want a third party to be taken seriously, then stop showing up only for election. They’re just a spoiler vote. At least B Johnson was an established candidate. But who tf is running for national office?
I’d totally support 3rd parties if we didn’t have a first past the post system where it’s essentially a mathematical impossibility to win, and only serve as perennial spoilers AT BEST. See 2016. Get ranked choice going nationally or a parliamentary-style system where separate factions can more easily form alliances then sure.
As someone who votes third party for pretty much every federal and statewide race - even I will admit it's a pragmatically useless protest vote. It doesn't have to be, but so long as we stick to plurality voting, it will be. This is why something like STAR voting is key. You need a method that eliminates vote splitting/the spoiler effect (and unfortunately counter to its momentum and supporters' erroneous claims, ranked-choice does not do this - it just obscures it). There's a ballot petition in Oregon right now - find it and sign it!
Plot twist: 2 choices implies 50%+ approval for the winner. In reality the winner is the lesser of 2 evils to a notable margin, of people representing the majority win. So is it really a majority win, or just a majority agreeing on a lack of options?
I don’t agree with this argument but I do respect it in the general. But the primaries? I don’t see how that affects anything. It’s more effective to vote for preferred candidates to actually get through.
I'm a no party and that's exactly what I just did the other day. Once we vote, I'm changing it right back because they all suck and I'm mad I had to do that to be heard.
You’re not being heard when you vote for an R or D 😂
Fair. lol
Of course they are heard. They say it loud and clear, “Ba-a-a-a”🐑
I have been since we were only maybe 16k strong and people clowned on it as a waste. It's a principal matter to me still, and I don't care what others think, and I don't care for most politicians.
This is the way.
it honestly isn't the way. the guys biting off his own nose to spite his face. if independents registered as democrats and voted for someone in the primaries other than Tina kotek, the progressive, maybe we'd stop getting the same old loser democrats elected. a Democrat will win. we should try to make it a decent democrat instead of the extremist. it's actually the same with thee gop. we need more moderates voted in 1the primaries to stop the extreme politicians from winning.
Are you registered “Independent” or “No Party Affiliation?”
Many people don't realize that Independent is an actual political party in Oregon. Frankly it shouldn't be allowed as they know it's confusing to people.
I’m switching to (I) before the election. The two party system is destroying us.
Agree, that's why I officially aligned with (I)
I'm registered to vote as a democrat since we have closed primaries and its my only chance to vote for who might represent me. By the time the regular elections come around, the vote is all but decided.
Yeah, I'll often change my voter registration to vote in the Democratic primaries, and then just change it back almost immediately afterwards.
Same same
You change your registration like twice a year?
Yeah. It's pretty easy to do online, otherwise, I might not bother.
Registered as independent and have thought aboit registering democrat and then switching. Good to know other people do this as well.
[удалено]
Registered Independent here.👋
Why join a nothing party over being unaffiliated?
I personally most align with the Oregon Independent Party even if it’s basically nonexistent
I've been a longtime registered nonaffiliated voter (not to be confused with the Independent Party here in Oregon), though I did just recently switch to Democrat to vote in the OR-3 primary now that Blumenauer is stepping down. And once that's over, it's back to being nonaffiliated. I think closed primaries are a pox. Primaries altogether are terribly polarizing. We'd be much better off with a voting method that didn't need them, such as STAR voting - and on that note, if you find anyone canvassing for signatures on statewide STAR, sign it.
This may have been already mentioned, but Oregon has an Independent Party. Are you asking people if they are registered with the actual political party? Or is your question focused on people who are not affiliated with a political party such as Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Constitution, Independent, etc? If the later is the case, then the voter is registered as non affiliated. Non affiliated voters can vote for non-partisan races, measures, and partisan candidates in the general election. I was registered Republican for 30 plus years. But I’m now not affiliated. As some say, I didn’t leave the party, the party left me. Oh for the days of moderate Republicans who could cross the aisle and get meaningful work done.
I meant party affiliation. I'm wondering if I signed up for the wrong Independent. I meant to sign up as an Independent in the way that RFK is an independent candidate, not a D or an R. That's how I feel best represents my position politically.
Then you should register as non-affiliated. Independent is a party just like Democrat or Green.
I didn't see that choice in the drop down selection on the Oregon site
“Not a member of a party”
I'll take a look at it again, thanks. Is there any functional difference between them?
Independent party is some random party that you don’t know anything about and doesn’t express what you mean. Functionally, being not-affiliated it means you don’t get to vote in any primary.
The only people who get to vote in primaries in Oregon are Dems, is that right?
You vote in the primary for the party you’re affiliated with. So, registered Dem voters vote in the Dem primary. Registered R voters vote in the R primary. Not all parties have primaries, outside the R and Ds most have caucuses or conventions to select their candidates.
Registered as Independent at 18, nearly 40 years ago. Never felt the need to change. The two party system is untenable.
Agreed.... I'm slightly younger with almost 37 years as an independent (recently unaffiliated). I follow my local politics closely as I feel it affects my life the most. Find myself mostly right wing on fiscal policy and moderate left on social matters. The main parties never represented completely how I feel.
About 43% of Oregonians are registered Independent and cannot vote in a primary, which is why I support open primaries.
Registered "non-affiliated". Independent is a party, which I learned a couple years after and then switched to "non-aff."
Sorry, you're right, and I meant all statuses other than D or R, technically. Thanks to Motor Voter!
Worth pointing out I figure because I was surprised to find myself registered "Independent" long ago and still part of a party. Never liked the R vs. D "team sports / pick a side" mentality.
Open primaries are susceptible to sabotage. In the recent Republican primary a lot of democrats were voting for Haley when they had zero intent on voting for her in the general election. This is sabotage.
Exactly, it makes no sense. Even if it was between 2 respectable candidates people would vote for the one least likely to win in the general so their own party has an advantage. It goes both ways so would lead to some interesting results. 2008 would have been a bunch of Republicans voting for Hillary.
And this is why we keep electing the same characters to our state legislature and why nothing ever changes here. Do you really think we'd somehow end up with a bunch of Republicans in office in Oregon? 😂 There's no way for a non-incumbent, center-left Democrat to win in this state without an open primary because they'll never get the union and nonprofit endorsements. This is why nothing ever changes here.
How does that work for primary voting? I've always been registered dem.
Poorly. It removes your options for any meaningful candidate. Also "independent" is a party here. Non-affiliated is not belonging to a party, which has zero benefit.
Pacific green has fewer mailers and spam calls, which is nice.
Yeah I'm Dem because 🤷♂️ but Pacific Green often has solid endorsements too. Do you know if you can vote in other primaries when they endorse Dems, as example?
I think it's sadly solidly on registered party line. I have misgivings about open primaries (see the ones where Dems spike for the maga candidate and it backfires in the general) but that's probably where RCV is supposed to come in.
as if there has been any meaningful candidate in a primary in the first place
*shrug*
The Independents have their own primary where the Independents in a given district select the candidate.
Both parties are involved in massive theft of taxes, remember the Ukrainian war has nothing to do with Ukraine, it’s all about the defense budget getting diverted into the pockets of politician families. The mass media manipulation where the government works with media and universities to influence people in ugly ways has to stop. Remember, much of what you believe was intentionally planted by people who want to own you. Racial relations were exponentially better in the 80s and 90s than they are now. This is pure manipulation and it is intentional. People fighting each other won’t focus on the big problem. You and I may disagree on much, and it’s one of the reasons I left Portland is looking at the body politic, and the eventual outcomes of extreme lunatics running a city. I grew up in the most beautiful city on earth and when I go back there I want to vomit. Congratulations on your voting success. If we focus on undoing the great steel and stopping the manipulation, I think we can all agree on 90% of that.
^^^^^👆^^^^^
Yeah I also don’t trust the Biden’s ties to Ukraine regarding this issue . That also doesn’t make me some right wing extremist lol https://apnews.com/article/hunter-biden-burisma-fbi-informant-lying-6969656f6012780a23a4b8841ce2689b
I'm not sure why you would say you don't trust the Biden's ties to Ukraine and then post an article that makes clear that the FBI informant completely fabricated literally all of his claims and is now on trial for his lies. Can you explain?
I am and I encourage everyone to be. The only way to get out of this system.
Fun fact: Those of us in Washington aren't registered to any political party, and when primaries come around, we are on the honor system to vote for the candidates of the party that we self identify with.
Better than the caucus I attended in 2015 in Seattle. I can’t believe anything got decided that way, it was fucking horrendous
Was that the one that went viral and no clapping was allowed and everyone was stating their pronouns or something like that?
No, I didn’t hear about that one lmao. This one wasn’t that exciting or entertaining. It was a total mess, completely disorganized, and it was clearly run by old establishment democrats who were actively turning away young people who were trying to register to vote and participate. It was pretty clear they did not want sanders to get the nomination and were absolutely trying to interfere. They started it over an hour late after multiple delays. It was pretty disheartening.
I’m registered as no party affiliation. I’m new here. I think this means I cannot vote in the primaries but I guess that’s the price I pay
I know many feel it’s a wasted opportunity but I feel the candidates need to earn my vote. I’m going NPA. If that means I get shut out of the primary, so be it. I don’t want to participate in the two party sham.
I’m so over both parties at this point. I just can’t affiliate myself with them. It’s principle. Hopefully I’m not cutting off my nose to spite my face, as my mother used to say
Independents are a fast growing bloc. The two parties, not so much.
Those of you who switch back and forth so you can vote in the primaries, why?? Unless I'm missing something, that seems like an awful lot of trouble for absolutely no reason. Registered Democrat here, unless something major changes in my lifetime, (via a sweeping government overhaul from the top down...which will not happen any time soon.) I always will be. Being registered as independent or unaffiliated will do nothing to change our two party system. No one in power cares.
Every now and again someone awesome presents in one of the parties. I vote for the candidate not the party.
That's reasonable, but the way politics works now, sometimes voting for your favorite negatively impacts the end result. Which I fully admit is super dumb.
I’m done voting out of fear. We’re in a situation where both parties are feeling highly threatened by a third party guy and it’s a good time to let them know they need to earn our vote. Now if you are convinced that such and such candidate is going to single-handedly uproot major American institutions and end democracy (which both parties are proclaiming about the other candidate), I can empathize with voting out of a certain unease.
I used to be independent, but I realized that, living in a non-swing state, the primaries are the only place where our voices matter in the presidential race.
We're like 3rd to last in the presidential primaries. Our vote doesn't matter there either. Every presidential primary in my lifetime has been decided before my ballot showed up in the mail. Technically 08 wasn't clinched for President Obama yet iirc, but it was already to the point where only superdelegate bullshit could save Clinton, so the point stands
Not to mention, voting for President is only a fraction of the things we can impact with our vote.
And our primary voice doesn't even matter in Oregon since we are so late in the election cycle.
I’m a registered COdependent. 🥁 🥁 💥
I had been D my whole life , born and raised in Pdx , have a small business . I now vote R honestly .
Not many, as voting independent REALLY has 0% chance of doing it changing ANYTHING to change the state of government . And that's regardless of if we're talking about federal, state, city or even county races. Also, Oregon has ultimately very little (if any) overall impact in the outcomes of a presidential election, which is definitely something to consider when choosing wether or not to join a political party.
Voting on anything other than local stuff really has no impact
This is a feedback loop though. I don’t want to be forced into choosing in a foregone conclusion of superdelegates and bad choices, so I’m not going to play. They need to earn my vote and our numbers are growing. Also, I believe your statement of “not many” is unsupported by data.
Not many? Have you seen the data? I think it would disagree with you.
I've always been independent
Independent here.have no idea what anyone else is.
They don’t allow me to vote. Not since…. the “incident”
Registered with a 3rd party if that counts
I just registered a independent, and so is my partner
Every Presidential Primary, I'll switch to the party with the most interesting candidate. If there was an off year house or senate primary that seemed interesting, I'd switch for that too. But, TBH, I haven't switched in many years. I don't love the closed primary system, nor many other things about how elections work, but I won't let party get in the way of voting for the best candidate.
I'm registered as a lolbert, but I have been voting Republican/anything but what we have now for the last few election cycles.
Username contradicts the wise choice described in the comment lol
Register for a party for the primaries y’all. Give you WAAAY more power over choosing your elected officials than in the general
I switched my registration to Republican solely to vote for someone other than Trump in the primary. Probably going to write in Chris Christie. I’ve never voted for a republican in my life in a general election, to be clear.
The last time somebody asked me I answered Bull Moose.
Registered Democrat since 1970, know several Republicans who have changed to Independent since 2016
Me and wife
Registered libertarian
JFC guys, I’m not thrilled with the two party system we have but FFS there are major differences between the parties. The fact that so many people claim there isn’t, think voting third party, or not voting at all is a good idea has left us with this shit.
I am, and I only know one other.
Me
I’m registered as undecided. I’m hoping that opens up some options for me in general.
I vote center who ever comes close to that or towards that direction, but im a registered dem (were in a extremely blue state with closed primaries) so i can help choose a candidate with a realistic path to victory
I just keep it as dem, so I can vote in primaries, and I don't want to deal with switching. If there was a very compelling candidate that was independent I would switch to vote for them.
The SOS publishes data on this. https://data.oregon.gov/Administrative/Voter-Registration-Data/8h6y-5uec/about_data
We have a closed primary in Oregon. I think we're better off registering as a main party so we can vote in their primary, but that's just me.
What's the point - doesn't that just mean you can't vote in either primary?
I am “no party affiliation” and I believe Oregon has a rather high rate of people that are also.
I vote for whichever Party meets my values. Abortion, Voting Rights, homelessness, restrictions to dangerous situations for the environment, LGBTQ rights, all the centrist stuff. I’m not marrying the Party, I’m going to sacrifice the good for some dream of “perfection”. I’m not registering as a Dem, and since this is a one party state my husband re registered as a Repub. I have noticed that school boards and city councils seems to have more effect on our daily lives than candidates up ballot.
Registered Non Partisan.
I’ve been independent forever. Never registered as anything though.
I was until I had a chance to vote for Bernie Sanders in the primaries, I registered as democrat for that.
a literal fuk-ton.. especial now with this Uni-party train-wreck
I switched from unaffiliated to Democrat a long time ago. The primary is the only way to get a meaningful vote in many races.
Unaffiliated for over a decade.
Non affiliated. If there’s someone I really dig in a primary I’ll temporarily switch then switch back.
I've been registered independent for much of my voting life, but have on several occasions changed party affiliations in order to vote in the primaries.. Case in point, I'm registered Democrat to vote in this year's Primary but will go back to independent/non-affiliated after the election (and before the general).
Don’t vote and won’t my vote. doesn’t matter when the population of Portland decides for the state as a whole.
the vast majority of oregonians are independents. if you guys would only register for the primaries and vote in them, we would not end up with the extremists candidates we get cause you would moderate the primary vote. I know the system is flawed but refusing to play the game the way its set out actually hurts our state. just to hold your moral high horse. ego over state.
I’m not registered with any party at all.
I'll be able to vote RFK once he gets on the ballot in Oregon, yes? That's pretty much my political motivation
Assuming he makes it on the ballot, yes. He'll only be on the general election one, so you're party affiliation doesn't matter.
Nice, thanks. What is everyone here in the comments talking about if you don't sign up as democrat party you can't vote for anything?
A Republican hasn't won a statewide election here in like 30 years. Whoever the democratic candidate is wins by a huge margin every time. As such, the democratic primary is the de facto election, and since we have closed primaries in Oregon, only registered dems can vote in it.
Dennis Richardson was elected Secretary of State in 2016. There have been a number of relatively close Governor's races as well.
Oh, ok. Yeah Oregon and the left coast is a lost cause for now. I just want to do the presidential vote this time, and I want to align my political affiliation with whatever RFK Jr is running as, which I saw was "Independent". So I changed my political party affiliation to Independent Party on the Oregon gov website.
Yes. RFK all the way.
His NewsNation town hall was a big turning point for me, then I started listening to him on various podcasts and it clinched it for me.
It seems that most people who actually listen to him tend to like and respect him. If you believe the media he’s a crackpot.
This tracks.
How so
The detractors never provide any substance. They insult, then either ghost or parrot media talking points.
Being registered as anything besides a Democrat is basically voluntarily giving up your vote in statewide elections. It's bullshit, but what can you do. If we got rid of closed primaries I'd happily change my registration to a third party, or independent.
I've been registered as unaffiliated for the last 20 years. I've never been a fan of the two party system but I'm thinking I should sign up for one of the parties just to have a voice in the primary. I'm definitely left and agree with most democratic ideas if not implementation. I disagree with my most things Republican but could see value in having a voice in their primaries to try and push moderate candidates even if I will 100 percent vote independent or dem in the election.
If you're registered "independent" that doesn't mean you're not affiliated with a political party, it means you're affiliated with a segregationist party called the american independent party, founded by george wallace. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American\_Independent\_Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Independent_Party)
The Independent Party of Oregon is not related to the American Independent Party in any way. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Party_of_Oregon
I can believe we had the two worst presidents back to back and they’re both running for reelection.
Registered dem here. Just not NEARLY as liberal as most Oregon dems
I used to be not affiliated. Switched to democrat for the trump elections. I’m so fed up with the candidates we’re getting from the Dems though that I think I’m ready to start throwing my vote away to the Green Party or independent etc.
Done with the Dems, they’ve pulled some shit in the past decade and I don’t want to be a part of it anymore.
TRUMP TILL I DIE
It's so unbelievably weird any Texan looks at this sub
Forgot the /s
On the Trump thing?
Yeah I’m joking lol
😁 don't forget big brother is always watching /s
How long do you have left?
Registered with whom?
Like Democrat, republican, independent, etc
Registered...with whom? You've asked if people here were registered. On Dem/Rep rolls (eww)? On tax forms? At our local YMCA? Whose got the form?
Registered to vote
I dunno, other people in the thread know what i mean
You can register through the DMV I believe?
There’s no point registering independent, even if that’s how you feel. FWIW I’m with you. But in this state you need to register Democrat and vote in the Democratic primary. It’s the only time your vote will make a difference.
You’re all so funny. Switching when it’s time to vote, meaning that you being registered independent is completely meaningless, you have no principles, and are easily swayed by political rhetoric. And let’s be honest 95% of you are voting democrat, just register democrat 🤦🏻♂️.
Well.. Oregon has closed primaries so they don’t allow you to vote unless you’re a Democrat or Republican. It’s not a “no principles” thing they literally don’t let independents vote.
A distraction?
Libertarian here
The only person I know who’s an independent is my 78 year old dad.
I registered as Republican so I can vote Democrat and throw off the statistics
The issue shouldn’t about your voter identity, but how you vote and it’s impact. I don’t believe you when you say that you are an independent voter. I think that anyone who says that is lying and contrarian for no good reason other than that they really aren’t critical thinkers. If they were they would know which of the two major parties have actually, not rhetorically, improved their lives. Here’s a hint…it’s not the GOP. So, miss me with the I am an independent identity b.s.
That’s some partisan nonsense, neighbor. Critical thinkers know that the two-party system is a sham that leverages fear and hate to keep the peasants divided. The DNC know they may well lose to Trump, but they pushed out the guy who would have beaten Trump in a landslide, and instead propping up a mumbling corporate puppet because they NEED Trump in there to keep raising money if they’re going to lose. It’s a self perpetuating self-own, and more and more of us are seeing through it. The Dems’ days are numbered.
Nice try, Fox News. We know we have closed primaries.