Yesterday morning, after doing laps at the JCC Pool in Bridgewater, I pointed the car to our polling place to choose among Congressional candidates, local party officials, and national convention delegates in the New Jersey primary election. (What, again! – I thought those were over on Super Tuesday.) This is the first year in decades that my wife and I vote in the primaries, because we are unaffiliated voters.
Did you know that, if you are an independent voter, you can vote for either a Democratic or Republican slate in New Jersey’s primary elections without declaring your party affiliation in advance? If you do, though, you’ll stay registered in the party of your choice for all following primary elections, unless you contact Somerset County Offices in Somerville, and request a change back to unaffiliated (independent) voter. It’s easy to do, but you have to take the initiative.
I’d like for New Jersey to have the same system of primary voting as does New Hampshire. In that state, a Democrat or Republican can vote in the primaries for any party. In subsequent primary elections, NH voters can reverse allegiance at the polls at will, if they so choose, without having to go through any red tape.
. . . . On a related matter . . . Did you catch Senator Carl Levin of Michigan testifying before the Democratic Party’s Rules Committee the other day? He was rightfully upset and fuming about the long-unresolved issue of seating Michigan delegates at the upcoming Democratic National Convention? I thought he would bust a gut.
Senator Levin does not – emphasize, ‘does not like’ – the notion that the states of New Hampshire and Iowa keep trumping all the other states in the Union by insisting on staying ahead of the pack in the primaries and caucuses. It’s tradition, Senator, tradition.
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