Monday, February 25, 2008
We Brand Cattle And Voters In Texas
In Texas, we enjoy a two week early voting period before most elections. For the upcoming March 4 primary, Texans have been turning out in record numbers to take advantage of that early voting period. Early voting turnout numbers across the state have been very, very high. In some places, early voting turnout has seen a ten-fold increase over previous presidential elections.
Without a doubt, some of that record turnout is likely due to Republicans crossing party lines. They could be disgusted enough with their party to actually want to elect a Democrat, or they could be acting as spoilers hoping to give their nominee an easier race in November. Whatever is happening in the minds of voters as they choose which primary to participate it, it's important to know that we don't register a party affiliation here in Texas. The party whose primary we participate in is generally considered the party we're a member of between election cycles.
Some of those Republicans that are choosing to cross over and vote in the Democratic primary are running into a legal requirement that will haunt them for at least the next two years. They will be clearly and publicly identified as having voted in the Democratic primary. For some of them, being labeled as having voted in the Democratic primary is apparently akin to wearing a scarlet letter.
Gordon Peterson, a Democratic activist in Dallas, reports that "...we had one woman who came in and was very upset that she couldn't vote for all of the candidates (in both parties) that she wanted to vote for. She finally ([and] with obviously a great deal of angst) finally chose to vote in the Democratic primary, but only after being promised that we did not have to stamp her voter registration card to 'brand' her as having voted in the Democratic primary (even after being told that it was, regardless, a part of her permanent and public voting history)."
For the record, the emphasis in the above paragraph is his.
Mr. Peterson is right in that a voter's primary participation is a matter of public record. For as long as the woman he wrote about is a voter, anyone can do a search of the public record and see that she voted in the Democratic primary.
Where Mr. Peterson is wrong, and I suspect, so are a lot of other Democratic activists who serve as poll workers is that Texas law does indeed require voters to be "branded" with the name of the party whose primary they choose to vote in.
The law requires that voters be affixed with that brand in one of two ways. First, a voter's registration card is stamped with the name of the party whose primary he or she participates in. Second, and only if the voter doesn't bring his or her registration card to the polls, voters are issued a certificate showing which primary they voted in. In either case, the poll book is stamped with the party's name. Registration cards are used by voters until new ones are issued by the county and the poll books become part of the public record. One way or another, everybody can know which party a voter cast his or her lot with.
Personally, this poses no problem for me. I am proud to be a Democrat. I rather enjoy having my card stamped as such and seeing myself listed as a reliable "DP" (or Democratic Primary) voter in any number of databases. I don't really know what to tell people like that woman in Dallas.
What I do know is that having your primary voting history made public is a matter of law here in Texas. It's clearly laid out in Section 162.004 of the Texas Election Code. The use of the word "shall" in that section of the Code removes any ambiguity. Like it or not, the primary you vote in is the party you're labeled with.
Democratic poll workers across the Lone Star State need to keep this in mind. Every person that comes to vote in the Democratic primary must have their card stamped or be issued a certificate. If they don't want it, then they probably shouldn't be voting in our primary. If they're Republican spoilers, then forcing them to wear a label they hate is the least we can do. After all, they're trying to use our own election process to hurt us, so they deserve some kind of trouble in return.
Without a doubt, some of that record turnout is likely due to Republicans crossing party lines. They could be disgusted enough with their party to actually want to elect a Democrat, or they could be acting as spoilers hoping to give their nominee an easier race in November. Whatever is happening in the minds of voters as they choose which primary to participate it, it's important to know that we don't register a party affiliation here in Texas. The party whose primary we participate in is generally considered the party we're a member of between election cycles.
Some of those Republicans that are choosing to cross over and vote in the Democratic primary are running into a legal requirement that will haunt them for at least the next two years. They will be clearly and publicly identified as having voted in the Democratic primary. For some of them, being labeled as having voted in the Democratic primary is apparently akin to wearing a scarlet letter.
Gordon Peterson, a Democratic activist in Dallas, reports that "...we had one woman who came in and was very upset that she couldn't vote for all of the candidates (in both parties) that she wanted to vote for. She finally ([and] with obviously a great deal of angst) finally chose to vote in the Democratic primary, but only after being promised that we did not have to stamp her voter registration card to 'brand' her as having voted in the Democratic primary (even after being told that it was, regardless, a part of her permanent and public voting history)."
For the record, the emphasis in the above paragraph is his.
Mr. Peterson is right in that a voter's primary participation is a matter of public record. For as long as the woman he wrote about is a voter, anyone can do a search of the public record and see that she voted in the Democratic primary.
Where Mr. Peterson is wrong, and I suspect, so are a lot of other Democratic activists who serve as poll workers is that Texas law does indeed require voters to be "branded" with the name of the party whose primary they choose to vote in.
The law requires that voters be affixed with that brand in one of two ways. First, a voter's registration card is stamped with the name of the party whose primary he or she participates in. Second, and only if the voter doesn't bring his or her registration card to the polls, voters are issued a certificate showing which primary they voted in. In either case, the poll book is stamped with the party's name. Registration cards are used by voters until new ones are issued by the county and the poll books become part of the public record. One way or another, everybody can know which party a voter cast his or her lot with.
Personally, this poses no problem for me. I am proud to be a Democrat. I rather enjoy having my card stamped as such and seeing myself listed as a reliable "DP" (or Democratic Primary) voter in any number of databases. I don't really know what to tell people like that woman in Dallas.
What I do know is that having your primary voting history made public is a matter of law here in Texas. It's clearly laid out in Section 162.004 of the Texas Election Code. The use of the word "shall" in that section of the Code removes any ambiguity. Like it or not, the primary you vote in is the party you're labeled with.
Democratic poll workers across the Lone Star State need to keep this in mind. Every person that comes to vote in the Democratic primary must have their card stamped or be issued a certificate. If they don't want it, then they probably shouldn't be voting in our primary. If they're Republican spoilers, then forcing them to wear a label they hate is the least we can do. After all, they're trying to use our own election process to hurt us, so they deserve some kind of trouble in return.
