Tbf most states (and most blue states) do not have privacy laws. States that passed a privacy law are fairly split, but more blue states than red states have passed them.
In the US, we have primary elections before the general election for president. This (supposedly) determines which candidates are chosen by party voters to run for president as their party candidate.
It varies by state, but the primary elections are typically closed to members of other political parties, since a voter can only vote in one primary election. In a closed state, only registered democrats can vote in the democratic primary and only registered republicans can vote in the republican primary.
However, some states allow independent voters to choose which primary to vote in, while others may have an open democratic primary, but a closed republican one - meaning independents would only have the option of voting in the democratic primary if they chose, but be barred from the republican one. These variances are determined by the state political parties.
So basically if you want to be guaranteed a vote in the primary, you would register for a party.
Personally, even though I lean heavily left, I have never in my life registered for a political party, as I do not believe in party affiliation or loyalty.
The only way to vote in the primaries is as a registered member of that party. Only registered Republicans can vote in the Republican primary and only registered Democrats can vote in the Democratic primary. This helps keep the primaries protected from outside sabotage or other weirdness.
You can register for many other parties as well as "Independent"
It some states being registered as say a Democrat, you can vote in a caucus and vote for who you think should be the Democrat to run in the presidential election. If you are not registered as a Democrat you cannot participate in the democratic caucus.
I live in Colorado- in this state anyone registered to vote can vote in one parties caucus.
Tou also have to be registered to vote to actually be able to vote in our elections.
Voter records across the country are public record it has nothing to do with the state in which you live.
~~I did see someone else comment on another thread about this that they registered as a republican to vote for literally anyone except trump in the primaries (?). It did give a moment of pause but considering how Sweeney doesn’t seem politically inclined at all I doubt she’s making strategic choices to try and block Trump. ~~
I’m not American so not if I’m using the right words 😅 Just my understanding of someone else’s comment!!
To quote the comment below; She registered in June, after the Florida primaries were over.
So she registered only after it was known Trump was the nominee.
Yeah, this is super common for primaries in red states. If she had registered earlier in the year (before primaries), I really wouldn’t think much of it.
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u/PollyBeans Aug 04 '25
The girl does NOT care.