On March 24, New York Assemblymember Fred W. Thiele (I-Sag Harbor) introduced AB 9661, to let independent voters vote in any party’s presidential primary. Thiele has been a registered member of the Independence Party since 2010, but in all the years he has been a member of the Independence Party, he also obtains the Democratic Party nomination when he runs for re-election.
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No, most certainly not. Why are these free loader politicians running on the D ticket, if they are not Democratic? This is an insult to our party. It is absolutely crazy. Look at what is happening with Bernie Sanders, he has admitted he is running on the D ticket because “he can’t afford to run on the independent ticket”. Sorry, no more free rides I hope.
I certainly hope not. After we Dems put our heart and soul into our party and those freeloaders want a pass. NO WAY!!
No more of these people that use GOP and NRA money and pretend to be a Democrat.
This is ridiculous, absurd and blatantly unfair. Caucuses and open primaries do not reflect accurately on the mood of rank and file, they discount the ‘worker bees’ who make political parties work leading up to and in between elections and if passed, they can allow one group to skew the opposition.
The request doesn’t make sense. The whole point of a primary is to allow a party to select their nominee.
I disagree with this bill. The primary is one of the rewards for being a part of a political party. It is an invitation to let those outside the party manipulate the vote. Please do not pass this bill!
If people want to vote on the Democrat ticket, they can register as Democrats. They have NO RIGHT choosing the Democrat Candidate. They can build their own party up to be recognized for debates, etc. I am SICK of Trojan Horses.
NO!!!
It’s impossible to build a 3rd party in this current political climate. People who don’t identify with either party are actually the ones picking the Presidents in the general election. Seems fair to let them have a choice in who is running.
The current system feels like voter suppression. The very least that should be changed are the deadlines. As it stands right now the deadline for registering to vote was in March, but the deadline for changing affiliations was last year, in October. Both deadlines should have been in March.
It is absurd that 3.2 million New Yorkers will not be able to choose a nominee in a primary season as important as the one next Tuesday. Democrats and Republicans are both choosing between candidates who are possibly more different than the General Election candidates of the two parties have been in a long time. It is undemocratic to keep some 3 million Independents, the voting block with the largest sway in the General Election, from participating such a crucial vote.