On December 9, the Democratic Party of West Virginia changed its rules to permit independent voters to vote in the Democratic primary. West Virginia Republicans have been permitting such participation for some years.
On December 9, the Democratic Party of West Virginia changed its rules to permit independent voters to vote in the Democratic primary. West Virginia Republicans have been permitting such participation for some years.
Unfortunately, there are no “Independent” voters any more in West Virginia. About four years ago, “Independent” was replaced with “No Party Preference” (also referred to as Non Partisan) on the WV Voter registration form. I guess the Mountain State politicrats were fearful of independent thinking people, so they abolished that label.
When I changed my party registration back then, the county clerk issued me a confirmation letter stating “Your new party is No Party.” I could hardly stop laughing, so had it framed for my bathroom wall.
Bottom line is that this new primary rule change only applies to Non-Partisan voters. Voters registered with any other third party designation CANNOT vote Dem or Repub. IMHO, this was a dumb move by the Demos, since there is now no reason to be registered either Repub or Dem unless one is planning to run for office. I expect to see a mad rush of WV voters changing their party affiliation to NO PARTY so they can vote for the worst candidate in either primary.
Sonething that might cause confusion: Actually, you CAN be a registered “Independent” in WV, but in a round-about way, and that voter designation is NOT what this primary rule applies to. On the voter registration form is “Other Party__________” with a line after it. If the voter checks this “Other Party” box and then writes “Independent” on the line after it, he/she has in fact registered to vote as Independent. They would have in effect declared their association with the “Independent” PARTY, not as an independent voter.
This may lead to some confusion and challenges because the Democrats and Republicans only desire the participation of No Party specified non-partisan “independents” in their primaries. Otherwise, they’d both open their primaries to any third party including Libertarians, Greens, Constitutionalists, etc.