1. This may be overblown, for whatever reasons there may be on the parts of those involved in the article. Quoting from the California Voter Foundation’s FAQ page:

   http://calvoter.org/voter/faq.html#par

   and under its “Political Party Affiliation” heading —

   [start quote]
   How do I change my party affiliation?

   You may change your party affiliation at any time by filling out a new registration form. Be sure to re-register at least fifteen days prior to the next election in order for the change to take effect for that election.
   [end quote]

   So people who want to vote for Sanders in the California Democratic Presidential primary on Tuesday, and have changed their registration from Green (or Peace and Freedom) to Democratic — or to “No Party Preference”, see here:

   http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/political-parties/no-party-preference/

   to get to vote for Sanders can change right back to Green (or Peace and Freedom) again after the primary. (Of course, if Sanders loses, they may have company in the switch away from D. . . .)

2. Here is a message that I wrote to the State Central Committee and the Sacramento County Central Committee of the Peace and Freedom Party of California on February 5th, 2016:

   Hello,

   After being a truly undecided voter for quite some time now, in this presidential election of 2016, I made a decision this morning to endorse Senator Bernie Sanders for the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States of America. Consequently, I changed my party registration from the Peace and Freedom Party to the Democratic Party and I will vote for the Senator in the California Democratic Party Primary Election on June 7th of this year. Therefore, I must resign from my position on the Sacramento County Central Committee, and the State Central Committee, of the Peace and Freedom Party of California.

   This decision is something that I put a lot of study and thought into and I made the choice that is right for me. It is my trust (and expectation) that all the other members of the Peace and Freedom Party are also thinking and doing research regarding this very unique phenomenon — and that each person will make the decision that is the appropriate one for her or him.

   Sincerely and warmly,

   Phil Sawyer

   (Philippe Lawrence Sawyer)

   At the present time, I will just add this: If Senator Bernie Sanders does not receive the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States of America, I will be an undecided voter, once again. I will have to make my decision based upon who I think is the best candidate, regardless of political party. My plan is to remain in the Democratic Party, no matter what happens. The following is a message that I posted on Facebook yesterday (6-4-16):

   There are two more things that I would like to add [to something that I had written the previous day]. First of all: Both U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (who I really hope that you vote for, if you have not yet voted) and Secretary Hillary Clinton are eloquent, mature, and thoughtful candidates. You may not always agree with them on every issue (it is pretty rare for most people to agree with any candidate all of the time — especially independent thinking people) but you will never be embarrassed by them. Just contrast that with what the Republican Party is now going through and you can see how very valuable that is. I am still hoping for some more “profiles in courage” moments coming from various and/or prominent Republican leaders — not very many so far. The second thing that I want to mention is a comment addressed to any of you who read this who have not registered to vote in California (and other states too): Do not despair! The General Election this coming November will be one of the most important elections of our lives. A good time to sign up would be June 8, 2016, the day after the California Primary Election. I encourage you to register with the Democratic Party. As I have written previously in these pages: “The Democratic Party is still a ‘big tent’ political party (like the Republican Party [also] used to be when we baby boomers were coming of age in the 60’s and 70’s). The Democratic Party is the oldest and largest political party in our beautiful, great country. It has room for people of many political persuasions — from democratic socialists, social democrats, and liberals on the left to moderates and pragmatists in the center to fiscal conservatives and social conservatives on the right. What do you have to lose? Almost every person would be at home in this Party. Furthermore, the Party needs you. That is the way that we will make democracy work really well. Please get involved and help out with this fresh, new, struggle to make a better country (and a better world). We baby boomers (as a whole) held that vision in the 60’s and 70’s; the young people of these current times (as a whole) have picked up the mantle and are keeping the dream alive!”

3. This has been one of my major problems with Sanders and his campaign. His supporters (who border on fanatical, and froth at the mouth as much as any Trump supporter) constantly rail on about how revolutionary he is and how it was great that he registered as Democrat: what has he accomplished? His campaign is losing, he’s had to lay off staff because of lack of funding the past two months, and all that he has managed to do is recruit more people to the Democratic party despite the fact that he will not be the Democratic nominee. His campaign has deliberately sought to register Greens, Peace and Freedoms, members of various Socialist parties, and various other third partiers and independents and in doing so, has managed to build the Democratic party when the Republicans are losing registration. Because of him, the Democrats have been the only party to see their ranks grow this year. What kind of revolution is that? Bernie will not be the nominee, Hillary will. So his revolution all along was to strengthen the Democrats, lose, and give the nomination to Hillary? The alternative left has lost thousands upon thousands of voters to him, and as a results has struggled to maintain ballot access. Bernie’s revolution has accomplished nothing but strengthening the duopoly. Are we sure he isn’t on Hillary’s payroll.

4. @John Anthony La Pietra

   In practice this doesn’t happen. Most voters pick a party without much deep thought. They were filling out a registration card and checked [ ] Green or [ ] Libertarian or [ ] American Independent.

   They might not even remember if they are registered or not. They go to check and may even think that “someone” changed their registration, or there was a glitch. Minor party registrants and NPP voters are the most infrequent of voters.

5. Plausible. But there seem to me to be reasons why it may not be true this time in this place. We’ll have to see.

6. In Oregon, the Pacific Green party lost about 25% of its registration before the 2008 primary. There was a tiny recovery during the remainder of 2008, about 4%, which might have been new registrations leading up to the general election.

   It was not until 2012 that the party began to increase its registration.

   But in 2016 through April, the party has lost 35% of its registration (year over year). It may be even more after all the late changes get reported.

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