In a lot of countries voting is by secret ballot so why in the US do people have their affiliation publicly registered? The point of secret ballots is to avoid harassment from political opponents, is this not a problem over there?
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Some things vary from state to state, so let’s go with the simplest and most popular election — the President. It happens every four years in early November.
In a presidential election you can vote for any candidate you like as long as you are a registered voter. Just because you are registered does not lock you in to a particular candidate in the November general election (the “real” one).
Earlier in the year, usually in the spring (it’s up to each state), there are primary elections. Primary elections happen so they can narrow down each party’s candidates in preparation for that November election.
With that in mind, here’s where the party registration comes into play: in MOST states, the primary ballot you are allowed to vote in depends on your registered party. It’s part of the narrowing -down process. Every state has variations of this. For example, I’m a registered independent (no party affiliation). Years ago I wasn’t eligible to vote in the Presidential primaries because no such primary exists for independent parties. The law changed about ten years ago and now I can pick which ballot I want, but again it’ll only be a Democrat or Republican ballot.
Again, different states do different things and it gets even weirder when you start talking about other elections like Congressmen and local politicians. I simplified for the sake of what OP likely meant, which are Presidential elections.
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