Why do Americans have their political affiliation publicly registered?

Question

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?

In: Other

Answer 1

I see a lot of correct but incorrect information on here – because it is very state-specific. But party registration is 90% related to the primary elections.

Primary elections are publicly funded here, and depending on your state, you may have closed, semi-closed, and open primaries.

For open primaries, you can walk into your polling place, ask for any parties’ primary ballot, and vote for that candidate regardless of your party status. In these states, registering with a particular party is more of a personal preference than anything. Example: I was a Missouri voter in 2016, I was a registered Independent, and I voted in the Democratic Primary for President.

For closed primaries, you must be registered as a member of that party. Example: I’m a current Wyoming resident, and Republicans win pretty much every election. So I am a registered Republican so my vote actually has a say, even though I almost never vote for Republicans in the general election.

For semi-closed primaries, it is very state specific. Some of the states have both closed and open primary for parties, because they let the parties themselves decide, and other parties and states may choose to allow Independents to vote in their elections (but not other registered parties).

You’re right. Our ballots are secret – so just because you are a registered Republican doesn’t mean you always, or even ever vote for a Republican. But for states that publish this information it can be helpful to pollsters to determine which registered party members are voting. (For example – in XYZ state, 60% of Democrats voted and 70% of Republicans voted – so that may benefit Republicans in the election results),

I’ve never really seen party registration used as a weapon against others. The only exception is in a situation like if a Republican candidate was a Democrat until 6 months ago, that can be used against them in the primary campaigns.