Tell Me Again Which Group Are the “Low Information Voters”?
Oh, this is rich. The “money quote” up front (emphasis added).
A survey has found that tens of thousands of voters, including Demi Moore and other celebrities, have mistakenly registered as members of a conservative minor political party in California in a mix-up over its name, a newspaper reported Sunday.
The Los Angeles Times said that a telephone survey of 500 members of the American Independent Party found nearly 3 of 4 people did not realize they had enrolled in a political party that opposes abortion rights and same sex marriage and calls for building a fence along the U.S. border.
A little history, folks. If you’re in your 50s, or are a student of history, you may find that the name “American Independent Party” rings a bell. It should. It was founded in 1967; notorious segregationist George Wallace and retired USAF General Curtis LeMay ran as the party’s nominees for POTUS/VP in 1968. While the party is no longer overtly racist, it’s today one of the most conservative political parties out there.
So, why did so many liberal-leaning Californians – including a number of celebrities – register as members of the American Independent Party? “They made a mistake and were trying to register as ‘Independent’ “, or something to that effect, is the theory. The state’s voter registration materials were “too confusing” has also been advanced as a theory.
Yeah, right. The truth IMO is more like, “They didn’t know jack – and still don’t – because they’re too damn lazy to sit down and educate themselves.” But putting it the other way sounds far nicer.
Still, those on the political left love to call conservatives “fools”. Go figure.
Fox News has an article on this. It in turn includes a link to the basic LA Times article that broke the story. If you have a few, they might be worth reading.
Karmic retribution? Perhaps. But I prefer to think of it simply as God proving that He has a sense of humor – and loves irony. (smile)
Category: Politics
derp
This is certainly worth a prolonged gigglesnort. Two of them.
Did they not realize that being independent means registering to vote without declaring for any party???
I mean that’s what, 8th grade civics class? I know states can each have some differing rules, but I’ve not yet lived in a state where I had to declare for any party….I could choose to do so, but remaining unaffiliated simply meant not declaring I was something or other….
No parties for me, I pick the folks I want regardless of the letter. Especially at the local level.
Nationally I try to figure out who fucks me least and my criteria for that is most assuredly different than almost anyone else’s I can safely guarantee that statement.
The current crop of rat fucks running for president really makes me wonder which turd is the lesser of all evils. Once the conventions are over I suspect my choices become a coin flip…but we’ll see maybe I have yet to be inspired.
Oh Demi I’ll independent for you baby, I’ll independent so much. You just thought Ashton and Bruce were independent, but I’ll show you independent like you’ve never seen independent before.
(I mean I intend to continue to vote for Republicans, Conservatives and libertarians, but I’ll lie about it for you baby)
Generally (at least in my state), you have to declare a party to vote in the caucuses and primaries, they’re “closed”. “D”s can’t vote in “R”s, and “R”s can’t vote in “D”s.
In the general election, it’s WIIIIIDE open. Only have to be legal and registered, and show a legit Gubberment issued picture ID.
“legit Gubberment issued picture ID”? That’s racist!
“legit Gubberment issued picture ID”? That’s WAAAAAAAY-ciss!
There. FIFY!
Wait isn’t the fact that election material too confusing the same answer to how Bushitler took over in violation of the people’s choice? You know the same folks that the people in the article make fun of all the time.
Y’know, I’m registered to vote in California, and I had no trouble figuring it out. I didn’t find the form to be confusing at all. In fact, it was remarkably straightforward, especially for a California state form.
I’m thinking the problem was user error.
I checked the online CA voter registration form out. When you get to page 3, there are ONLY two options. The first is “Yes, my political party preference is” followed by a drop-down box. The drop-down box contains an alphabetically ordered list of the officially recognized CA parties. Immediately below that choice of prefence is another option. It reads, “No, I do not want to disclose a political party preference.” A parenthetical warning follows, that selecting no preference may bar you from some parties’ primaries.
There is also this clear instruction regarding registration at the state website:
“Voters who wish to register independent of a party must select “No, I do not want to disclose a political party preference” when regisetring to vote. If you select “American Independent Party” you will be registered with a politial party and will NOT be registered as an indepedent.”
By the way, the typos in there are not mine but California’s. I guess they figure (correctly) that their would-be voters aren’t reading their information anyway. And this Independent/American Independent Party business tends to prove that. Last point. How in the world can anyone think that a party whose official listing includes the very word party is unaffiliated with any political party?
Figuring that out would require logical thinking, something the vast majority of our “celebrities” and other Americans seem to be incapable of.
this is what happens when you drink so-duh
It is said that voting is the cornerstone of a healthy democracy. Either that statement is wrong or, if it’s not, democracy is ailing in America. In 2012, there were slightly more than 314 million citizens, of whom about 241 million were eligible to vote. 129 million people voted in the presidential election and the winner received about 66 million. And that was a presidential election year. The numbers are positively abysmal in non-presidential elections. And this explains a number of things, not the least of which is the targeting of certain specific groups of people to register and to vote. The numbers tell the tale. If 50% of a group votes and 20% of another group votes, who wins? Well, if the first group has 100 members and the second group has 500 members, you tell me. So, if a growing segment of the population is targeted or that segment can be expanded overnight by, oh, say, a wholesale grant of citizenship, magic happens. By the way, percentage wise, Veterans vote like nobody’s business. And if you are a Veteran, a homeowner, married, employed, and you have a college degree and are at least 50, you are as close to a surefire voter as one can get.
This is bullshit spin on a common mistake. First, people attempting to register as independents are the ones making this mistake. So you can make no generalized statement about whether they are liberal or conservatives. They are independents. They do not wish to register with a party and thus you cannot tell what their political leanings are since both conservatives and liberals, but mostly moderates, register as independents. This is common. A lot of independents in California accidentally register for the American Independent Party. Because the most commonly used form in California (and the one mostly used by parties in voter registration drives) has no box on the registration form to “check” if you want to register as an independant. In fact there is no where on the form at all that allows you to indicate you want to register as an independent. The question asks; do you want to register for a political party. It ONLY has a “Yes” box to check. Leaving it empty is how you register independent. However, due to the perception of voter suppression a lot of people are uncomfortable leaving any questions unanswered so they try to either check “Yes”, and check the box that say “American Independent Party” or check “Yes” and attempt to write in “independent” or “no party”. But “independent” is not a party so it is counterintuitive to have that box but have no “no” option. Additionally, it is unclear how many of those that attempted to write in “independent” ended up being registered with the American Independent Party since they indicated “yes” they wanted to register for a party in the check box. Not answering the question at all is how the designers of the form intended you would register as independent. In the a survey 3 out of 4 voters who intended to register as independents reported they made or may have made this mistake. I made this mistake in 2004. There is another form that has a box for “I do not wish to register with a party” but both forms are still in circulation. There is… Read more »
Translation from tl;dr wall of text:
California’s voters (of which I was formerly one) usually don’t bother reading shit before filling it out, especially when said shit eminates from Sacramento.
See, Larsie? Succinct, brief, to the point. Try it sometime!
Taylor: anyone who is too lazy – or too stupid – to figure out how to register as a political independent by reading directions (or by asking someone knowledgeable) by definition qualifies as a “low information voter”. That’s particularly true if they’re so lazy/ignorant that they don’t do their homework and find out that the American Independent Party is the same one that nominated George freaking Wallace for President in 1968 – and then manage to register as a member of the party by mistake.
The fact that a bunch of left-leaning celebrities did exactly that is God’s way of showing us He has a sense of humor, and loves irony.
Regarding your inane apologist rant above: “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” What’s the matter, Taylor – are you perchance one of the low information voters who made that fool’s mistake?
My accounting of what’s on the form is 100% correct and the other version is wrong. I asked above, “How in the world can anyone think that a party whose official listing includes the very word party is unaffiliated with any political party?” I now have my answer. Have a reading comprehension deficiency and be too lazy read through both options that appear on the form.