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This question is a kind of follow-up to a question on Minneapolis reddit. In short:

Are there legal consequences in MN for voting in the opposing party's primary election with the aim of "helping" that party field the opponent you prefer?

For example: as a Democrat, voting in the Republican primary, while intending to vote for the Democrat in the general election?

Just for color, two obvious motivations might be:

  • Get the opposing party to nominate somebody you expect will do badly in the general election. (Aka the "cynical" approach.)
  • Prevent the opposing party from nominating somebody you sincerely believe would be truly terrible if actually elected, by helping a "more reasonable" candidate secure the nomination. (Aka the "sincere" approach.)
Tom
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3 Answers3

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Some states require that you be registered to vote in a political party by a deadline to vote in its primary.

Some states allow unaffiliated voters and voters who are registered to vote in a political party by a deadline (who are not registered to vote in any other political party) to vote in a party's primary.

In those states, it is generally a crime to vote in a primary which you are not eligible legally to vote in.

But, there is nothing illegal about registering to vote in a party insincerely for tactical or strategic purposes.

ohwilleke
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In Minnesota, persons registering to vote do not declare any party affiliation. No political parties are mentioned on the voter registration form, either by the state, which prepares the form, or by the voter, who answers.

The only time a voter has an official party affiliation is when the voter votes in a primary election. The voter must vote for candidates of a particular party, and if a ballot contains votes for candidates of more than one party, then it is not counted. Voting is by secret ballot, so nobody knows who claimed to be a Republican or a Democrat or supporter of some other party when a ballot is counted.

You choice of which political party to vote for in the primary is therefore nobody's business but your own.

UPDATE: The procedures in Minnesota have changed. The voter is now given the ballot of a party of the voter's choice at the polling place. But there is still no voter registration that says what party (if any) the voter favors.

Michael Hardy
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As a Majority Inspector in Pennsylvania, I can speak to our experience. You are cross-referenced against your name in the books and are only given a ballot for that party. If you claim that the book is wrong, we will give you the other ballot, but warn you that it will be logged as a provisional ballot, and may be discarded, the same as we do for people who are not eligible to vote in the book, or who are indicated as having received or submitted a mail-in ballot. We had a case about two years back where the man in question claimed that he'd switched parties the month before, and that the paperwork must be wrong, so he filled out his provisional ballot. If the margin for votes is small enough, the provisional ballots will be examined for validity and counted.

So, long story short, we'll let you vote with the other party's form, but your ballot will only be counted if it will matter, and will only be considered valid if it is found that you were indeed a member of that party at the time you voted. Your only consequence is a loss of time and effort filling out a ballot that will likely be discarded.

SCD
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