TexasCHLforum.com

The TSRA website has a 2010 Primary voter guide on their website. It must be fairly new.

http://www.tsrapac.com/images/stories/g ... -Guide.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It shows what candidates are running for what office by district. It also indicates which candidates TSRA has endorsed. It's very informative.

Check it out, and thanks TSRA!

Thanks for that. I see they endorsed candidates for the House. Any reason they chose not to endorse Senate candidates? Ogden certainly earned his B+ rating. Voted against Campus CC. Glad Bius (his opponent) has an A rating.

Maybe a stupid question but do you need to be a "registered party member" to vote in the primary ?.

The email that TSRA sent out states:

"A voter must choose to participate in one party's primary. Again, this is only true for the primary election"

Does that mean even though I am not a member with either party I can go and vote in one of the two party primaries ?

As I understand it, you register for a party when you vote in that party's primary, as there is a section on your voter registration card that polling officials write in which party you voted for.

Ziran wrote:Maybe a stupid question but do you need to be a "registered party member" to vote in the primary ?.

The email that TSRA sent out states:

"A voter must choose to participate in one party's primary. Again, this is only true for the primary election"

Does that mean even though I am not a member with either party I can go and vote in one of the two party primaries ?

Voters don't register by party affiliation in Texas. When you pick a primary to vote in, your card is stamped with the name of that party, ostensibly to ensure you only vote in one primary.

Publicly-funded primary elections are wrong. The parties should choose their candidates however they choose (primary, caucus, convention, etc.), but the only public election should be the general election.

chabouk wrote:Voters don't register by party affiliation in Texas. When you pick a primary to vote in, your card is stamped with the name of that party, ostensibly to ensure you only vote in one primary.

Your voter registration card is stamped to keep you from voting in both primaries, and to ensure that you vote in the right runoff, too, if needed. You can only vote in the runoff of the party whose primary you voted in.

If you don't vote in a primary, you could choose which runoff to vote in, because your card hasn't been stamped. I've always wanted to vote in one party's primary to cause mayhem among them, and then switch to the other one for the runoff, but one can't do that under this system.

UpTheIrons wrote:

chabouk wrote:Voters don't register by party affiliation in Texas. When you pick a primary to vote in, your card is stamped with the name of that party, ostensibly to ensure you only vote in one primary.

Your voter registration card is stamped to keep you from voting in both primaries, and to ensure that you vote in the right runoff, too, if needed. You can only vote in the runoff of the party whose primary you voted in.

If you don't vote in a primary, you could choose which runoff to vote in, because your card hasn't been stamped. I've always wanted to vote in one party's primary to cause mayhem among them, and then switch to the other one for the runoff, but one can't do that under this system.

Ah, thanks for the further explanation. I've never dealt with a runoff in my district.

chabouk wrote:
Publicly-funded primary elections are wrong. The parties should choose their candidates however they choose (primary, caucus, convention, etc.), but the only public election should be the general election.

I would like to respectfully disagree. It is the people that should decide who runs, not the "party." Having anyone decide except the people themselves would be wrong in my opinion.

UpTheIrons wrote:

chabouk wrote:Voters don't register by party affiliation in Texas. When you pick a primary to vote in, your card is stamped with the name of that party, ostensibly to ensure you only vote in one primary.

Your voter registration card is stamped to keep you from voting in both primaries, and to ensure that you vote in the right runoff, too, if needed. You can only vote in the runoff of the party whose primary you voted in.

If you don't vote in a primary, you could choose which runoff to vote in, because your card hasn't been stamped. I've always wanted to vote in one party's primary to cause mayhem among them, and then switch to the other one for the runoff, but one can't do that under this system.

An election law nit to pick: The statements highlighted in red above are not correct. The reason the voter registration card is stamped is not to keep you from voting twice (there are other procedures for that) but to give you entry into the correct party's convention after the polls close -- thus you can't vote on a Democratic Party ballot and then go participate in the Republican convention. If you do not have your voter registration card with you (and many do not) you can get a small card stamped with the name of the party's whose ballot you chose for the primary. That card will give you entry into your party's convention. If you don't care about the convention, you don't have to get your voter registration card stamped at all.

For runoff elections, the Elections Office will have a record of which primary ballot you chose, and that will determine which party's runoff races you will be able to vote in. As noted above, if you did not vote in the primary but show up for the runoff, you can choose whichever party ballot you wish.

Just a reminder that early voting for the March 2 primary begins Tuesday, February 16. For complete information--including a tool to help you locate your nearest polling places--visit the State of Texas Website:

http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/pa ... pamp.shtml

Certainly, it is your choice whether or not to vote in the primary. But the 2010 elections will be critical to what we can achieve in the 2011 legislative session. Lest we forget what's at stake in this year's election:

• Governor
• Lieutenant Governor
• All 32 U.S. Representatives
• All 150 State Representatives
• 16 State Senators
• Attorney General
• 3 Members of the State Supreme Court
• 3 Members of the Court of Criminal Appeals
• All Criminal District Attorneys
• All County Judges
• Land Commissioner

...And more.

So it may not be as splashy as a Presidential election year, but for Texas the 2010 vote is huge.

GrayGhost wrote:

chabouk wrote:
Publicly-funded primary elections are wrong. The parties should choose their candidates however they choose (primary, caucus, convention, etc.), but the only public election should be the general election.

I would like to respectfully disagree. It is the people that should decide who runs, not the "party." Having anyone decide except the people themselves would be wrong in my opinion.

The parties are the people, or they're supposed to be. With government-controlled primaries, the "party" becomes political insiders, not the people. Eliminating government primaries would do a lot to restore the power of the people to run their own organization.

Of course, sometimes that gets ugly and messy... ever seen a Libertarian Party caucus?