At the delightful used book sale at the Greenfield Public Library recently, I overheard a conversation that caught me by surprise. Two women were discussing the coming presidential election and primaries and the one said to the other: “I just learned that if a person is registered as ‘independent,’ they can choose whichever ballot they want at the primaries, Democrat or Republican! Isn’t that something?” Well, that is true, sort of.
Here are the facts: A person who registers to vote in Massachusetts as “unenrolled” may request a ballot for whichever party is included in the primary. This year, there are three such parties; they are the Democratic, the Republican and the Libertarian parties. So, the unenrolled voter may request the ballot for whichever one of these they choose. Once they are given that ballot, they may not change to another. That first choice will remain; even if they spoil that ballot and ask for a new one, the new ballot will be the same as the first.
An interesting note: While people often refer to themselves as “independent” voters, the term “unenrolled” is more appropriate since there really is an Independent party. The Independent Party, however, did not qualify to be recognized in this election, so there will be no Independent ballot available for voters. A voter always has the option of writing in the name of any candidate, but for the primaries, the choice to vote for a candidate of a qualified party will affect the choices that everyone will have in the September election.
One final note: In the past, after an unenrolled voter chose the ballot of a particular party, that choice was noted and the voter’s registration was changed from “unenrolled” to the party whose ballot they had chosen. In other words, if they had voted Republican in 2006, their registration was changed to Republican for the 2010 election unless they specifically asked for it to remain “unenrolled.” This is no longer the case. Today, an unenrolled voter remains unenrolled until such time as that voter changes their registration for themselves.
I hope this helps voters understand their voting rights. The March 5 primary coming soon!
Louise Amyot
Greenfield