Some people think they are being true to themselves by staying politically unaffiliated. In most of the United States you greatly limit the influence you have in the election process by not registering with a political party. There are 17 states with completely open or semi-closed caucuses. Caucuses and primaries in the rest of the states are closed. Unless you reside in a state that holds open or semi-closed caucuses, the only time you vote is in the state wide primary election. By that time, the breadth of candidates available to vote on has usually been weeded down to two candidates. If you instead participate in the initial precinct caucuses and primaries, chances are you have most if not all of the political candidates to vote on. Even in states with open caucuses and primaries, once you participate in one party’s caucus, you are technically bound to only participate in the same party’s caucuses and primaries for the remainder of the election cycle. Thus, if you stay unaffiliated and decide to crash a rival party’s caucus, you technically cannot participate in another party’s primary process. Or, if you stayed unaffiliated because you had your heart set on a particular candidate in one party only to have that candidate drop out of the race, you are stuck with the party whose caucus you initially participated in. This could frustrate the independent voter whose “Plan B” candidate is in the other party. Like Mike Rosen from 850KOA news radio explains in his opinion piece from the Denver Post, “Party Trumps Person”. You will have the best chance of picking a candidate that best represents your interests by picking a party and sticking with it. Participating within your party caucuses and primaries gives you the best chance of getting candidates who will best represent your interests.
A description of each type of caucus system and a table that indicates which system each state follows is provided by FairVote.org. In an open primary or caucus, no party affiliation is required in order to vote. Generally the voter can only participate in one party’s voting process. In a closed primary or caucus, a voter must be registered with the party he is voting in. Some closed caucuses have a deadline far in advance of a caucus or primary in order to minimize party crashing. Party crashing is when people normally affiliated with a different political party cross over to a rival political party in order to control the field of candidates available to be voted on. Other closed caucuses allow participants to register with their party on the same day that a caucus or primary is held. A semi-closed caucus or primary allows unaffiliated or independent voters to participate in the caucus process.