.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}

Born at the Crest of the Empire

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

In Virginia, you gotta swear.

The sign of a party on the rise,
The (Virginia) State Board of Elections on Monday approved a state Republican Party request to require all who apply for a GOP primary ballot first vow in writing that they'll vote for the party's presidential nominee next fall.

Is that legal?

posted by mikevotes at 5:42 PM

5 Comments:

  • wow---then that makes the election unnecessary! All they would have to do is is demand a recount if the votes didn't match the list of signatures they collected and then claim fraud. bizarre...

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:12 AM  

  • That's what I thought. It seems weird and desperate.

    (How many Dem voters would have to knowingly cross the line to tip a primary? Wouldn't you want people voting on your side?)

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 8:25 AM  

  • It's hardly enforceable, and probably a violation of voting laws... at least in the America before Bush got his hands on it. Now?...

    By Blogger -epm, at 8:43 AM  

  • It would seem illegal to me. How can you force someone to swear they'll vote a certain way?

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 8:51 AM  

  • Well, technically, primary elections aren't "real" elections. They are sponsored by the party, for the party, in accordance with the party's rules. The laws for general elections don't apply. They can require you to dance a jig, pay a fee, bow to an idol, or drink a shot of Jager. They don't need secret ballots, either. The only limitations would be the policies of the venue and the common law. For example, if the primary polling place was a church basement, the church could deny them the right to require you to worship an idol. Likewise, they couldn't require you to take a hit off a bong or stab someone, since those would be illegal acts in the common law.

    In the general election, however, there would be no way for them to know who you voted for, and the voter qualifications are determined by the state and federal laws.

    Aside from all that, realistically, Republicans are pretty good about unifying around the Party's choice. This is just a gimmick.

    By Blogger Todd Dugdale , at 10:31 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home