Posted: 4/9/2010 7:29:22 AM EDT
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Lots of local Dems switch to GOP in primary
CANTON — In politics, switching parties can be the equivalent of a Browns fan embracing the Steelers, or an Indians fan pledging allegiance to the Yankees. It certainly happens. Voters sometimes drift from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party and vice-versa. So far though, most drifting in this year’s primaries in Stark County is one-sided. During the first week of absentee (early) voting, 307 local Democrats requested ballots to vote in the Republican primary, while 36 Republicans asked for Democratic ballots. That’s nearly a 9-to-1 margin. Experts only can speculate on the reasons. “A lot of the polling evidence shows the momentum is on the (Republican) side,” said John Green, director of the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron. “This is no surprise.” However, he said don’t read too much into the numbers — at least not yet. “In 2008, we saw just the opposite,” Green said. “Some of these might actually have been some of those Republicans who wanted to vote for Hillary Clinton, and now they are switching back.” The Columbus Dispatch published a story Thursday, citing a similar Democrat to Republican shift among voters in Franklin, Hamilton and Cuyahoga counties. In Ohio, voters don’t declare party affiliation when they register. Instead, voters are dubbed members of the party based on the primary in which they vote. Those who don’t vote in primaries are considered “non-partisan.” In Stark, the number of non-partisan voters is roughly the same as Democrats and Republicans combined. “We don’t actually know how (voters) regard themselves,” Green said. Despite the nearly 9-to-1 ratio of Democratic to Republican switchers, the overall number of party-switchers (343 total) is a relatively small portion of those who have requested ballots. The county’s Board of Elections has received early voting requests for 3,637 Republican and 1,172 Democratic ballots. Board Director Jeanette Mullane, a Democrat, wouldn’t speculate on the exodus to the GOP. However, board employees have fielded complaints from voters about the new federal health care laws, she said. “We did have some people coming in here saying they wanted to change parties because of the health care bill,” she said. Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat running for U.S. Senate, has received heavy GOP criticism in recent weeks, following a directive she issued to all 88 county boards of elections. She’s advised elections officials that Democratic and Republican party-switchers who vote on an early ballot, or on May 4, must also fill out and sign a “challenge” form. On the form, the voter acknowledges he or she wants “to be affiliated with and that I support the principles of the (Democratic/Republican) Party.” Brunner has said she’s applying a provision that already was in the state law — not creating a new law. Historically, enforcement of the challenge provision has varied from one county, and even one voter, to the next. Copyright 2010 CantonRep.com. Some rights reserved STORY |
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dems looking to get the most liberal candidate possible through the primaries. think romney... Bingo. They're supporting RINO's since they know the Dem candidate is gonna be toast in November. On a national scale maybe, but locally I would not give them that much credit. The other thing to consider is that Ohio has always been a huge swing state, and the Canton area has the same reputation. |