LOS ANGELES (AP) — A survey has found that tens of thousands of voters, including Demi Moore and other celebrities, have mistakenly registered as members of a conservative minor political party in California in a mix-up over its name, a newspaper reported Sunday.
The Los Angeles Times (http://bit.ly/23G88sX ) said that a telephone survey of 500 members of the American Independent Party found nearly 3 of 4 people did not realize they had enrolled in a political party that opposes abortion rights and same sex marriage and calls for building a fence along the U.S. border.
The newspaper said voters were confused by the use of the word “independent” in the party’s name. In California, voters who do not want to register with any party must check a box on a registration form for “no party preference.”
“I just blew it,” Deborah Silva, 64, of Point Arena in Mendocino County, told the Times. “There were a number of choices. I just checked the box that said ‘independent.'”
Of people surveyed in the Times poll, fewer than 4 percent could correctly identify their own registration as a member of the American Independent Party.
Moore was among Hollywood celebrities with known Democratic leanings listed as members. She has contributed money to and campaigned for President Barack Obama. Her registration as an AIP member is wrong, a representative said.
“Demi Moore is not, nor has ever been, a member of the American Independent Party,” the representative told the Times.
When Patrick Schwarzenegger, son of former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, registered to vote in 2013, he selected the American Independent Party. A family spokesman said Schwarzenegger, 22, plans to change his registration.
According to the Secretary of State’s Office, the party has about 472,000 members, or 2.7 percent of the statewide total.
The American Independent Party’s roots date to 1967 when George Wallace, a segregationist, launched his ?second? run for the White House. Wallace, ?who had run as a Democrat in 1964, helped create the party and ran on its ticket.? Today, that party exists only in California.
“We’re not segregationist anymore,” said Markham Robinson, who serves as chairman of the American Independent Party’s executive committee. “What we are now is a conservative, constitutionalist party.”
Some voters who mistakenly registered with the party said they found the state’s official registration materials confusing.
The survey of members of the American Independent Party was conducted by telephone Feb. 9-11. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
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Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com/
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Since the Constitution doesn’t mention political parties at all, why does any state ask for party affiliation when you register to vote?
EDIT: Perhaps I was a bit inarticulate when posing this question. I realize that parties within a state might have such an interest, but I don’t know why the state itself would care about such things, as the state is allegedly party-neutral.
Because states control their voting procedures based on state law and state constitutions. The federal government does not have the power, under the federal Constitution, to regulate state election procedures, unless they violate some provision or law that would subject such procedures to review by federal courts.
So they’re not segregationists anymore, just rightwing nutbars shading into sovereign citizen territory?
F**king morons. Independent is not a party, it is a (alleged) position.
The most nefarious conservative voter-suppression technique yet.
jw1