superman;1167426 wrote:WV has a closed primary as far as Democrats and Republicans are concerned. Independents and members of minor parties can vote in whichever primary they want.
Semi-closed. As in closed primaries, registered party members can vote only in their own party's primary. Semi-closed systems, however, allow unaffiliated voters to participate as well. Depending on the state, independents either make their choice of party primary privately, inside the voting booth, or publicly, by registering with any party on Election Day. Fifteen states -- Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming -- have semi-closed primaries that allow voters to register or change party preference on election day.[3] [4]
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There are also mixed systems in use. In West Virginia, where state law allows parties to determine whether primaries are open to independents, Republican primaries are open to independents, while Democratic primaries were closed. However, as of April 1, 2007, West Virginia's Democratic Party opened its voting to allow "individuals who are not affiliated with any existing recognized party to participate in the election process".
According to the secretary of state's office, there are 1,226,545 eligible voters in West Virginia. Though the state has traditionally been a conservative bastion, there are more Democrats than Republicans, with 640,888 (52.25%) registered Democrat; 352,304 (28.72%) Republicans; 1,286 (.10%) Mountain Party, and 210,562 (17.17%) with no party affiliation. There are 21,505 (1.75%) registered with another political party.
http://www.policymic.com/articles/8057/west-virginia-primary-results-live-mitt-romney-defeats-ron-paul
17% of the electorate is unaffiliated, and can vote in any primary they choose.
http://apps.sos.wv.gov/elections/results/results.aspx?year=2012&eid=8&county=Statewide
The democratic primary has over 50,000 more votes than the Republican primary. In a primary that has absolutely zero bearing on the actual election (at least the Republican result could factor into possible running mates). Obama has 76k votes, while Judd has 57k. Meanwhile in the Repub. primary, Romney has 58k.
As of 2008, WV had 1.18 million registered voters. Just 17% of that total would be over 200,000 voters who are unaffiliated and can vote for either primary. That alone is almost more voters than actually voted in the primaries (based on current returns).
Two primaries that meant absolutely squat to either party were conducted at a great expense to a state that has no say in the nomination of who would become on the ballot.
Edit: There's also the fact that while WV residents have traditionally been liberal fiscally, they've been staunch social conservatives and have switched over in the past decade to voting Republican to side with the social issues while forgoing any interest in standing up for their fiscal concerns. This means, probably, that many WV residents are originally registered Democrat and may have probably just neglected to ever update their voter registration to be either independent or Republican. And therefore can still vote in a Democratic primary as they may still be registered Democrats.... the so-called DINOs. Democrats-in-Name-Only.
