I'm voting republican.

[Kyle]

Living in Texas and in a very red county (when straight ticket voting was allowed, 70% of my county voted straight ticket republican), I've come to realize that the actual elections that determine who takes office are the republican primaries. So I've decided that I'm voting in republican primaries from here on out. I researched all the candidates in opposed races (including County Court Clerk) and made my decisions, largely based on who is the least Trump-grovelling, MAGA-drone out there. Surprisingly, there are still republicans running for office that are not openly licking Trumps boots- but there are many who are. It's weird to see people running for Justice of the Peace on the platform of keeping critical race theory out of schools and fighting socialism on all fronts.

But never fear- I will likely not be voting for any of these people in the general election.

[Mike]

I've often considered doing the same thing here. But I'd have to register as Republican, and I'm not ready for that.

[Kyle]

Yeah- I don't have to do that. And if I did- it would probably be a dealbreaker.

[poorpete]

I kinda wish everyone was allowed to vote in any primary, because I have an active interest in the candidates of both parties being sane and reasonable people. But I get too why they don't allow that because of shenanigans -- it's a regular trick to hype up the other party's less appealing general election candidate.

Ideally, in all elections, it should be a top-two primary, like California and Washington.
https://ballotpedia.org/Top-two_primary
Or a top-four primary, and the general is ranked-choice, which Alaska does.
https://ballotpedia.org/Top-four_primary

Or even better, a top-two primary that's ranked choice, then a two person winner-take-all general.

Until then, root for your favorite, but vote when you can for good governance. So good move, Kyle!

[Kyle]

Yeah, and even though this means I can't vote in the democratic primary, that doesn't have much meaning for me in a deep red county. The democratic primaries are almost always uncontested (particularly at the local level) and are normally candidates that I'd vote in the general election over the republican candidate anyways. So I'm not losing out by much doing this, but I also feel it's important to keep the kooks off of things like our school board and the land commissioner's office.

[Phoebe]

I've often considered doing the same thing here. But I'd have to register as Republican, and I'm not ready for that.

Can you register as a nonpartisan and vote the Republican ballot in the primaries? I do that where I live but I don't know if it's universalizable?

We very much have a split here between normal sane people who happen to be Republicans (or self-aggrandizing people who run as Republicans because they think that's the best way to get elected and they don't really care what party they're in), and full scale topple democracy Republicans, so the primary is generally the best way to press some lever on that.

[Kyle]

You don't register in Texas. The deal is that during a voting cycle (which I think is a November to November year), if you vote in a party's primary, then you can only vote in that party's primary during that voting cycle.

[Mando]

That is why I voted for John Edwards when he was competing with Hillary Clinton in 2016.

...and then we have Purdue (former Senator that lost to Ossoff who then decides our Gov., Kemp, wasn't pro Trump enough so he is challenging him.

His slogan is "vote for me so Stacey Abrams won't be gov"....to which I reply to the radio, "That is precisly why Stacey will be the next gov."

Anyway, Kemp stood up to Trump and I appreciate that.