Nov 28 2007
VA GOP Is Out Of Control
Either I vote my conscience in the 2008 Presidential election or I don’t vote in the 2008 GOP primary – that is apparently my choice.
If you’re planning to vote in Virginia’s February Republican presidential primary, be prepared to sign an oath swearing your Republican loyalty.
The 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.
I am not signing no damn oath and no one can take my right to vote away from me. I will vote in the GOP primary without being coerced by a bunch of insecure right wingers. These fools first tried to go without primaries and just hold a convention to try and remove the democratic process from the Republican party. They did this because they KNOW VA is going to nominate right-center candidates to fend of left-center Democrat candidates. The far right knows it is losing clout in VA and wants to hold onto power at any cost.
Now they are attempting to force people to sign a pledge before we know who the candidates are and we have the 2008 presidential public debate. Well screw the GOP in VA? These actions remind me of the Dems in Texas who ran away from the state to avoid facing the fact the electorate was rejecting what they were offering. I am a proud ex-democrat independent who stands by George W Bush all the way. And I am happy NOT to be associated with the undemocratic VA GOP.
One’s “right” to vote in the primary is totally up to the parties involved. They make the rules for primary elections. In fact, they don’t even have to have one at all. They could simply apploint delegates to the convention if they wanted to with state conventions rather than a primary election.
What happens if you do not fulfill the oath? After all votes are supposed to be private, how will they know who you vote for next year?
When pigs fly, then I might make this vow…no, not even if pigs flew…
What in the name of blazes is this all about?
Open primaries  in which voters don’t have to be a member of a party to vote for its candidates  have long been a thorn in the sides of national Democrats and Republicans. Now, according to the Assoc…
Terrye,
It is my word, my oath. I would know.
Given some past actions (see John Warner in 1994 against Ollie North), as well as the third-party threats from some conservatives, I think the VA GOP’s decision is reasonable.
Sounds unconstitutional to me. The Republican party might have a legitimate power to decide the terms of its own membership, but binding people on votes would seem to be a very near thing to vote buying, vote bundling, vote transferring, and other illegal voting schemes. The fact that the contract is not enforceable should not matter either. Vote buying deals are not enforceable, but they are still illegal. Indeed, I think voters who sign such an oath could be criminally liable themselves. People are simply not allowed to transfer their votes to others, which this oath effectively does.