Talk:Unenrolled voter

This article was nominated for deletion on March 29 2006. The result of the discussion was Delete.

Nota Bene: This article has been extensively rewritten since its recreation at this location, so this is essentially another article. --HappyCamper 17:39, 5 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

See /Archive 1 for details - it contains material from these two edits: [1]

Concept of Unenrolled voter

The concept of an 'unenrolled voter' does seem to be a genuine one (witness explanation of the situation in Mass. here -- http://www.ma.lwv.org/ElectionPubs/voting_in_ma.htm). As a non-US resident it is a concept that I am unfamiliar with and think that a Wikipedia article could provide a useful explanation. The existing stub needs quite a bit of work to make it such, but I don't see that the article is entirely without merit. Mazzy 12:29, 13 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Exactly - it seems that it is something specific in Massachusetts, and that there is a distinction between an "unenrolled" and "independent" voter, although it is subtle. It seems that an "unenrolled" is more or less a free voter of some sort - they are not bound to any one particular party, and can freely choose to associate with whichever platform suits them best at a given time. Sometimes the distinction is not made between the two probably because of the misnomer that they are the same. --HappyCamper 13:47, 13 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'm floundering in the dark here because the idea of having to declare a party allegiance at voter registration is completely alien in the UK. However, I suppose if you are going to vote in some sort of 'primary' round which is essentially about determining a party's candidates the concept of declaring which party you'll do that for makes some sort of sense. As I understand it...an 'unenrolled voter' can make their mind up pretty close to the last minute (and presumably switch parties for which they'll do this). Presumably in later rounds of voting both enrolled and unenrolled voters can be as 'independent' as they want to be and vote for anyone. But, I'm talking through my hat here from trying to read the stuff I've stumbled across. Hence, it would be good if someone familiar with voting law in the US and in Mass. in particular could take this one on. But presumably it has to qualify for not being speedy deleted first. Mazzy 14:07, 13 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]