In some far reaches of rural America, Democrats are flirting with extinction. In Niobrara County, Wyoming, the least-populated county in the least-populated state, Becky Blackburn is one of just 32 left.
Her neighbors call her “the crazy Democrat,” although it’s more a term of endearment than derision.
Some less populated counties have fewer. There are 21 Democrats in Clark County, Idaho, and 20 in Blaine County, Nebraska. But Niobrara County’s Democrats, who account for just 2.6% of registered voters, are the most outnumbered by Republicans in the 30 states that track local party affiliation, according to Associated Press election data.
In Wyoming, the state that has voted for Donald Trump by a wider margin than any other, overwhelming Republican dominance may be even more cemented-in now that the state has passed a law that makes changing party affiliation much more difficult.
In my state there is actually no upside to registering your party with the state. It limits your options in the primary.
Unaffiliated voters can vote in either primary.
That’s so… limiting…
I’m in a swing state and can choose to vote for any single party in the primary. Just one. You can declare a party by filling a bubble on your ballot, so if you accidentally vote somewhere you don’t mean to it doesn’t count (the list is big), and if you don’t do that and vote in more than one none count, but if one party is locked in due to incumbent or something, I can vote for the least bad option in the opposing side. I’m not locked in to anything, and I think I’m still registered as a dem from so so many years ago.
Everyone should have that and it’s so weird that we let states decide that sort of thing.