The only one disturbed by all of this seems to be you...

6 months in advance?

to becoming a Democrat. Think about that.

Thousands of people who may have joined the party won't be able to due to very restrictive laws.

And people wonder why the parties are in decline....

Personally, I don't care if the rule is six months or two months. It's not about that. The problem is that there are many people complaining about a rule that has been on the books for decades. If you live in NY, like I do, you know about this when you register to vote, and you act accordingly.

If you ever thought you might want to vote for a Democrat, you register as a Democrat. It's not hard.

But if they want to participate in the primary, they need to make the switch by the deadline.

I initially considered a 30-day cutoff to be reasonable, but upon further discussion I see the value of same-day registration, so I'd go with that. The current deadline is indeed ridiculous, but the party is free to set it as they see fit.

Regardless, it's not "hard" to change party affiliation, so the headline is a misnomer.

Why does that seem difficult to you?

Of course, if they want to vote in the Primary, then they have to register prior to the cutoff. That's a different issue, but it's still not hard. Having to register by a deadline isn't hard, as long as the deadline is public knowledge as it is in New York.

So what you're actually saying is this: "I object to New York's early deadline to register as Democrat in order to vote in the primary."

Soon, Sanders supporters will be heading home to lick their wounds and await the cues from the Sanders campaign on what "other" needs to be blamed for the latest loss. It will never occur to them that they had it in their power to do something to influence the outcome, like change their registration. After all, Sanders announced his candidacy a year ago. NYers had 6 months to change their registration to D to be able to vote for Sanders in the primary. If they couldn't be bothered, screw em.

they were into Bernie before it was cool

Will the people complaining now do anything to change it once it's too late to benefit Bernie Sanders?

Ha.

I don't take seriously the folks who treat closed primaries as a graver concern and form of oppression than voter ID laws and other Republican vote suppression tactics.

change it before an election.

As for voter ID laws Bernie went as far as to call those that work for them political cowards:

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/250464-sanders-attacks-political-cowards-pushing-tougher-voting-rights-laws

Bernie has always fought for voting rights and so have his supporters...

Because Bernie was obviously going to win, and it didn't hurt him and arguably helped him.

And, not many peeps about the biggest vote suppression tool, caucuses.

how about caucuses?

How is it that anything that inconveniences Sanders is a transcendent civil rights crisis, but anything that works to his benefit is no big deal?

It's okay if it benefits her; it's not okay when it doesn't.

Limbaugh: ‘We May Have to Reactivate ‘Operation Chaos,’ but This Time for Bernie’

If they are registered as a Democrat or Republican.

Why any Democrats want Republicans to be able to vote in their primary is a mystery.

is beyond me. And if you are an independent in New York you must change your registration 6 months in advance of an election or you can't join another party to vote in that election.

safety of being an Indy and makes the commitment to the D Party. If you made the switch in time, you're welcome to vote, even if it's not for the candidate I support. If you didn't make the switch in time, lesson learned. Make the switch now so you don't miss out on the next time.

Because everyone who's paying attention knows it's shrinking.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2016/0111/Is-the-Democratic-party-shrinking

Takes about a minute. You could have joined about 30 times in the time you've taken to write posts in this thread.

80's until I found out the local politicians I helped get elected were just as corrupt a their GOP counter parts. It was extremely disapointing as I was very active in the party and running for office when I learned these things.

Your experience may have been different.

You have until 25 days before the general election to make the switch.

I support each party restricted primary votes to party members. If you want a say in who the Democratic candidate will be, then you should be a Democrat. Electing to not be a member of any political party is a choice.

This nonsense exists only to keep the power in the hands of the party machines. And make no mistake, New York has always been about corrupt Democratic Party machine politics. It's Boss Tweed for the 21st Century.

What other possible reason is there for anything other than same-day registration anywhere? It's too keep "undesirables" (in this case independent or the great unwashed "hippies" Hillary fans hate so much).

Your troll slip is showing.

No one has been able to explain why switching parties or registering should be so difficult. I also don't favor disenfranchising 30% of voters because they won't join your club.

But even if you want closed primaries (I don't- it's how we get the worst possible candidates), party-switching should be much easier to do. Two-three weeks tops. Six months ago, no one was talking about the New York primary.

I had to go to a website and make two changes. It took me 5 minutes. And I remembered to do it in October with lots of other folks.

Hurts to lose but excuses are whining.

To a bunch of whiners.

It's not like I made this up. I posted it from a source that the Hillary camp has cited numerous times....

in November.

Then that Independent wasn't likely to vote Democrat anyway.

Anyone who'd reject a candidate so blindly would seem unlikely to have voted for that candidate regardless.

Or, if they would have, then they weren't committed to the decision.

Nobody's mocking independent voters, but it's up to individuals to know the electoral registration laws in their own state. If they can't/won't pay attention to that it's their own fault. I personally think it's a good thing that GOP voters can't swarm Democratic primaries and vice versa. Sucks for people who aren't members of a party but if you don't want to join I'm not clear why you would feel you have a right to participate. A primary election is simply not the same as a general election.

You can't wait until the last minute in life.

is that for a party change to go into effect it must be made roughly a month before the next scheduled general election, which this time around meant roughly a month before the November, 2015 election. That makes it about 6 months for today's presidential primary, but almost a year for the scheduled September 2016 primary. (Source: conversation with a long-time New York poll worker I'm related to).

Yes, it's a dumb, arcane, and restrictive law, but it's been upheld at the highest levels. If New Yorkers want to change it, it's time to start applying pressure in Albany.