2002-03-03 - 7:29 p.m.

Open Primary

California's primary rules change from year to year due to politics. Tuesday's election is really only open to non-partisans. People who are registered in a particular political party will have to vote with that party if they want to vote for positions like Governor. And the non-partisans actually can vote non-partisan (i.e. for no major offices) or they can choose to vote using certain political party's ballots. This year the Democratic, Republican, Natural Law, and American Independent (yes there is a party that calls themselves independent) parties will accept non-partisan votes. Cool!

I should clarify that more. A primary election is an election where each party selects its single candidate for the regular election (which will be held in early Nov.). So being a non-partisan I don't really expect political parties to consider my vote in their internal affairs. But it is nice. I voted on one of the prior statewide ballot issues to open up the primaries.

This year I'm considering voting Democratic on Tuesday. Why? I don't really agree with the American Independent candidates. They all seem to be coming from the religious right, and that scares me. The Natural Law party only has one person per office. I don't see the point in voting for them.

That forces me to choose between the Republican or Democratic ballots. While the Republican Governor's race is much more interesting than the Democratic, I'm interested in some of the Democratic candidates running for lower offices. Thankfully the political parties aren't getting money from my vote.

No matter what, I am not planning on voting for Gray Davis for Governor. I think he is a weenie. He passed blame about costs associated with the energy crisis to engineers. Basically he let people push him around, and then used scapegoats to take the fall for his decisions.

I know that in most US states there are only a few political parties. California has the same two major US parties: Democrats and Republicans. But it also has: Libertarian, Nature Law, Reform, American Independent, and Green parties. 7 parties isn't that bad. I just wish that the minor 5 could get more votes.

HEALTH UPDATE: I went on a walk today. I'm starting to feel better!

LISTENING TO: Newer Wave Industrial remixes of 80s music

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