Indiana has some pretty strange laws, but the law governing how you can vote in the primaries is perhaps the oddest of all. Recently, I was wondering whether a Republican voter could cast a vote for Hillary or Obama in the upcoming primary. The short answer is yes, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. According to Indiana law, a person may vote in a particular party’s primary only if that person has cast a majority of votes for that party’s candidates in prior general elections or plans to do so in the upcoming general election.
If you’re a die-hard Republican, for example, and you want to vote for Hillary in the primary, because your vote really won’t count in the Republican presidential primary and you think McCain will have an easier time beating Hillary than Obama, be careful. If one of the poll workers knows that you typically vote Republican, he or she can challenge your vote. Before you could cast your vote for Hillary, you’d have to sign an affidavit indicating that you voted primarily for Democrats in past general elections or plan to do so in the next general election. And if you didn’t vote primarily for Democrats in the past and fail to do so in the upcoming general election (and someone invests the time and effort to prove it and press the issue), you could be found guilty of voter fraud. (Does anyone out there know the penalty for this type of voter fraud in Indiana? I’m sure it’s not as serious as posing as someone who’s deceased in order to cast another vote for your candidate.)
Because this law obviously is so difficult to enforce, it basically comes down to acting on the honor system. If you plan on switching parties in Indiana, you can do so in the next primary, but make sure you plan on remaining a Democrat at least through next November’s general election.
