My Party Affiliation, Broadcast to the World, in Two Languages
Dec 28th, 2007 by Micah Tillman | 4 Comments |
I finally got my voter registration card in the mail from the State of Maryland. I’ve been an MD citizen for years, but now that I officially live in a new town I have to vote here too. So that required re-registering.
Anyway, so I get my voter registration card without having to prove my citizenship (though I don’t know what exactly “proving your citizenship” would entail) and printed on the front of the card — next to my name and address — for the whole world to see is my party affiliation. In both English and Spanish.
Of course, I’m sure very few people actually handled the card. But I’m still uncomfortable with the fact that people can find out to which party I belong without my having a say in the matter.
A name to one person may imply things that it doesn’t to another, so I don’t like people being given the excuse to call me a name until I can explain to them what they should mean by it.
And I’m not the only one who feels this way. Liberals are calling themselves “progressives” now, purportedly because conservatives have made “liberal” a byword. Christians are calling themselves “Christ followers” now, purportedly because they don’t want to be associated with the Bushes and Crusaders of the world. And reporters refuse to divulge their party affiliations period.
Wait. So I’m like the Mainstream Media. Maybe I should go easier on them.
You should do like I do and not even tell the voter registration people your “real” party affiliation.
Two things come to mind. One there is so much information flowing around now days that no one could possibly absorb that you’re ‘x’ party just by reading it on your card. Two, what would they do with it if they did know?
That said it bugs me too.
Scott–
I thought about that, but I want to be able to legitimately vote in primaries, and telling the government to whom you belong seems to be the only way you do that (though I’m not sure why the parties agreed to such a convoluted system).
Josh–
Probably true.
What they could do is dislike me. *grin* I guess.
Not all states require you to register a party affiliation. In my state, your registration card only has a party name stamped on it if you vote in the primary. (The identification is used to prevent you from voting in more than one party’s primary.)