Who can vote in the GOP Primaries

[Thomas D]

I think this map is right. Blue means just Republicans. Green means GOP & Indy's. Red means everyone.

Every election we hear about the other party trying to make trouble for their opponents in the Open states. Will it mean anything this year?

[Volrath50]

As far as I can remember, all this "operation chaos" style stuff ends up amounting to almost nothing, with very few people actually crossing over to try to elect a bad candidate on the other side. Maybe a few Democrats might vote for Trump in an attempt to "destroy the GOP" or something, but I doubt it will make much of a difference.

[Goldwater]

How can Washington be blue on that map when we don't even have party registration?

[Thomas D]

How can Washington be blue on that map when we don't even have party registration?

I got the info from Ballotpedia.

http://ballotpedia.org/2016_presidential_nominations:_calendar_and_delegate_rules

And fixed.

[Holmes]

New Hampshire might see some Democrats voting for Trump, but seeing as it's pretty much the only competitive Democratic primary next year, maybe not a large number will. Some South Carolina Democrats might too.

[Mr. Morden]

As far as I can remember, all this "operation chaos" style stuff ends up amounting to almost nothing, with very few people actually crossing over to try to elect a bad candidate on the other side.

If you dig into the exit polls from some of the later primaries in 2008, you can definitely see some evidence of some crossover GOP voters making mischief in the Democratic primary race:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=75520.msg1550833#msg1550833

But yeah, the #s really aren't great enough to swing the election from one candidate to the other.

[Likely Voter]

I dont think Operation Chaos is really a thing. However these rules do make a big difference in states where indies can vote. McCain probably would not have been nominated if it weren't from support from indies.

This cycle Trump should do better in the states where indies can vote.

[Adam Griffin]

As far as I can remember, all this "operation chaos" style stuff ends up amounting to almost nothing, with very few people actually crossing over to try to elect a bad candidate on the other side. Maybe a few Democrats might vote for Trump in an attempt to "destroy the GOP" or something, but I doubt it will make much of a difference.

Yeah, this stuff almost never really happens at a statewide/federal primary level, and even when it does, it's almost never enough to actually affect the result. The only instances where primary ballot mischief can have a tangible effect is in more localized races, such as when Athens, Georgia Democratic voters took their vengeance out on a State Representative who flipped from D to R right after his re-election and then faced a R primary challenge the following cycle; he was defeated by 1 point after hundreds of Dems voted for his opponent in the primary.

[Mr. Reactionary]

*Anecdotal

As someone from a red (in this case) state, I have voted in primaries for both of the main parties, although never for the purpose of picking someone who I happened to dislike or disagree with more just because they were also more unelectable. I've spoken to very few people who both vote and also profess to have voted in a rival primary. My Soc Con brother did vote in the 2008 Dem primary for Obama, not because of Operation Chaos, but because he hates the Clinton family with a passion.

I think a lot of the Operation Chaos stuff only affects really close races.