If you’re registered with one party, can you vote with another in the primary election?
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KCQ Votes: Answering questions on August primaries
The Star’s Service Journalism team is providing information you need to know about issues, voting laws and election procedures for Kansas, Missouri and the KC area.
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The Missouri and Kansas primaries are just under a month away. If you’re not registered to vote, Wednesday is the last day for Missouri residents, while Kansas voters have until July 12 so they can vote on Aug. 2.
One of The Star’s readers had a great question: Can I vote Republican in the primaries if I am a registered Democrat?
It depends on where you live. We broke down what ballot you can vote on based on what party you’re affiliated with. As a reminder, here’s how you can register to vote if you haven’t already.
MISSOURI VOTERS
Missouri has an open primary system, which means that election workers will ask you when you go to the poll what ballot you’d like to vote on. If you’re a registered Democrat, you can still ask for a Republican ballot and vice versa, but that will be the only ballot you can vote on.
WHAT ABOUT KANSAS VOTERS?
When you register to vote in Kansas, you’ll have the option to pick a party affiliation. In a primary election when each party picks its candidates, you’ll get a ballot for the party you affiliate with, whether it’s Democrat, Republican or Independent.
You’ll choose one of these options when you register to vote. If you select Independent or choose not to affiliate with a party, you’ll only be able to vote on non-partisan questions, including the statewide amendment vote that would remove the right to abortion in Kansas.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREYour quick guide to the Kansas abortion amendment
The Kansas state constitution currently protects the right to abortion, but the upcoming Aug. 2 vote will ask voters to decide on an amendment that would get rid of that right.
If Kansans vote yes on the ballot and the amendment passes, the legislature will have the opportunity to impose new restrictions on abortion, which could include banning the procedure. A ban would not go in place immediately, but legislators would be able to pass one. Earlier this year, a state legislator introduced a bill that would have banned and criminalized nearly all abortions, but it never got a hearing and died once the legislative session closed in May.
If Kansans vote no and the amendment does not pass, the legislature would continue to be barred from passing most legislation that impedes on an individual’s access to abortion. Any new abortion restrictions would need to clear an extremely high level of “strict scrutiny” from the court to become law. Current abortion restrictions could be challenged in court, but any actual changes to the current restrictions would depend on Kansas courts ruling that the regulation in question violates the state’s constitution.
All registered voters can participate in the vote, regardless of party affiliation.
The Star answered the most common reader questions we received about the abortion amendment here.
If you didn’t affiliate with a party at all when you registered to vote, you can do so on election day and vote in your chosen party’s primary.
WHY DOES PARTY AFFILIATION MATTER?
In primary elections, you’re choosing one official out of however many are on the ballot to represent your respective party in the general election on Nov. 8. You don’t have to be affiliated with a party to vote in the general election.
According to Kansas law, from noon on June 1 to Aug. 31, you cannot switch to another party or become unaffiliated if you are already affiliated with a party. If you want to change your party affiliation, you’ll have to submit another voter registration form after Sept. 1.
This story was originally published July 6, 2022 at 3:12 PM.
