If Bernie seeks the Democratic nomination, it doesn't MATTER what his voter registration is.

[MADem]

173. Happy to help. Here's a bit more information on the process in VT....

And it is very similar in most other states.

It's not just a bit of money and a declaration that gets a person on the ballot. They also have to collect a BUNCHA signatures (that "buncha" varies from state to state) on a petition form asking the state to put the person on the ballot. That form also requires the candidate to declare his party affiliation right at the top of the page--here's a link to that form: https://www.sec.state.vt.us/media/460804/2016-Major-Party-Pres-Primary.pdf


The people signing the form, presumably, read the thing before they sign it, and say to themselves, "Why yes--I can support Bernard Sanders to run for the office of President as a Democrat!" So it's not just him saying "I'm a Dem" it's also the voters saying "I support him as a Dem." He will have to go through this signature gathering process in every state. I read somewhere that he hired some Gore and Kerry people...I imagine that getting out there and gathering signatures to get on the ballots in all the states will be their first order of business for him.


He is being a bit of an "opportunist" in that he's using the might of the Democratic Party machine to his purposes, but OTOH I suppose it's also true that our system is a two party/left-right system. The smaller parties, Green, Reform, Independent, etc. just don't seem to be able to get their shit together and become much of a force. I have theories about this--I think it's because they're too fucking lazy to do the hard work at the local levels, frankly--not ALL of them, but enough of them. If any party--pick one or make one up, say, the ME FIRST PARTY--decided at their convention that they had a goal to put fifteen ME FIRST candidates on the ballot in local elections in every state, and the next year, made that thirty candidates, and the next year, fifty, and so on, eventually a few of those ME FIRST candidates would win. The party would grow, their influence would increase. Instead, too many of these third parties (Reform and Greens, most popularly) put way too much energy and money into Presidential contests. I know in my gut, and from talking to people, that there are plenty of folks who would cheerfully vote for a Green for local office--mayor, state rep, state senate, etc., but by the same token they'd stay home before they'd vote for one for POTUS. They've got to begin at the beginning, and they don't do that. It's why some people do look askance when they try to draft behind the DNC machine and get annoyed when they want to jump on the Democratic debate stage, just because they'd sit on the same side of the aisle on most issues.