Tulsi Gabbard on Primaries: You Shouldn't Have to be A Card-Carrying Party Member to Vote

image
Published: 11 Sep, 2018
Updated: 17 Oct, 2022
1 min read

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIb2lmHgd5s&amp=&t=56m

Joe Rogan interviewed US Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) in the most recent episode of his podcast, Joe Rogan Experience. Rogan and Gabbard discussed a variety of topics, including the reforms Gabbard believes are needed to create a better election process for voters -- particularly in the primaries.

The conversation stemmed from a discussion on superdelegates, which Gabbard believes is a major part of the problem:

"This is something I have been fighting to try to reform within our party is to get rid of superdelegates, to make it so that we have open primaries so that you do not have to be a card-carrying party member to vote in the Democratic primary ... then you have same-day registration..."

On the subject of open primaries, Gabbard brought up the problems that many voters ran into during the 2016 elections,  where they would show up to vote and were turned away because they didn't register with the party a year or so in advance in some cases -- long before they knew who they even wanted to vote for or who all would be on the ballot.

Be sure to check out the interview above. 

Photo Credit: Lorie Shaull / Flickr

Latest articles

An electric sign of the American flag.
ABC's Sara Haines Calls Out 'Narrow View' that Independent Voters Can't Exist in Trump Era
American journalist and co-host of ABC’s The View, Sara Haines, refutes the notion that people can't be independent-minded in their election choices in an era in which the Republican Party is controlled by Trump – a perspective voiced by her colleague, Sunny Houstin that Haines describes as “narrow.”...
06 Jun, 2025
-
3 min read
US map divided in blue and red with a white ballot box on top.
Could Maine Be the First State to Exit the National Popular Vote Compact?
On May 20, the Maine House of Representatives voted 76–71 to withdraw the state from the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC), reversing course just over a year after Maine became the 17th jurisdiction to join the agreement....
04 Jun, 2025
-
3 min read
New York City
Nine Democrats Face Off in NYC Mayoral Debate as Ranked Choice Voting, Cuomo Probe, and Independent Bid from Adams Reshape the Race
A crowded field of nine Democratic candidates will take the stage tonight, June 4, in the first official debate of the 2025 New York City mayoral primary. Held at NBC’s 30 Rock studios and co-sponsored by the city’s Campaign Finance Board, NBC 4 New York, Telemundo 47, and POLITICO New York, the debate comes at a pivotal moment in a race already shaped by political upheaval, criminal investigations, and the unique dynamics of ranked choice voting....
04 Jun, 2025
-
6 min read