ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the analytical and empirical issues concerning political party membership, highlighting the different criteria used by the states and courts to identify those deemed to be affiliated with a party and to separate them from non-members. Relying on the rules of the 2008–2016 cycles as illustration, we explore how variations in state laws regulating primary and caucus participation combine with a front-loaded, sequential nominating process to exacerbate the disparate treatment of party members, leaving many of those at the end of the sequence with reduced influence despite having met higher membership and participation thresholds. The chapter provides a summary and details of the states’ 2016 rules pertaining to voter registration, affiliation requirements for primary and caucus participation, and state laws controlling changes in partisan affiliation.
