Party Changes after Book Closing for a Primary

Changes to a local voter’s political party affiliation made after the book closing for a primary election (that is, during the party freeze period) can be entered into the voter’s record during the freeze period and the change will not be applied until after the election. This relieves elections staff from maintaining party changes manually during the freeze period. The day after Election Day (assuming that no book closings for other primary elections are in effect), FVRS will apply the party change and schedule a voter information card with the voter’s new party. This will occur during normal nightly processing.

Changes to party affiliations are not deferred for non-primary elections, only for elections where the purpose is to select one or more political party nominees. Unless the election is a primary, the party change is applied immediately.

In determining whether a party change can be applied immediately or must be deferred, Voter Focus checks whether the county has closed the books on the next primary election. If the books have closed, then it checks the voter’s eligibility to vote in the primary. If the voter is not eligible, the party change will be applied immediately. For example, if the upcoming election is a Republican primary, and the voter is changing from the Democratic Party to No Party Affiliation, the party change will be applied with no deferral.

Note:  If the voter's precinct is voting in the primary, any party change after book closing will be deferred, even if neither their old nor their new party is voting. For example, say you have a primary for Republican voters only, and Precinct 5 is voting in the primary. A Democratic voter in Precinct 5 who changes their party to NPA after book closing will have their party change deferred.
  • By changing the voter’s application form. (VOTER REGISTRATION > Application Forms)
  • By recording a voter response on the Maint tab of the voter’s record. (VOTER REGISTRATION > Voter Maintenance)

When you change a voter's party—either via an application change or by recording a voter response in the voter’s record—and in the Pty Chg Req Dte field you enter a date that falls during the party freeze period, Voter Focus displays the message:

You have changed party from <old party code> to <new party code>.

You entered a request date of <party change request date>

so party change will be deferred to <date change will go into effect>.

Accepting the change closes the voter’s record. The next time you view the record, the voter’s Audit tab will show an entry for the database field PtyCh, indicating the old and new parties and the date the change will take effect. On the Maint tab and on the voter's application form, the old party will still be shown, but it will be highlighted in red. In addition, you will see the button Clear Deferred Party Chg on the Maint tab, which allows you to undo a deferred party change in case you made it by mistake.

In the event that a voter's party change request is received but not entered prior to book closing or is incorrect for some other reason, you can change the party immediately by simply changing the Party field on the Maint tab and saving the record. Voter Focus will display the message:

You have changed party from <old party code> to <new party code>.

Since the change is not voter activity, the change will be immediate.

If you receive an application for a party change from an out-of-county voter, Voter Focus will force suspension of the application to the voter’s home county. This allows the home county to determine if the party change should be applied or deferred.