Think You Registered to Vote as an Independent? Think Again

Thinking they were registering as independent voters, hundreds of thousands of California residents may have mistakenly joined an ultra-conservative party founded by the infamous segregationist George Wallace.

An investigation by the Los Angeles Times found that a majority of the voters registered for the American Independent Party had done so by mistake.

Founded on a segregationist platform, the party is now against marriage equality and abortion rights while supporting a proposal to build a wall along the Mexican border. The party is the largest minority party in the state.

According to The Times, “nearly three in four people did not realize they had joined the party,” a survey of registered American Independent voters found.

The survey of 500 party members found that fewer than 4 percent knew they were registered with the American Independent Party.

Related:

• When Is California's Presidential Primary 2016?

The Times outed a number of celebrities known for Democratic leanings with the unlikely AIP voter registration including Sugar Ray Leonard, Demi Moore and Emma Stone.

Voters who mistakenly thought they were eschewing party affiliation by registering as AIP won’t be allowed to vote for Democratic or Republican candidates in the June 7 primaries.

The newspaper cited a Santa Cruz County’s registrar of voters who witnessed a voter beak down in tears when she realized she couldn’t vote for her candidate on election day because of the mistaken registration.

In California, voters who want to eschew party affiliation can choose to register with “no party preference.” In the current primary election, the Democratic, American Independent and Libertarian parties will allow no-preference voters to cast a ballot in their primaries, but the Republican, Green and Peace and Freedom parties are closed to no-party voters.

The deadline to register for the June 7 primary is May 23.

If you think you might be one of the hundreds of thousands to register with the wrong party, you still have time for a do over. Click this link to register your vote in California.

“I’m just sorry that people get confused,” said Mark Seidenberg of Aliso Viejo, the American Independent Party’s chairman told the Times. “A lot of people just don’t understand what they’re doing when they fill out a form.”

Click here for the full Los Angeles Times investigation.