A New Game in Town: Rules Changes and Voting in an Open Primary.

This paper tests a model predicting the choice of party ballot in an open primary system by using official election data for Clarke County, Georgia, during 1996-2006. This heavily Democratic community converted local offices to nonpartisan in 2006, which meant that voters no longer had to choose between the Democratic and Republican ballots based on the perceived impacts of their choice on both upper-level and local offices.Results of a probit analysis indicate that both individual and contextual factors were associated with a voter's ballot choice. Choosing a Republican primary ballot was negatively related to being female and the presence of a competitive Democratic primary for mayor. Whites were more likely to choose the Republican ballot, but an uncompetitive Democratic primary for mayor was positively related to the choice to participate in the Republican primary. Surprisingly, the 2006 change to nonpartisan local elections (and a different election date) was negatively related to choosing a Republican ballot, possibly because of the hotly contested Democratic primary for governor. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]