@PullTheBricksDown
While we're waiting...a question for American posters or those who've lived there. Lots of references to voters being registered Republicans or Democrats - e.g. before Florida was called, CNN showed the figures for Rep., Dem and independent or unknowns, and that third category was far smaller than the others. It seems very different to the UK where only relatively small numbers of people are actually members of a political party. So how does it work in the US? Do people just sign up to support their preferred party in much larger numbers? Do the parties themselves contact people, or do you get asked to declare which you are on government documents or what? Do people have to pay to be registered members? I assume all this is public information, too, hence the CNN tables, so who keeps the records and updates them?
Registering as part of a political party in the States is a much lighter commitment than in the UK. There are no dues, there are no meetings, etc.
Indeed, when you register to vote, you merely check a box as to whether you want to be a Republican, Democrat, Independent, or a member of one of the minor parties (Green, Libertarian, etc.). That's it--nothing else. Because it happens at the same time as registration, not after, and because it costs nothing and opens up primary voting (see below), a lot of people do it.
In some states, in order to vote in the primaries, you have to be a member of that political party. (This is a bit like selecting a candidate at a meetingmakes sense.) Other states, though, have open primariesanyone who wants to vote can do so, regardless of party registration.