With their party affiliation changed, 14,500 Democrats can vote in the Sept. 12 Republican primary between Sen. Lincoln Chafee and Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey.

01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, June 17, 2006

BY SCOTT MacKAY
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- More than 14,500 Rhode Island Democrats have switched their voter affiliations within the past six months to participate in the Sept. 12 Republican primary, a figure that experts say will probably help incumbent Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee in his campaign against Cranston Mayor Stephen P. Laffey.

State elections records compiled by the secretary of state's office show that 13,596 Democrats switched their affiliations to independent -- or unaffiliated in the state's political argot -- which would make them eligible to vote in the primary. An additional 987 Democrats switched to Republican, thus making them eligible to vote in the GOP primary.

Under Rhode Island's hybrid primary system, these independents can vote in either the Republican or Democratic primaries. Registered Republicans however, are eligible to vote only in the Republican primary, and registered Democrats only in the Democratic primary.

Voters who wanted to change their affiliations had until last Wednesday to do so.

Switching from the GOP to unaffiliated were 3,768 voters, and changing from Republican to Democratic were 457. The number of unaffiliated voters switching to the Democratic Party was 2,432.

Ninety-seven Green Party enrollees moved to the unaffiliated column in the last six months.

While Chafee's campaign made an effort to get Democrats to become unaffiliated, Laffey's did nothing special in that regard. Laffey did, however, give voters he met while campaigning information on how to change registration. And the Cranston mayor carried registration forms to register those who were not registered.

Darrell West, Brown University political science professor and pollster, said the large number of Democrats making themselves eligible for the GOP primary augurs well for Chafee.

"That is a big number for what has been a low-turnout primary," West said. "That is very good for Lincoln Chafee, and not so good for Stephen Laffey."

Jennifer Duffy, who follows Senate races for the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based newsletter, said yesterday in an e-mail that she, too, is impressed by the number of Democrats who switched to unaffiliated. "It is pretty impressive and a good sign for Chafee in September, as it means voters are paying close attention."

Laffey's campaign criticized Chafee and said the switch in affiliations would only work to Laffey's favor. Laffey compared it to an unsuccessful campaign run in Cranston by public-employee union leaders two years ago to encourage voters to switch affiliations to support Gary Reilly in a failed primary campaign to oust Laffey as mayor.

"It is true: Lincoln Chafee is trying to rig the election just like Gary Reilly and his special-interest bosses tried to in 2004," said Nachama Soloveichik, Laffey's spokeswoman. "The end result will be the same."

Chafee's campaign spokesman said the switches of Democrats to unaffiliated is a "manifestation of the senator's broad support across the political spectrum."

Today, Sen. John McCain of Arizona is to appear at a Chafee campaign picnic at Chafee's home in Exeter.

Primary victories in Rhode Island are much more dependent on turning out voters than are general elections. While there are about 660,000 registered voters in the state, the record modern Republican turnout is roughly 45,000, the number of voters who participated in the 1994 GOP primary for governor between Lincoln Almond and Ronald Machtley.

Chafee's appeal to moderate and liberal voters was a major factor in his landslide 2000 victory over then-U.S. Rep. Robert Weygand, a Democrat. Chafee received about 57 percent of the vote against Weygand. But political experts consider him more vulnerable in a primary against Laffey, who appeals to the conservative wing of the GOP.

"We are trying to reach out to all of the senator's supporters across the state," said Ian Lang, Chafee's campaign spokesman. "We want to make sure that everybody who supports him has the opportunity to vote for him in the primary."

smackay@projo.com / (401) 277-7321