Democrats Abroad Australia

The following question and subsequent response were posted on the international Democrats Abroad user group. I thought the topic and information so important that I wanted to share it with all members of DAA. (question and response are not specific to any one state)

Democratically yours,
Marla Minow
DAA-NSW

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Question was:

If I vote through our web system in the primary, does that mean I'm permanently considered a "democrat abroad" zone and not able to vote in my state anymore?

Thank you for someone's expertise!

AND ONE OF THE VERY SUCCINCT RESPONSES WAS...

1) You are registered to vote in the General Election at a stateside
address.
2) Voting in a DA primary will not jeopardize that as you are only allowed
to vote for a presidential preference in DA.
3) You can vote in your state's primary for offices other than the president
if you choose to vote in the DA presidential primary.
4) Repeat: you cannot vote twice in the presidential primary. It is either
DA or your home state where you are registered to vote.
5) Repeat: you can vote in your home state's presidential primary or DA's
presidential primary, but not both. I repeat this because it is very
important. This does not stop you from voting for other offices in your
home state's primary.
6) A primary for president is a party politics thing. Other offices may be
a party thing or it may be an actual election thing depending on your home
state. Some states do not allow party primaries for certain offices. This
is especially true of judges.
7) Voting in a "party" presidential primary will not effect your standing as
a voter for the general election.
8) Some states use primaries to gauge your ability to vote. In other words,
you could be disqualified from voting by not voting in scheduled elections.
This is why it is absolutely necessary to register and request a ballot
within the year of the general election for many people. Fortunately my
state of Tennessee doesn't count primaries in this, but here is the rub.
Tennessee often has actual elections associated with the primaries because
it saves money. Many states I am sure do this as well.

-Randy Caldwell
Munich, Germany