Try living in a state where there is only one party, which was the case in most Southern states up until the end of the Sixties or Early Seventies. Unless you where a registered Democrat when the General Vote or Election came arround in November you had noone to vote for as all local, Municipal & County Offices as well as State Offices were already decided in the Democratic Primaries, it was the way politics was run in the South since Reconstruction. As a result it was nothing more than a one party system resulting in rampid corruption that would put Daley's Chicago machine look like a school girl's picnic. No one could get elected unless they were a Democrat and had the blessing of the party bosses.