voted for rafflph nader. reporter: jason registered as a democrat to vote for barack obama. today he s disillusioned and disappointed. throughout the year my hope flame has been dwindling and dimming. reporter: would you consider becoming an independent? yeah. you know, i m definitely considering that or even maybe registering as, like, a third party. reporter: nancy beat her son to the punch. she became an independent two years ago after determining her party just didn t speak for her anymore. sometimes that s difficult to be a moderate republican within the republican party. they call you republican in name only. reporter: rino? yes, i heard that buzz word the other night. i thought it was so insulting. i emotionally became detached from the republican party. reporter: nancy never considered going independent would actually take away her right to vote in some key elections. primaries. here in california political
parties get to decide before each and every election whether to allow independents to vote. joseph holland is the elections registrar for santa barbara county. elections are not simple. every election is different. believe it or not they do change from election to election. reporter: that can leave independents like nancy pretty confused. on a local level or congressional races primaries are often where the key political decisions are made. say you re an independent living in a heavily democratic district. if you can t vote in the democratic primary you re not going to have much influence over who wins the general election. it s probably going to be a democratic candidate you had no role in choosing. in the 2008 presidential primaries independents in 17 states and the district of columbia were shut out of crucial primaries. those voters had no say at all in determining the major party candidates. we are second-class citizens when it comes to political