You don't register your party unless you want to vote in that parties primary election. This is where a political party decides which of their candidates should actually run in the real election.
Most people just vote in the general election where this isn't necessary. The reason the Democrats or Republican might want voters to register for their party primary is to avoid the other party getting their weakest primary candidate the win so that they can beat them in the actual election.
Also keep in mind that there is no federal election, so when you hear people talk about "the popular vote" it's a misnomer. There isn't actually a national popular vote. All elections are run by individual states, and in fact even national offices like President can have different candidates on the ballot in different states, depending on what happened earlier in the election season during the party primaries.
It's not mandatory, as many people register Independent and have no difficulty voting. The only restriction is in the preliminary elections to pick candidates (called Primaries) as these are functions of parties and can be (rightfully?) closed to non-party members.
This is quite similar to Canada, in that the party members pick candidates and vote for the leader. However, once the slate is tabled for each riding, it's purely a case of confirming you're registered on the list in the riding.
Not American so I'm curious: couldn't anyone just register as one party and vote in the primaries but then vote the other party at the actual election?
Yes, you can also register with a party and vote in the other party's primary if it's an open primary state. However, you are usually barred from voting twice in a primary, which means you need high confidence in the outcome of your preferred party's candidate to do this. Otherwise, you're throwing away your vote on that party's pick.
EDIT: I had to double check this before commenting, but in some states you don't even register with a party as far as the state is concerned (Georgia, for example, it's been 12 years and I'd forgotten). Though they still have the party primaries.
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Still blows my mind that voters _register_ party allegiances in the US.
You don't register your party unless you want to vote in that parties primary election. This is where a political party decides which of their candidates should actually run in the real election.
Most people just vote in the general election where this isn't necessary. The reason the Democrats or Republican might want voters to register for their party primary is to avoid the other party getting their weakest primary candidate the win so that they can beat them in the actual election.
Also keep in mind that there is no federal election, so when you hear people talk about "the popular vote" it's a misnomer. There isn't actually a national popular vote. All elections are run by individual states, and in fact even national offices like President can have different candidates on the ballot in different states, depending on what happened earlier in the election season during the party primaries.
And you can always register in the other party, and vote for their weakest candidate in the primary, just to spice things up.
It's not mandatory, as many people register Independent and have no difficulty voting. The only restriction is in the preliminary elections to pick candidates (called Primaries) as these are functions of parties and can be (rightfully?) closed to non-party members.
This is quite similar to Canada, in that the party members pick candidates and vote for the leader. However, once the slate is tabled for each riding, it's purely a case of confirming you're registered on the list in the riding.
Not American so I'm curious: couldn't anyone just register as one party and vote in the primaries but then vote the other party at the actual election?
Yes, you can also register with a party and vote in the other party's primary if it's an open primary state. However, you are usually barred from voting twice in a primary, which means you need high confidence in the outcome of your preferred party's candidate to do this. Otherwise, you're throwing away your vote on that party's pick.
EDIT: I had to double check this before commenting, but in some states you don't even register with a party as far as the state is concerned (Georgia, for example, it's been 12 years and I'd forgotten). Though they still have the party primaries.