THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

New York has a primary coming up, a closed primary so that only registered party members can vote for their particular candidates. Among those left out are members and supporters of a small progressive party who see in Bernie Sanders their "beau ideal".

As the New York primary approaches, many of Senator Bernie Sanders’s most energetic and enthusiastic supporters are members of the small but influential Working Families Party.

They have donated money, planted signs in their yards, organized rallies and phone banks, and knocked on thousands of doors on behalf of the man that many of them view as a once-in-a-lifetime dream candidate who shares their own left-of-center values.

There’s just one hitch: They cannot vote for him on Tuesday.

“It poses a problem, to say the least,” said Jim Mays, 78, a Working Families member who lives in Olivebridge, in Ulster County. He gave a resigned laugh and checked off the ways he has shown his support for Mr. Sanders, including donating small amounts of money, talking up the candidate to his friends and setting out a lawn sign in front of his house.

“Bernie represents the first time we’ve really had an idealistic, leftist candidate in this country in a long time,” he said, adding, “I’ve definitely been waiting for him.”...

The Working Families Party was formed by a coalition of labor unions and community groups in New York in 1998, as a way to put leftward pressure on the Democratic Party and halt what progressives saw as a conservative shift among Democrats.

The group has supported candidates mostly from other parties, primarily Democrats, although occasionally it has run its own candidates. It is currently running a candidate, Yuh-Line Niou, in the special election next week in New York City to fill the seat vacated by the former Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, who was convicted on federal corruption charges.

“Our mission is to advance the cause of progressive politics in New York and make people’s lives better,” said Bill Lipton, the party’s state director. He said that many Democrats looked to the party’s endorsement when choosing a candidate in a primary. “We’re like a Good Housekeeping seal of approval for progressives in the Democratic primary,” he said.

The other problem with New York Primaries is that if you wish to switch parties you need to do so 6 months in advance. Some WFP members did switch in time but the rest will have to be content with working and donating to the candidate that best reflects their views.