An Independent voter does not affiliate with Either Political party platform for various reasons. However, In my case, I have always voted for either the Democrat or the Republican candidate, Never the Independent. Same goes for Baalamsass. We vote for a person who has a chance of winning, who more closely represents our ideas and values and IOP is more suited for the job.
The vast majority of voters in the area we live are full on Red Hat Republicans. So voting in local elections means we will be voting for the Republican who is more moderate, Not the one who allowed a speaker to address someone else attending the Board of supervisors meeting as "That N*****".
We have probably voted each party about equally, We no longer want to belong to a political cult or any other. For us, it's time to think for ourselves.