Texas has a closed primary, so you choose between which party you’re going to participate with. If you choose to participate with the dems, you get marked that way, and same with republicans.
When it comes to actual voting, there’s no separation. We all go to the same polls, and our party affiliation doesn’t matter. You can choose to either straight-ticket vote, where you select all dem or all republican, or go individually. Most people choose to do the straight ticket, which is why there are so few democrats in state-wide office here (because republicans may not make up most of our population, but they do make up a sizable majority of our voting public).
So, ballot is still secret, but party affiliation has to be legally known if participated in the primaries.
