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Being a registered member of a particular party means that in general you believe in the basic ideas that the party says it represents. When you register to vote, you actually JOIN the party of your choice or choose not to join any party at all.
In some states (like NY) if you are not a member of the Republican or the Democratic Party then you cannot vote in the primary to select the candidates to represent your party in the general election. Democrats cannot vote in the Republican primary and vice versa.
When you get in a voting booth, you can vote anyway that you want by selecting candidates of any party. One year, I voted along the Working Families Party Line. This party was one that merely selected candidates from the Democratic and Republican parties based upon what they said they would do to help families. When you choose to do something like that, it kind of sends a message to the two "major" parties that they shouldn't take your vote for granted and that you do study the issues.