Expanding reform by a few

[Steve Eppley]

Donald D wrote:
-snip-
>The plan could work as follows: A few weeks before the primary
>election a straw poll is taken using some single winner method. This
>straw poll would include all the candidates running for the senator
>position. The political parties that are in the plan would agrree
>that the candidate in the plan that receives the most votes will be
>the candidate of the plan and the rest of the candidates in the plan
>will drop out of the race. 
-snip-

A lot of voters don't make up their minds two weeks before a primary,
and the candidates with $$$ still intend to spend a lot on ads to
"help" the undecided voters.  But it's an interesting idea, and maybe 
it should be proposed to third parties.

Another possibility is for parties which want to use a good sw
method in their primaries to sue the state to try to force the state
to comply.  The Greens of California sued Calif hoping to get the
"None of the Above" choice on the Greens' primary ballot, but Calif
successfully defended on the grounds that the cost to the state far
exceeded the benefit.  Perhaps if several parties combine to sue for
something more beneficial than NOTA, the case might be stronger.

Here's another idea, based on Donald's:  some states like Iowa use
straw polls to decide party convention delegates.  What if electoral
reformers attended some of the straw poll gatherings, which are
highly participatory events, and use the opportunities to get the
attendees to express and tally preference orders?  Anyone want to
visit Iowa in the winter of 2000? 

---Steve     (Steve Eppley    seppley at alumni.caltech.edu)