[EM] Election-Methods Digest, Vol 103, Issue 1

[Andy Jennings]

Jonathan,

In addition to Ualabio's argument that cutting down the number of
candidates is good so as not to overwhelm voters, I believe that almost
every voting system ever invented can benefit from winnowing down
candidates that are _too similar_ before the election.  Political parties
seem like the natural steward of this responsibility.

For reforming partisan elections, I promote approval voting in the primary
and approval voting in the general.  Also acceptable would be approval
voting in the general and letting the parties choose their nominees however
they like.

To me, this means that those who vote in one party's primary should be,
generally, of a shared ideology.  They should be the guardians of that
party's label in the general election.  Voters should choose to participate
in the party primary for the ideology they are closest to.  If they feel
divorced from both (or all) parties, then they can refuse to participate in
the primary.  Then they should focus on getting a good independent
candidate to run.  The good news is that with approval voting, independents
will do much better in general elections.

I don't really see a good way for voters to support one person in the
Republican primary and another person in the Democratic primary at the same
time.

~ Andy


On Sat, Jan 5, 2013 at 9:12 AM, Jonathan Denn <info at agreater.us> wrote:

> Greetings!
>
> As I've mentioned previously, I am on the board of a nonprofit that will
> be announcing a Clean Government Alliance shortly. It will have two
> prominent far left/ far right reformers, probably another pair of center
> left/right will be joining them. The purpose is to draft a Constitutional
> Amendment for omnibus electoral reform. For these people everything is on
> the table. We had to pass on another household name because that person
> wouldn't put Term Limits on the table.
>
> I have been flying your flag: Ban Single Mark Ballots, and I have to say,
> that these sophisticated folk need it explained to them. Anyway, and I have
> asked this question before, "What is the solution for primaries?"
>
> This is the biggest "open item" in the work that has to be done. 40% of
> the electorate are independents, probably centrists. We cannot vote in
> primaries in almost all states. It's a gaping yaw in a democratic republic.
>
> I've used this example before. I did live in CT until a few weeks ago, now
> MA, in the last Senate election there was a great Republican Brian K Hill,
> a reformer. And the former Democratic Sec of State Susan Byceiwicz was also
> an interesting candidate. I would have liked to vote for both in the
> primary, and would have loved to seen them in the general election against
> each other. Instead we had a plutocrat running against a billionaire. In
> the end the oligarchs won.
>
> I expect the amendment will begin being drafted in DC in a few weeks, so
> please, load me up with the arguments.
>
> Cheers,
> Jon Denn
> @jmdenn
>
>
>
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>
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