Democratic Primaries
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Democratic Primary voting should ALL be ranked-choice.
The Party should require it.
We implemented ranked-choice voting for local offices in our last municipal election and it was very effective. I admit I had some doubts, but it was much less difficult to implement than was initially feared.
It was particularly helpful in the case of a mayoral candidate who dropped out between the early voting and the final election. The next choice on each voter's ballot just moved up one choice level in the tallying process.
It sounds complicated, but the commission in charge of implementing it hired a PR firm to do some excellent resources- videos and booklets- to explain it, and held community meetings for people to ask questions and play a game version of the election to try it out.
As the process morphs from the days when people cared enough to attend Party meetings, participate in local, district, and state Party process, and do much of the vetting and early whittling-down of candidate slates that way, to the era when no one wants to have to do much more than look at media on their deevice screens and then cast a vote, we're going to have larger and larger candidate fields.
Ranked-choice voting is incredibly helpful, effective and, yes, transparent (if implemented, tallied, and reported properly) to winnow a field and make sure that everyone's voice is heard.
It would also help somewhat with the problem of people getting SO attached and SO passionate about one particular candidate that they get disgusted or turned off from the process if that candidate loses early or drops out.
In our last mayoral race I was able to look at a 5-candidate field and think not "which ONE do I have to throw all my energy and my vote into" but "Which one do I like BEST? And next-best? Who is my last choice?"
It gave me a very different perspective on the candidates and the election itself, and I think it resulted in the election of a mayor who had considerably more interest and support going into their first term, because while the winner might only have been 37% of the voters' first choice, they were more than fifty percent of the other voters' second choice and thirty-some percent of the other voters' third choice.
Ranked-choice voting would reduce intra-party rancor and division, provide a more effective and transparent way to reflect Democratic voters' preferences and concerns, and I really believe it would give our eventual nominee a much stronger, more united push behind them in the general election.
Just sayin'...
opinionatedly,
Bright
![](imgs/2020-avatar-120-biden.jpg)
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
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blm
(113,061 posts)![](imgs/2020-avatar-120-biden.jpg)
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Codeine
(25,586 posts)with the 15% viability rule.
![](imgs/2020-avatar-120-biden.jpg)
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
StTimofEdenRoc
(445 posts)Also fourth ans fifth choice, since my first four are now out.
![](imgs/2020-avatar-120-undecided.jpg)
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Codeine
(25,586 posts)change to your vote is a valuable tool in an ever-changing political environment.
Besides, I like going to my polling place and casting a vote in person. The trappings and procedures of democracy appeal to me in a silly way, I guess.
![](imgs/2020-avatar-120-biden.jpg)
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
CentralMass
(15,265 posts)for abuse. The electoral college should be eliminated and we should have primaries in each state.
![](imgs/2020-avatar-120-undecided.jpg)
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
MH1
(17,600 posts)or at least, has said he supported it in the past.
Most progressives I know support RCV.
To your points:
* It is not like a caucus, the peer pressure element is not there. It is one ballot, the voter merely ranks the choices.
* It is true there is some complexity but most people can handle it once they've seen it work. As for chances for abuse, those can be reduced by transparency and good practices. Unfortunately that is often lacking in elections we have today. RCV does not necessarily create more chances for abuse - if it is properly implemented. Engaging in the process locally helps keep the people running it honest - just like the current plurality system used for most elections.
![](imgs/2020-avatar-120-biden.jpg)
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
CentralMass
(15,265 posts)![](imgs/2020-avatar-120-undecided.jpg)
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Happy Hoosier
(7,308 posts)Rotating primary order.
Uniform primary policies.
Ranked choice voting.
![](imgs/2020-avatar-120-biden.jpg)
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
TygrBright
(20,760 posts)![](imgs/2020-avatar-120-biden.jpg)
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
meow2u3
(24,764 posts)In EVERY election, that is. RCV eliminates the "spoiler" effect.
![](imgs/2020-avatar-120-biden.jpg)
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Demsrule86
(68,576 posts)![](imgs/2020-avatar-120-biden.jpg)
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)In theory, it could allow a candidate currently ranked third, or lower, to win if that candidate were the favorite second choice.
And it could reduce rancor if all candidates committed to immediately support the process, and immediately support the eventual winner.
![](imgs/2020-avatar-120-biden.jpg)
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Quixote1818
(28,936 posts)![](imgs/2020-avatar-120-biden.jpg)
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
We should do everything we can to bring people back into the process.
Would like to see an end of polling until right before an election too. Otherwise, we ignore everybody the press ignores unless that candidate already has significant name recognition.
Name recognition does not reflect the people's wisdom, members of the press! It sure gave the unindicted co-conspirator we have now a back door into power.
Perhaps our Fourth Estate should first ask does this human have any clue about anything? & only after that question is thoroughly plumbed move on to the horse race, rally coverage.
Our comedians told us the "very stable genius" was a dufus and a thug, but few in our press have ever plumbed his competence while he is "very"-ing the heck out of them, with his bad model poses and word salad.
![](imgs/2020-avatar-120-biden.jpg)
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)suggest our National Democratic Party, who seems ( to me) so wedded to traditional past rules, moves to such a "right (as in correct)" idea?
![](imgs/2020-avatar-120-biden.jpg)
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
TygrBright
(20,760 posts)...volunteering for Party work, getting elected to Party offices at the local level, and then moving up through the district/regional level, and then to the state level, in our own states. It'll start as a trickle and end as a flood.
But how long that will take will depend on us.
ruefully,
Bright
![](imgs/2020-avatar-120-biden.jpg)
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Recursion
(56,582 posts)![](imgs/2020-avatar-120-biden.jpg)
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden