2016 Postmortem
Showing Original Post only (View all)For 2020, the Democratic Party Should Take Back Its Nomination Methods [View all]
We're at the end of the 2016 primary period. The outcome seems crystal clear, and there will be discussions at the convention in July about how things went. I think they went poorly. The goal of the entire primary and convention process is for the Democratic Party to choose its nominee for the Presidential election. That is why the process exists. For 2020, with that goal in mind, here is what I suggest for changes in how things are done, base on this year's experience:
1. Switch every state to primary elections, rather than caucuses - This would provide a much fairer measure of Democratic voter sentiment and clarify the results. Two states, Nebraska and Washington demonstrate this, with their non-binding primary reversing the results of the limited attendance caucuses. Minnesota has already made the change to primaries for 2020.
2. Change all primaries to closed primaries - By requiring primary voters either to be registered Democrats or to make a declaration of agreement with Democratic Party principles, this would eliminate skewing a primary election by allowing people who are not Democrats to vote for the nominee. The entire process should aid the Democratic Party in selecting its own nominee. It should be our party's nominee.
3. Where there are two or more candidates, set a fixed debate schedule of seven debates (see point 6). - These should be set by the DNC, after discussions with the candidates and alignment with their schedules. Nationally televised debates should take place in one of the states holding a primary, within two weeks of the primary date, and should be moderated by someone other than the media.
4. Keep the super delegate system for races with more than two candidates - If only two candidates are running for the nomination, require the super delegates to vote en masse for the candidate with the most pledged delegates. Since that has been the practice in the past, it should be required in the future. If more than two candidates run, the super delegates can act as they wish to eliminate a convention deadlock.
5. Require state parties to enforce uniform decorum rules at all conventions - These rules are already part of all states' convention rules, and call for expulsion of those who violate them. All speakers and delegates deserve to be heard without disruption or interruption. We are Democrats, not hooligans or Republicans. We should make decisions in an orderly fashion. Enforce those rules to ensure a peaceful environment.
6. Primaries should be held in larger groups of states - We have 50 states, plus about 6 other jurisdictions who send delegates to the convention. Divide those by 8 and hold 7 primary elections, equally spaced during the primary period. For each primary date, select states or jurisdictions in a way that represents all regions of the country on an equal basis. Each of the 7 primary elections would have 8 states or jurisdictions, scattered across the country and distributed among states with different populations. This would prevent skewed results by avoiding grouping states with similar demographics or other similarities on a single election date. 7 primary dates to cover the entire field.
That's my opinion. Thanks for taking the time to read it.