“Our Presidential Primary System Is An Accident”
538 podcast, the first in its Primaries Project series. Great drive-time listening!
Category Archives: political parties
“How A Raucous Convention Revolutionized Our Primary System”
A 538 video, with more to come:
By casting a ballot in a primary or caucus, voters in the U.S. have the chance to decide who will vie to lead the free world. But that wasn’t always the case.… Continue reading
Informational Incentives for Campaign Mobilization
Bertrall Ross and Doug Spencer have a new paper out in the Northwestern Law Review: “Passive Voter Suppression: Campaign Mobilization and the Effective Disfranchisement of the Poor.” The abstract:
A recent spate of election laws tightened registration rules,… Continue reading
“Paperwork problem blocks Andrew Yang from Ohio’s Democratic presidential primary ballot, campaign to launch write-in effort”
Ballot access is not for the faint of heart.
“What it means to participate in the Iowa caucuses”
Lyz Lenz offers a wry view in The Gazette.
But past the humor, her overall point is spot-on: few Americans understand how the Iowa caucuses actually work — and it looks a lot more like a town meeting than a… Continue reading
“New law makes voters’ primary party choice public”
The Pioneer Press reviews an interesting new facet of Minnesota’s law. As in many states, voters have to declare a party preference before voting in a primary, but apparently, the voters’ choice of party is “secret, just like your actual… Continue reading
“Census will mean new ways for politicians to keep power despite earning fewer votes”
Bill Leonard weighs in on new opportunities for partisan gerrymandering after the Census.
California Democratic Party settles lawsuits alleging harassment and discrimination by former leader
The LA Times has the latest on the continuing fallout from the scandal involving the former chair.
“Top DFLers, state party defend law that permits Trump-only GOP primary ballots”
The real story isn’t that state party officials are defending state party associational rights under the First Amendmetn (even if they also benefit opposing parties). The real story is the practical recognition that litigation now begins to creep up on… Continue reading
“Leaked Trump Camp Tape Reignites Concerns Over GOP ‘Ballot Security’ Plans”
Tierney Sneed at TPM highlights the audio Rick blogged before the holidays, about the lapse of the consent decree between the DNC and RNC governing “ballot security” efforts.
Unaffiliated voters and the California primaries
Jessica
Levinson forecasts coming confusion in California, a heavily
absentee-voting state where voters have now been trained on a “top two” state primary
(in which voters can vote on all candidates, no matter their party registration). But
the top… Continue reading
“Virginia was home to the first gerrymander. It should also be the home of its solution.”
Sam Wang urges the new unilateral Democratic majority in Virginia to follow through on redistricting reform.
“We can’t assume Virginia Democrats will keep their promise on redistricting reform”
The Post’s editorial board laments the potential change of heart after the change in electoral fortunes.
“New York Dems Are Redrawing Congressional Districts and It Could Put Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Out of a Job”
The Daily
Wire ties the census, redistricting, and (perhaps) a bit of wish
fulfillment. They’re not wrong about legislative
leadership use of redistricting to enforce party discipline, though.
It’ll be interesting to see the extent to which New York’s new … Continue reading