Eugene Mazo has posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Why do we have an Election Day but not a Primary Day? No aspect of the presidential nomination process causes as much controversy as the primary calendar. The … Continue reading
Category Archives: primaries
WaPo reports. … Continue reading
Ned Foley has posted this timely draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This chapter of an edited volume on presidential primaries focuses on the relationship of the primaries to the general election. It does not suffice that the rules … Continue reading
NYT: Talk to Iowans with disabilities and you will hear the same story over and over: a nightmarish experience in 2016, and repeated pleas that bring only vague assurances that 2020 will be better. The state Democratic and Republican Parties … Continue reading
AP: For the first time, the Iowa Democratic Party will report three sets of results from the party’s presidential caucuses. And there is no guarantee that all three will show the same winner. Each set of results represents a different stage of … Continue reading
In today’s LA Times: [A]ll [California] primary elections, including for members of Congress, will take place in March. California is now an outlier — all but eight states hold congressional primaries much closer to the general election, often in June or August….Early … Continue reading
538 podcast, the first in its Primaries Project series. Great drive-time listening! … Continue reading
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. The … Continue reading
The latest on the restoration of voting rights in Iowa. … Continue reading
Ballot access is not for the faint of heart. … Continue reading
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
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
There’s been quite a bit of coverage on Julián Castro’s recent exit from the presidential race. On a comparatively slow (election) news day, your reminder that the FEC notes we’ve got plenty of options left: as of today, they list … Continue reading
… in the Oscars race. It’s an alternative voting system for nominations (and in a few categories, for the final result): In the nominations voting, the marking and tabulation of all ballots shall be according to the preferential, weighted average, … Continue reading
Iowa Public Radio previews an issue with increased urgency given the February 3 primaries. … Continue reading
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 two … Continue reading
One piece of sad news for presidential primary human-interest stories: Dixville Notch, NH, allows voting at the stroke of midnight, and had the first voters in the country’s first primary for years. But they’re essentially out of people – if … Continue reading
Richard Briffault has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, The Best Candidate: Presidential Nomination in Polarized Times (Eugene D. Mazo and Michael R. Dimino, eds., Cambridge Univ. Press 2020)). Here is the abstract: The Constitution says nothing about the presidential … Continue reading
NYT: In Iowa, fretting about the caucuses is a quadrennial tradition among Democratic and Republican officials alike. But at a time when leading Democrats have made the fight for ballot access, voting rights and diverse representation core principles, their marquee … Continue reading
An unsurprising ruling. … Continue reading
FairVote reports. … Continue reading
Tony Gaughan has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, University of Florida Journal of Law and Public Policy). Here is the abstract: This article examines one of the lingering controversies of the 2016 presidential race: whether the Democratic Party’s leaders … Continue reading
See here. … Continue reading
Des Moines Register: Democratic National Committee officials said Friday they will recommend scrapping Iowa’s plan to hold virtual caucuses in 2020, citing substantial security threats. “We concur with the advice of the DNC’s security experts that there is no tele-caucus system … Continue reading
Politico: California’s new law requiring candidates’ tax returns may be aimed at Donald Trump, but its most consequential effects would likely be felt downballot if it survives a legal challenge.For Republicans who already face a steep climb to blunt Democratic … Continue reading
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a bill requiring Presidential candidates (as well as gubernatorial candidates) to supply their tax returns if they want appear on the primary ballot. There is no question the Trump campaign or their allies, and … Continue reading
Stateline focuses on a lot of questions about the plans for Iowa and Nevada caucuses. … Continue reading
They’ve got a 17-question survey polling the candidates on particular campaign and electoral reforms. Sanders, Warren, Buttigieg, Booker, Williamson, and Bullock have turned in their take-home exams already. … Continue reading
The National Law Journal reviews the law firms behind the presidential contenders. … Continue reading
On Monday, Rick linked to an AP piece on 2020 Democratic caucus voting by phone in Iowa and Nevada. Steve Rosenfeld has some deeper dives today (Iowa, Nevada) on what may be brake-pumping at the DNC. … Continue reading
Steven Rosenfeld: The Independent Media Institute’s Voting Booth project obtained a copy of Iowa’s RFP and asked industry and academic experts in remote voting and election cyber-security to assess Iowa’s envisioned telephone-based system. The experts’ top concerns—based on observing similar … Continue reading
Rick Pildes has posted this draft on SSRN (Forthcoming in The Best Candidate: Presidential Nomination in Polarized Times (E. Mazo ed.)) Here is the abstract: The presidential-candidate nomination process is increasingly a train wreck. Voters are now asked to sort … Continue reading
Wichita Eagle reports. … Continue reading
Dave Daley and Rob Richie oped: Step aside, Super Tuesday — and say aloha to ranked-choice voting.While contests in 11 states on March 3 will elect the most delegates in the 2020 presidential primaries, it’s April 4 — and the … Continue reading
NYT: The House Democratic campaign arm is nearing open warfare with the party’s rising liberal wing as political operatives close to Speaker Nancy Pelosi try to shut down primary challenges before what is likely to be a hard-fought campaign next … Continue reading
The Seattle Times reports. … Continue reading
John Myers for the LAT: In the days leading up to California’s primary three years ago, the complaints from unaffiliated independent voters started pouring in. They were promised they could vote in the closely watched Democratic race for the White House, but … Continue reading
Good news from Nevada. Caucuses are inherently undemocratic, as I’ve been arguing for years. … Continue reading
Salt Lake Tribune: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ended five years of legal battles by the Utah Republican Party to quash a 2014 election law that allows candidates to qualify for the ballot by collecting signatures and/or through the … Continue reading
A Politico update on the impact of new rules for Democratic primary debates. … Continue reading
Steven Rosenfeld sees parallels between a 2017 Alberta provincial leadership campaign and the NC09 scandal, with lessons for 2020 primaries considering means to further participation online or by phone. … Continue reading
Three new white papers on California’s top-two primary out of the USC Schwarzenegger Institute, by Charles Munger, Jr., a financial and political backer of the top-two system. … Continue reading
Seattle Times reports: “The bill would move Washington’s presidential primary to March 10, 2020, just one month after New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary.” … Continue reading
WaPo reports. … Continue reading
The Salt Lake Tribune reports. … Continue reading
Here is the minor party brief. Here is the Lee/Cruz brief. My earlier coverage is here, where I suggest this would be a very interesting case for the Court to hear. … Continue reading
NY Times: Democratic Party officials, after a yearslong battle between warring ideological wings, have agreed to sharply reduce the influence of the top political insiders known as superdelegates in the presidential nomination process. Under the new plan, which was agreed … Continue reading
NYT: [I]n the California Senate [top-two] primary last month, Ms. Feinstein crushed Mr. de León in her bid for a sixth term, drawing 2.9 million votes compared to 804,000 votes for him. But on Saturday night, the executive committee of … Continue reading
Dan Howle and Rob Richie oped in the SD Union-Tribune: We, the Independent Voter Project and FairVote, have and continue to have our different perspectives and opinions about what is the “best” way to conduct our elections. But at a … Continue reading
Richard Winger oped in San Diego Union-Tribune. … Continue reading