Category Archives: primaries

“Experts: Narrow timeline creates strain on New Bedford’s elections”

May 27, 2025, 10:39 pmelection administration, primarieselection timingJustin Levitt

This is a good article about a horrible idea: an October 7 municipal primary for a November 4 municipal general election. In accessible fashion, the local independent New Bedford Light breaks down a bunch of the logistics that occupy election… Continue reading

The DNC primary calendar for 2028 remains unclear–and it complicates the path for some candidates

March 23, 2025, 1:17 pmprimariesDerek Muller

Politico recently published this public relations piece on behalf of former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg noting that he was “clearing a path for a potential presidential campaign instead.” The New York Times looks at Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a… Continue reading

“The county line is officially gone with a new primary ballot design for New Jersey, but advocates may sue again”

March 17, 2025, 9:29 amballot access, primariesDerek Muller

Philadelphia Inquirer: New Jersey has a new primary ballot design now that Gov. Phil Murphy has signed it into law — though it remains to be seen whether it the measure will be challenged in court. With the governor’s… Continue reading

“Georgia Republicans renew push for closed primary elections”

February 5, 2025, 7:32 ampolitical parties, primariesRick Hasen

AJC: Top Georgia Republicans are renewing their push to only let voters who register as party members cast ballots in GOP primaries.It’spart of an attempt to guarantee more ideological purity among the nominees. The idea to end Georgia’s open primaries,… Continue reading

“Why Voters Rejected Election Reform”

December 8, 2024, 9:50 pmdirect democracy, election administration, political parties, primariesranked-choice votingJustin Levitt

Russell Berman digs in to the reform measures on the 2024 ballot, in The Atlantic.

“Ranked-choice voting continues to work in Alaska. It would everywhere else, too.”

November 27, 2024, 7:29 amalternative voting systems, primariesrank choice votingTabatha Abu El-Haj

Washington Post’s Editorial Board comes out in favor of RCV, arguing it is working well in both Alaska and Maine to select more moderate candidates that are more likely to reflect the preferences of electoral majorities, and that it is… Continue reading

“Three California Minor Parties File Federal Lawsuit Against Top-Two System”

November 22, 2024, 12:22 pmpolitical parties, primariesTabatha Abu El-Haj

Ballot Access News: This week, three California minor parties filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the California top-two system. The parties are Peace & Freedom, Green, and Libertarian. Here is the 12-page Complaint in Peace & Freedom… Continue reading

“A Setback for Election Reformers?”

November 22, 2024, 5:49 amprimarieselection reform, rank-choice voting, RCVTabatha Abu El-Haj

Walter Olson at Cato has the following reflection on the recent round of election reform in which he cautions commentators to distinguish “ambitious” reforms that “abolish[] party primaries and then employ[] RCV in a general election” (like in Alaska)… Continue reading

“Ranked choice voting and open primaries retained in Alaska after final ballot count”

November 20, 2024, 8:15 pmprimariesAlaska, rank-choice voting, RCVTabatha Abu El-Haj

An update on the Alaska ballot initiative from the Anchorage Daily News. The total ballot count in the end was 340,510. The repeal effort appears to have failed by 664 votes. “A coalition of left-leaning and moderate legislators in the… Continue reading

“Ranked choice voting repeal now trailing by 45 votes ahead of final Alaska ballot count and tabulation Wednesday”

November 20, 2024, 6:29 amprimariesAlaska, rank choice voting, RCVTabatha Abu El-Haj

From the Anchorage Daily News. Approximately 5,800 ballots remain to be counted.

“Effort to repeal ranked choice voting and open primaries in Alaska on track to narrowly fail after latest ballot count”

November 19, 2024, 8:25 amabsentee ballots, primaries2024 Election Cycle, Alaska, rank choice voting, Top Four PrimaryTabatha Abu El-Haj

From Anchorage Daily News: “Results posted Monday showed 50.03% of voters opposed the measure repealing ranked choice voting, while 49.97% were in favor of the repeal. Just 192 votes separated the two camps, with more ballots set to be… Continue reading

“Ranked Choice Voting: What Happened & What’s Next”

November 19, 2024, 7:56 amprimaries2024 Election Cycle., Ballot Initiatives, election reform, rank choice voting, structural reformTabatha Abu El-Haj

Michael Parsons (FairVote, Senior Legal Fellow) and Meredith Sumpter (FairVote CEO) offer reflections at Democracy Takes on what the results of the 2024 ballot initiatives tell us about the future of rank-choice voting as a reform. A peek here: “In… Continue reading

My Forthcoming Yale Law Journal Feature: “The Stagnation, Retrogression, and Potential Pro-Voter Transformation of U.S. Election Law”

August 20, 2024, 7:18 amauthoritarian threats in US, ballot access, Bush v. Gore reflections, campaign finance, cheap speech, chicanery, Constitutional Right to Vote, election administration, election law and constitutional law, Election Meltdown, election subversion risk, First Amendment theory, legislation and legislatures, political equality, political parties, political polarization, primaries, Real Right to Vote, social media and social protests, Supreme Court, The Voting Wars, voting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

I have written this draft, forthcoming this spring in Volume 134 of the Yale Law Journal. I consider it my most important law review article (or at least the most important that I’ve written in some time). It offers… Continue reading

“Record number of open primary initiatives on the ballot”

August 20, 2024, 6:50 ampolitical parties, primariesRick Hasen

Pluribus: Voters in as many as half a dozen states will decide this year whether to open primary elections to independent and crossover voters in what supporters say is the broadest-ever assault on the traditional partisan primary process. Ballot initiatives… Continue reading