“Democracy Dies in Primaries”

Must-read commentary by Nick Troiano, who is a leader of the effort to replace partisan primaries with the kind of all-candidates first-round elections that California and Alaska have as part of their top-2 and top-4 systems, respectively.

Here’s the key paragraph: “How do we fix this broken system? With two powerful changes: One, allow all eligible voters – including independents – to cast ballots for any candidate, regardless of party, in every taxpayer-funded election. Two, require candidates to secure a majority of votes to win an election.”

I’m delighted to see Nick include the second of these two proposals, as I’ve long argued that the most significant–and simplest–electoral reform would be to enact an essentially one-sentence requirement that to win an election a candidate must receive a majority, rather than just a plurality, of votes.

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“Justices to Hear Obstruction Case That Could Bar Charges Against Trump”

Adam Liptak for the N.Y. Times. I haven’t studied this issue closely, but based on this (and other) reporting, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Supreme Court interpreted the relevant statute narrowly, with the consequences that two of the four counts of the election subversion against Trump will be nullified. (See also Adam’s earlier analysis of the case’s applicability to the Trump indictment.)

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