An initiative to place a top-two open primary proposal will probably succeed in getting on the November 2012 Arizona ballot. The Arizona League of Women Voters has been studying the proposal for the past several months, and has concluded that the measure is not good policy and should be defeated.
The Arizona League is only the second state League of Women Voters that has studied top-two systems. The Washington state League also studied it and also determined that it should be defeated. The California League has never studied top-two systems.
Pending Condorcet head to head math utopia —
1. ONE election day.
2. Uniform definition of Elector in all of the U.S.A.
3. Equal nominating petitions.
4. P.R. – legislative bodies (larger districts)
5. Approval Voting – executive/judicial offices.
——–
Abolish all the now super-dangerous Stone Age stuff –
U.S.A. Reps by obsolete census math
U.S.A. Senate
U.S.A. Electoral College.
The Sun will continue to rise when REAL Democracy happens.
Colorado needs to be stopped BEFORE it gets started.
Top Two will only work if the opportunity to be a candidate and get on the ballot is available to all who want to take part in the political process.
See the Egypt Prez DISASTER with Top 2.
Can NOTHING be learned from political DISASTERS especially ???
CO Initiative 75 needs 86,500 valid sigs by 8/6/12 to make the ballot. LPCO is working to fight it, dunno about the GPCO or the ACP.
It is not easy to find the ALWV report. Here it is:http://lwvaz.org/files/top2andlwvazpositions-proandconfinalreportmay2012.pdf
For unaware folks —
Possible divided majority problem in all elections with 3 or more choices —
26 ABC
25 BAC
50 C?? – especially if some C folks HATE choice A.
101
How many choices were in the divided majority in the Egypt top 2 election ???
The top 2 stuff happens also in run-off primaries in about 7 (???) southern States in the U.S.A. — used to be mostly Donkey winners before 1964.
How many New Age extremists in both the Donkey/Elephant run-off primaries in such States ???
See esp. the TX primary today.
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There’s actually one way to improve a two-round system. First of all, in every first round, allow for voters to vote for as many candidates as they want. Second of all, to determine the number of candidates going to the runoff, it should always be the square root of the total number of candidates.
For example, let’s say you have 10 candidates running for office. First round, you may vote for as many as 10 candidates. Should no candidate get a majority, in the second round, 3 candidates qualify and voters can vote for up to 3. The candidate with the most votes in the runoff wins.
#6 What a bunch of baloney.
Item 5 says that one candidate in California says she is a “small business woman” rather than an “incumbent legislator”.
This of course has nothing to do with Top 2. California has long had occupation/profession/office designations on the ballot.
Item 1 says that voter turnout could be “suppressed” in the general election. Turnout in Washington was up from 2006 to 2010 (senate race), and 2004 to 2008 (president and governor). The earlier elections were conducted under the partisan gulag system and the latter under the open primary.
Item 2 The Open Primary permits the voters to concentrate on the candidates with the most support. In areas with lopsided registration, the partisan primary excludes many voters from any participation in who represents them.
Item 3 The LWV is free to organize debates in which all candidates may participate. Minor party candidates typically are not invited to general election debates by media organizations.
Item 4 What elections is the California LWV comparing in Louisiana?
Item 8 there has been a huge increase in independent candidates in California under the Open Primary.
Item 9 Buddy Roemer was elected in 1987 after a debate he said that he would not support Edwin Edwards if he was the Democratic candidate (Roemer was a Democrat at that time), saying that sometimes you had to “slay the dragon”. While other Democratic candidates were equivocal, and issuing clarifying statements in the following days, Roemer was printing “Slay The Dragon” buttons.
This of course would have been lethal in a Democratic primary.
In 1991, Roemer was then the incumbent governor, and Edwards a former governor. Roemer had switched parties at the behest of the national party, and tried to prevent the Republican endorsing convention cancelled. So neither Democrats or Republicans were happy with Roemer’s switch and he only got 27% of the vote.
Item 10 the partisan primary system may require voters to disclose their political beliefs to government officials in order to be allowed to vote. This registration is often a matter of public record.