The text of the Missouri top-four initiative can be seen here, from the Secretary of State’s website. It is initiative 2022-051.
The initiative also deals with vote-counting equipment. Missouri requires initiatives to be single-subject.
An earlier version of the initiative provided that party labels should not be on ballots, but the latest version does permit party labels.
NOOO primaries
—
PR
APPV
TOTSOP
Usual legal hair splitter suspects to attack the petition for have multiple *subjects* ???
IE – ONE *subject* stuff = STOP ANY reforms.
The initiative appears to assume that voters will mark columns, though at one point it refers to this as a number. Perhaps it could be argued that the vote counting equipment is necessary, though the Irish have been counting RCV ballots by hand for over a century, and the Scots have used OCR to count their local RCV ballots ever since they were introduced.
American voters appear to be incapable of using mark a column ballots. See recent Minneapolis elections.
So are write-in votes allowed in the Open Primary and the General Election?
@DFR,
In the primary.
You would likely like the trials system used in New England. All elections are write-in. If no candidate receives a majority and is elected, there is another trial a month later.
Repeat as often as necessary.
@JR
Can you provide a specific example of where the trials system has been used?
Top X =/= open primary. Open primary had another meaning before top X came along. It’s unnecessarily confusing to call what you’re doing by the name of something else which already existed earlier just because it sounds good.
@WZ,
See United States Congressional Elections, 1788-1997, Michael Dubin.
Pages 1-2
Massachusetts held its 1st congressional election on December 18, 1788 from eight districts. The winners in MA-1, MA-5, MA-6, MA-7 received a majority and were elected. These were pure write-in elections, with non-developed parties or factions. With 7 or eight persons it is unremarkable that no one received a majority.
The Second Trial was on January 29, 1789. There were majority winners in MA-2 and MA-3. In MA-3, Elbridge Gerry was elected. It appears that the leader in the 1st Trial had withdrawn and endorsed Gerry.
The Third Trial (in MA-4 and MA-8) was om March 2, 1789 just prior to the meeting of the 1st Congress. There was a majority winner in MA-4.
The Fourth and Fifth trials in MA-4 were on March 30, 1789 and May 11, 1789 when a majority winner was determined. It appears that other candidates were squeezed since they only received 2% of the vote, The final tally was 50.2% to 47.8%.
@F,
Open Primary is misleading when referring to a system where a voter is restricted to one set of candidates. Just because some voters may choose which set of candidates they are restricted to on election day, does not make the system “open”. It would like if a prisoner could choose their prison. They are still in prison after the door is closed shut and locked.
The system that had the name first should have the name. Top X is not a primary election. It’s not an election at all, since it can’t elect anyone. It’s a qualification round. A qualification round is not the competition itself. Primary elections are only elections at all because they elect party nominees. A blanket (not open) “primary” is not a primary, and it’s not an election. It’s a qualification event.
Is F plus really a grade though? You still fail.
It’s a grade that’s been assigned to you, Mr. Andy. You are the one still failing.
You get a big O obese.
At this point, the only mystery is why Mr. Andy wants an audience when he talks to himself. I guess maybe also why he wants you to think he’s a libertarian.