The author of this paper is Kevin Kosar. Conservatives have been generally hostile to electoral reforms, usually positioning them as efforts by “the left” to bias election results in their favor.
Republicans have succeeded in banning Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) in five states: Florida, Tennessee, Idaho, Montana and South Dakota. Sarah Palin complained bitterly about RCV after her RCV election loss for US House from Alaska in 2022, and there is an effort in Alaska to repeal RCV, even though polls have shown that it is popular with Alaskans.
RCV is popular with Republican Party members in at least two states: Utah and Virginia. The Utah GOP has long used RCV for internal party elections, and the Virginia GOP nominated Glenn Youngkin using RCV at its 2021 Gubernatorial nominating convention. He went on to defeat Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the November 2021 General Election. The Republican Party of Virginia has thereafter sometimes used RCV in privately run primary elections (historically called “firehouse primaries” in Virginia).
Thanks to Election Law Blog for spreading the word on this and for all it does.
I’m glad they banned commie RCV in five states. Hopefully many more to come soon .
Trump 2024! Save America! Vote Trump!!!
RCV does favor the left. Look at Alaska.
What conservatives really need to do is assert the associational rights of political parties under Eu v San Francisco. This is the core of the problem with top-x primaries. They deny the right of parties to name their own nominees, and to control who may use their labels.
WZ
PUBLIC NOMINATIONS OF PUBLIC CANDIDATES FOR PUBLIC OFFICES BY PUBLIC ELECTORS.
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NOOO EXTREMIST PARTY HACK CAUCUSES, PRIMARIES AND CONVENTIONS
EQUAL NOM PETS/FILING FEES
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P-A-T
WZ is correct and AZ is wrong.
Back up link: https://web.archive.org/web/20231003194546/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aei.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F10%2FConservatives-Should-Look-More-Closely-at-Systemic-Election-Reforms.pdf
I’m with Pat on this.
I oppose wind farms, because I want whales to die in mass genocide.
@WZ,
Top N does not prevent political organizations from supporting candidates.
I support wind farms because I want whales to die in mass genocide. I hate them because of penis envy due to my micropenis and I must scream because I’m a Nazi. I hate America and American taxpayers, so I support tax funded wind farms. My name is Edward TJ Brown. I’m a troll moron and an impersonator.
I’m a racist Nazi against whales. Heil Hitler!
Jim Riley, freedom of association includes freedom of dissociation.
Jim Riley already knows top x helps candidates and groups which have more resources (money, existing supporters, name recognition, confections) than others.
@CKF and FEMA,
What was the situation before adoption of the Australian ballot?
You want to elevate political organizations to the level of state agency.
There were no ballot access barriers then. Also, government as a whole was much smaller, which meant even the biggest parties and best known candidates did not have resources multiple orders of magnitude above those of upstart competition. New parties and little known candidates were on much closer to a level playing field with the big leagues vis a vis the current situation.
I want to keep states out of party business.
The first four comments above are right on the money.
Joe, if Ranked Choice Voting only favors the left, how did the right’s Youngkin win in Virginia under Ranked Choice Voting?
Your idea that Youngkin is a rightist is questionable at best.
@CKF,
Can you cite particular elections that illustrate your theory?
The rise of the American and Republican parties, for instance. Or the Anti Masonic party in 1832. Or the Free Soil Party in 1848 and 1852. Or the Constitutional Union ticket in 1860. Or the Populist Party in 1892.