On August 30, the Pennsylvania Senate State Government Committee unanimously passed SB224, which moves the 2024 primaries from April 23 to March 19.
On August 30, the Pennsylvania Senate State Government Committee unanimously passed SB224, which moves the 2024 primaries from April 23 to March 19.
Part of the dirty war on Christmas!
What is the benefit from having it so early and why does Rhode Island find it acceptable to have their non-presidential primary in mid-September, while other states don’t?
Adam, I believe one of the biggest factors in how well a candidates does in a given primary election is the amount of momentum they have built up in previous primary elections. This means voters early in the primary season have more influence than voters later in the season. But I can’t speak to Rhode Island’s choice.
I think a major reason for staggered primaries is because plurality voting doesn’t scale up very well past two choices due to the spoiler effect. With multiple primary elections over time, there is time for potential spoilers to drop out over time.
I’d prefer switching to a system that scales up better (e.g., Ranked Choice Voting, STAR, Approval, Condorcet) and having all of the primary elections simultaneously. Walter Ziobro also points out a promising alternative using pairwise matchups.
https://ballot-access.org/2023/08/30/no-labels-asks-its-supporters-to-express-preference-for-how-presidential-nominee-should-be-chosen/#comment-1172727
Richard, in the previous post on this topic, you said they are considering moving the date of *all* primaries. Or, is it just the presidential primaries???
The 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary was not done with first-past-the-post. Multiple candidates could and did win delegates per primary. However, you could only vote for one candidate. Approval voting would have been an improvement.
“The 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary was not done with first-past-the-post. Multiple candidates could and did win delegates per primary.”
Ah, thanks for clearing that up for me, Adam!
https://ballotpedia.org/Democratic_delegate_rules,_2020
Internal party elections, including nominations, should be the business of those parties, not the state or federal government. Smoke filled rooms were better than government run primaries, although other alternatives also exist.