Martin Dyckman, a retired associate editor of the St. Petersburg Times, has this op-ed, pointing out flaws in the top-two initiative that is now circulating in Florida. But he does support some method of letting independent voters vote in primaries. He does not mention the fact that the Florida Democratic Party is thinking of letting independent voters vote in its primaries.
Dyckman suggests instant runoff voting.
On August 11, Greenville, South Carolina, held an open primary for Republicans running against each other for city council. There was no Democratic primary because no Democrats filed.
This was the first partisan primary Greenville had held for city office in several years. Greenville had partisan city elections in the past, but the city council switched them to nonpartisan elections a few years ago. But then voters who prefer partisan elections submitted a referendum petition to go back to partisan elections, and the city council reinstated them.
At the primary yesterday, the only incumbent council member who was defeated, Susan Reynolds, had supported nonpartisan elections. See this story.
The reinstatement of partisan elections gives the Greenville County Republican Party a new opportunity to return to court, if it wishes. The county Republican Party had challenged the open primary on the grounds that the party is required to pay for the administration of primaries for city office. The party argued that if the party pays for the primary, it should have the right to prevent members of other parties from voting in the Republican primary. But while the lawsuit was underway, the city had switched to nonpartisan elections, so the Fourth Circuit had dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that it was moot. But, now it isn’t moot.
Wyatt Scott, independent candidate for Canada’s House of Commons from British Columbia, is getting much attention for his tv and internet ad.
The next Republican presidential debate will be sponsored by CNN. It will be September 16 at the Ronald Reagan library in Simi Valley, California. The top ten candidates will share one stage (who may not necessarily be the same ten candidates as in the August Fox debate). Candidates who aren’t in the top ten, but who are at 1% or more in the polls, will be in a separate debate. Just now, six candidates seem likely to be in the secondary debate, but there is time for others to be added. See this story. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
The Washington presidential primary will be May 24, 2016. See this explanation on Frontloading HQ blog. For the Democrats, the primary will just be a “beauty contest” because the party will choose its delegates to the national convention in March caucuses. For the Republicans, half the delegates will be chosen in caucuses but the other half will be determined by the outcome of the presidential primary.
