American Enterprise Institute Paper Urges Conservatives To More Carefully Consider Proposed Election Reforms

Posted on by October 4, 2023
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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.

Nate Silver Article Casts Doubt on Independent & Third Party Candidate Narratives

Posted on by October 4, 2023
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My fellow editor, the great Richard Winger, has previously documented the 1948 presidential election vote analysis that indicates that the presence in the race of Henry Wallace of the Progressive Party helped, rather than hurt, the candidacy of Harry S Truman.

In this analysis, Nate Silver casts doubt on the standard analyses of the voting effects of independent and third party candidates and predicts that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s presence in the 2024 presidential election will help, not hurt, President Biden.

Thanks to Political Wire for noticing this.

Eight Republican Members of the U.S. House Vote to Replace Speaker Kevin McCarthy

Posted on by October 3, 2023
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On October 3, the House voted to replace Speaker Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy lost his position because eight Republicans voted against him. The eight include seven who are from states that allow independents to vote in primaries.

Proponents of top-two, top-four, and top-five, are constantly repeating the mantra that primaries need “reform”, because closed primaries nominate “extremists”. But seven of the eight Republicans who voted against McCarthy are from states that allow independents to vote in primaries.

The seven who voted against McCarthy and who are from states in which independents can vote in primaries are: Andy Biggs (Arizona); Ken Buck (Colorado); Tim Burchett (Tennessee); Eli Crane (Arizona); Bob Good (Virginia); Nancy Mace (South Carolina); and Matt Ronsendale (Montana).

The one who voted against McCarthy, and who is from a state with closed primaries, is Matt Gaetz (Florida).