Replace Primary Elections

Problem: Many primary elections are plagued by low voter turnout and high taxpayer costs. States spend millions of dollars to hold primaries that are essentially private nominating processes for political parties. In jurisdictions with strong partisan leanings, these low turnout party primaries determine who will represent all voters from that district.

Solution  One- A Single General Election: Under instant runoff voting, voters rank candidates in order of preference on a single ballot. If more than two candidates receives votes, the candidate with the fewest first choices is eliminated. Voters who ranked the eliminated candidate first now have their ballots added to the totals of their second choice. This process continues until two candidates remain, at which point the candidate with a majority of votes is the winner. (Some juirisdictions end the tally as soon as one candidate hs a majority of votes, as this candidate cannot be defeated.)  With IRV, multiple candidates associated with a single political party are able to run in the general election without splitting their party's vote. Candidates are elected in a single, high turnout election, thereby strengthening democratic accountability. Parties can have a nomination process if they wish, but can pay for those primaries themselves.

Solution  Two - Modifed Top Two Primary System: Some jurisdictions may want to pay to give the voters two chances to consider candidates. Another option is to reduce the field to four candidates in the first round (ideally using a ranked choice ballot, but not necessarily), then have a general election with instant runoff voting among those top four candidates.