The Republican and Democratic parties have been taking encouraging steps toward reforming the way presidential candidates are nominated. The Hill reported in June that the Republican National Committee is engaging in internal deliberations—as well as talks with their Democratic counterparts—on adjusting the nomination calendar so that more voters get a chance to have a substantive say in who becomes the party standard-bearer. Meanwhile, the Democrat Party is trying to avoid the frontloading chaos of the 2008 contest, attempting to impose some order on the scheduling of states’ primaries and caucuses, as well as reexamining the role of superdelegates.This week, FairVote’s Innovative Analysis takes a fresh look at reforming the nomination process, by suggesting that we add to the debate a system in which well-ordered state-by-state contests culminate in a final, decisive national primary day.
Links
- The Hill: RNC poised to begin altering its primary calendar for 2012
- The Note: Democrats Work To Avoid 2008 Primary Strife
- FixThePrimaries.com
- FairVote Innovative Analysis: "Primary Power to the People" (Previous editions here)
- Delegating Democracy: How the Parties Can Make their Presidential Nominating Contests More Democratic
The Connecticut House of Representatives yesterday narrowly
approved the state’s entry into the National Popular Vote plan. The
bill must now pass the state senate and win the signature of the governor. If
that happens, Connecticut would join the other member states in agreeing to
allocate all of its electoral votes to the winner of the
national popular vote, neutralizing the undemocratic Electoral College system.
So far, the agreement has been passed in Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, and New
Jersey, and just last week, Washington State. Connecticut’s addition of 7 electoral votes would give
the plan 68, over a quarter of the way toward the required 270.
On April, 28, Washington Governor Christine Gregoire signed National Popular Vote (NPV) legislation, making Washington the 5th state after Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, and New Jersey to sign the legislation. These five states have a total of 61 electoral votes, just less than a quarter of the 270 electoral votes needed to bring the compact into effect.
A new report by the Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network, titled, “America Goes to the Polls: A Report on Voter Turnout in the 2008 Election,” highlights the need for several FairVote reforms, including a national popular vote for president, greater uniformity in election administration, instant runoff voting, and universal voter registration. The authors recommend setting federal standards for running elections, introducing ranked choice voting to promote competition and implementing automatic voter registration, where Election Day Registration is a national standard. The report cites FairVote’s “Shrinking Battleground” series that tracks campaign visits and spending throughout the 2008 election cycle, concluding, “the winner-take-all and balkanized dynamics of the Electoral College have a negative impact on voter turnout.” In the forward, George Mason University Professor and Brookings Fellow, Dr. Michael P. McDonald, writes, “a national popular vote for president may hold the key to further increasing American voter participation.”
