Tornado Alley (PROG)

[newmedman]

They are in warm rooms but other than that, there are so many things wrong with them it's hard to say where to begin.

Kill Caucuses and Closed Primaries

Takeaways

Caucuses and closed primaries empower the most dedicated activists and partisans at the expense of the inclusion of most American voters, and they end up driving election results that are not representative or truly democratic. We must kill caucuses and open the primaries to encourage full participation and ensure that the candidates we nominate for the general election are the ones most voters would have chosen.

Caucuses are high barrier nominating contests that prevent people from all backgrounds from being able to participate. They reward the most privileged and over-represent those on the political extremes.

Closed primaries disenfranchise the growing group of political Independents, who have no say in who appears on the general election ballot. They essentially say that partisan voters deserve to vote twice, while nonpartisans only get to vote once—a clear violation of the principle of one person, one vote.

Promoting open and semi-closed (more on the distinction between these two below) primaries over caucuses, conventions, or closed primaries is the clearest way to ensure everyone has a say. And these primaries should be coupled with other voting reforms to make sure they are truly open to all.

https://www.thirdway.org/memo/kill-caucuses-and-closed-primaries