• Lyrl@lemm.ee
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      1 month ago

      Partisan primaries tend to produce more extreme candidates. The hope is switching to a combined primary will result in moving candidates of more general appeal on to the general election.

      • LegoBrickOnFire@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        I understand that. My question was: why is a primary needed in the first place? It makes sense with first past the post, but with ranked choice voting and instant runnoff, I don’t get why. Does the US constitution require state to organise primaries?

        • Lyrl@lemm.ee
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          1 month ago

          Primaries can have so many candidates the median voter is never going to learn about all of them. A primary is a reasonable way to down-select to a candidate pool where they all have a chance to make their case to voters without being seen as noise.