Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Competition brings out the Best in Voter Participation

  Much sweat and consternation is going into efforts to increase voter participation. Mail-in voting, early voting and such are the rage in some places.
   You want voter turnout? Design it so there's competition. Perhaps more than all those othr things, this is the difference-maker. Competition might not be a complete cure-all, but it will help. Much. Voters will be more likely to come out to the polls if they see a hotly contested race.
   So, how to you design it so there's competition? You can't force the public to divide half-and-half, half being Republicans and half being Democrats.
  One idea? Let the primary field candidates from all parties (as well as independents) against each other. Lump them all together. Instead of having one primary for the Republicans and another for the Democrats, it's all one big free-for-all.
   And, here's the trick: If two Republicans are the top two vote-getters, they both advance. Thus, if your state has become so strongly Republican (or Democrat) that the Republican (or Democrat) is going to win in a yawner, no longer will that be the case. Instead, you now have two Republicans on the November ballot, and so even though the voters are prone to vote Republican, they can no longer make such an easy choice.
   Now, with this, you are more likely to be a tight and lively race.

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