2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumVoter Turnout in UK Referendum: 72%
Compare that to the 35% we typically get in the US for major elections. Think about that. Our electoral system needs serious reform. Automatic voter registration when someone turns 18. Open primaries.
MFM008
(19,818 posts)in elections.
HerbChestnut
(3,649 posts)It shows how out of touch our government is and how badly we need electoral reform.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)HerbChestnut
(3,649 posts)They don't feel as attached to the candidates in the general. We should be encouraging people to vote in *all* elections, not just a few.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)It's not like people have to pay dues to vote, it's not out of reach.
HerbChestnut
(3,649 posts)Or what if sometimes they support Republican candidates and other times support Democrats? What if they usually vote Republican but this one time wanted to vote Democrat? There's all kinds of reasons people shouldn't have to be part of a party to vote in the primary.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)hence you'll vote. there is no guarantee that will happen. For instance Bernie has been screaming about open primaries although Hillary won more of the open primaries, so she would have won anyway. Would your voter who is not a committed democrat and whose candidate lost, show up to vote for her?
If you can't commit to the goals of the democratic part, you have no business picking our nominee.
HerbChestnut
(3,649 posts)When the country is dominated by a 2 party system that is hellbent on maintaining control, you better believe everyone should have the right to vote in the primaries. Btw nice dig on Bernie there. Gotta love the unity, right?
KingFlorez
(12,689 posts)Parties set their own rules because they are private. If Republicans had have had more closed primaries, Trump would not be their nominee.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)I bet the republicans are really jealous of super delegates right now.
HerbChestnut
(3,649 posts)But for the average person who doesn't pay close attention to politics the rules are outright arcane. NY is the perfect example; having to register 6 months before the primary or you can't vote. It's ridiculous. Then there's each state's individual set of rules regarding whether independents can or can't vote, what types of ballots they receive, provisional ballots, etc. The whole thing is a mess. Simple open primaries solve that problem.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)It's not close mindedness to not want people who don't endorse the Democratic Party platform from picking our candidate. the parties have a right to want to maintain some control over their primaries, for fear of someone like trump becoming the nominee.
HerbChestnut
(3,649 posts)As terrifying as that is.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)If they had super delegates, someone else would have won.
HerbChestnut
(3,649 posts)What kind of chaos do you think would have occurred if that had happened?
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)Where Hillary won by a huge number in the popular vote. He won a plurality but not a majority in the popular vote (33%, I think). Had Marco or someone else had more establishment support via pledged super delegates, this whole thing could have gone very differently.
HerbChestnut
(3,649 posts)I don't know what the final vote tally is, but I'm willing to bet he got more than 33%.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)It would have narrowed the field considerably
HerbChestnut
(3,649 posts)Point is, he won the popular vote whether we like it or not.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)So they don't end up with crazy garbage like trump.
HerbChestnut
(3,649 posts)I don't think we've seen the end of this primary campaign quite yet