I live in an open primary state which suits me fine. Sometimes it is branded as “controversial”. Example: Cynthia McKinney got primaried by another D, allegedly because a lot of GOP voters decided to vote for her opponent in the D primary. I’m OK with that, as a D was going to win that election. If you were a conservative living there, making your opinion heard at the ballot box is a good thing. Without open primary, your only option would be to vote for the GOP candidate running unopposed in the primary who would get swept in the general.
I believe something like this could happen with Marjorie Taylor Green if there is a smart GOP opponent in the next election cycle. That district will likely reelect her if she is the GOP candidate. If there is a reasonable GOP primary opponent, a lot of D voters would likely vote in the GOP primary.
…and if the Alaskan model resulted in the general election being a “top two” contest, I’d agree that the model protects the major parties.
I think that the Alaskan model sets up a situation where a viable outsider candidate (third party, independent, or outside major party structures) can prove viability in the primary, and then benefits from IRV making it “safe” for a voter to express a preference for a candidate without as much risk of enabling an undesirable candidate to win.
I’m registered with a party bc where I live the primary often determines who my state rep will be. The other party has not won in the nearly 30 years I have lived here. I usually don’t vote along party lines. I do vote in my party’s presidential primary and I vote for the candidate I like best. Should that candidate win the primary I may or may not vote for him/her in the presidential election. I usually like the independents better.
Speaking of Presidentials, I really wanted to be able to vote Rubio in 2015. I was too lazy at the time, but even now I’m thinking of registering Republican, just so I can vote against future Trumps.
Of course, now I’m in a state that doesn’t matter, so might as well burn my vote anyway.
This is, imo, a huge win for the new system. Also a huge risk, since it will alert those who benefit from the old system, including all of the big lie voters.
