WWTBAM Bored

I read this morning that the Montana legislature is going to enact a law that will change the way the next Senate election will be run. Instead of a primary system and a candidate from each party running, the election will be based on the top two vote-getters advancing to the general election regardless of party affiliation. The move would essentially prevent Libertarian candidates from getting on the ballot. This would apply only to the 2024 Senate election and the law would "sunset" in 2025. The idea is to defeat Democratic senator Jon Tester by eliminating third-party candidates that Republicans believe would vote for their candidate instead. What are your thoughts about this?

earendel wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 10, 2023 8:58 am

I read this morning that the Montana legislature is going to enact a law that will change the way the next Senate election will be run. Instead of a primary system and a candidate from each party running, the election will be based on the top two vote-getters advancing to the general election regardless of party affiliation. The move would essentially prevent Libertarian candidates from getting on the ballot. This would apply only to the 2024 Senate election and the law would "sunset" in 2025. The idea is to defeat Democratic senator Jon Tester by eliminating third-party candidates that Republicans believe would vote for their candidate instead. What are your thoughts about this?

I'm in the "be careful what you ask for" boat on this one. I'm headed to Helena this week for meetings and hopefully will find out more about it, but not a fan, atm.

earendel wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 10, 2023 8:58 am

The idea is to defeat Democratic senator Jon Tester by eliminating third-party candidates that Republicans believe would vote for their candidate instead.

The last three Senate elections in Georgia (two for Raphael Warnock's seat in both a special and general election) didn't turn out that way. In all three cases, the Democratic candidates improved their vote percentage in the runoff (without Libertarian candidates) over the results from the general election. Jon Ossoff actually trailed David Perdue in the general election but wound up winning the runoff.

The assumption that all people who voted for a candidate who lost in a primary will automatically vote for someone from their own party in the general election isn't valid either. In Alaska, a lot of people who voted for Republican Nick Begich didn't list Sarah Palin as their alternate choice in the ranked choice voting, which is why Alaska now has a Democratic representative.