Replacing partisan with nonpartisan primaries should be the number one priority in the effort to undo the overrepresentation of extremists in government relative to the preferences of voters.
"Indeed, at a recent symposium on primary elections research sponsored by Unite America and the National Institute for Civic Discourse, I saw a presentation of empirical analysis conducted by Georgetown University scholars that confirmed this truth." Do you know where I can find this presentation?
It depends a lot on what you mean. Nonpartisan primaries might, in a handful of cases, be slightly better than partisan ones, but in other cases they can be worse. There's two competing effects:
1. Occasional lockouts, where two candidates of the minority party make it to the second round, because of vote-splitting in the majority party.
2. Cross-partisan voting: voters can support candidates across party lines.
From what I can tell, these roughly cancel out in studies. That said, nonpartisan primaries are a requirement for Condorcet methods. If you're using a Condorcet method in the primaries, that effectively guarantees every general election will be a competition between the 75th and 25th percentiles.
California's Senate race is a prime example. We could have had an interesting race in the general if not for Schiff's bankrolling ads for the utterly weak R candidate Garvey. Top two in CA was a mistake — at least how it is structured, as a plurality.
"Indeed, at a recent symposium on primary elections research sponsored by Unite America and the National Institute for Civic Discourse, I saw a presentation of empirical analysis conducted by Georgetown University scholars that confirmed this truth." Do you know where I can find this presentation?
It depends a lot on what you mean. Nonpartisan primaries might, in a handful of cases, be slightly better than partisan ones, but in other cases they can be worse. There's two competing effects:
1. Occasional lockouts, where two candidates of the minority party make it to the second round, because of vote-splitting in the majority party.
2. Cross-partisan voting: voters can support candidates across party lines.
From what I can tell, these roughly cancel out in studies. That said, nonpartisan primaries are a requirement for Condorcet methods. If you're using a Condorcet method in the primaries, that effectively guarantees every general election will be a competition between the 75th and 25th percentiles.
California's Senate race is a prime example. We could have had an interesting race in the general if not for Schiff's bankrolling ads for the utterly weak R candidate Garvey. Top two in CA was a mistake — at least how it is structured, as a plurality.