Using IRV to eliminate primaries?

Instant Runoff Voting is interesting mathematically. And it offers some advantages in a three-way race; think Ventura-Coleman-Humphrey or Franken-Coleman-Barkley. But it is oversold when used to eliminate primary elections.

[Disgruntled Outstater]

"I like the primaries, which help to winnow down the field of eligible and interested candidates and produce stronger candidates in the process."

Like Franken and Coleman. The two party system and the associated primaries ARE the problem. A 3rd party candidate is also (rightly) portrayed as having little or no chance to win, so the voters end up voting defensively, rather than for the candidate they actually agree with. I wanted to vote for Barkley (who mathced me about 80%), but the fear of Senator Franken made me vote for a candidate I may not have liked, but at least Coleman represented about 20% of my views as opposed to Franken's <5%%

This effect limits the ability of 3rd parties to get elected and even to maintain ballot access.

The solution is an OPEN promary with an IRV election run-off between the top 3 to five people from the primaries

[Former Ranger]

Mike Pearson, Lake Elmo don't be a fool. Having a system that rewards the individual for hard work means..........well HARD work! Compasion means giving your hard earned money to those who really don't want to work all that hard.

Edred Phillips: "The Democratic Party values of the collective good over individual pursuit of happiness, and the property needs of the state over property rights of the individual are the reasons we are able to live together as a civilized society." That is the very definition of socialism, so thanks for telling all of us about the Democratic Socialist Party.

" it is indeed likely that what we call our standard of living will decline to some state of congruity with rising expectations of the billions of persons with whom we share this Earth. " Yup that's Obama's and the liberal's message; it's unfair that the U.S. is so prosperous while much of the world is not (substitute individuals for the U.S.) so the only fair thing to do is tear down the prosperous.

[Mellers]

Mike Pearson: Please let me know if you know the answer to this one: How much time (amount of compassion) do individuals in specific political parties donate to their community? Seeing that in most cases one cannot receive a tax write-off for time donated, I'm very curious how much compassion in the form of time do people give of each major political party. I have a thought as to the answer, Mike-what do you think?

[All things considered]

Disgruntled, I neither cared for Franken or Coleman, and maybe you'd consider my vote wasted, but I still voted for Barkley. If I had to do it over again, knowing the turmoil of the last election, I'd STILL do it. I'm tired of voting for "the lesser of two evils."

[Bill Jungbauer]

Eldred Phillips writes, "The Democratic Party values of the collective good over individual pursuit of happiness, and the property needs of the state over property rights of the individual are the reasons we are able to live together as a civilized society."

This is very scary. That there are people within our society that lack any knowledge whatsoever about our Constitution and what makes this nation unique is a damn shame.

I think Eldred Phillips would be very happy living in Russia or China if this is what he truly believes in. Or perhaps this is one big joke on his part. It is hard for me to take his letter seriously the more I look at it.

[Gndydncr]

So, tell us Eldred, exactly how is it that you're related to Joseph, Karl, or Nikkita?

You're philosphy is exactly 180 degrees from our founding fathers. Your supporting the DFL does not surprise me.

[Gndydncr]

How does IRV work?

[Gndydncr]

Here's anothe problem for you Rory. If a chicken and half can lay and egg and a half in a day and a half, how many pancakes does it take to shingle a doghouse?

[Gndydncr]

Gndydncr wrote:

How does IRV work?

Hmmm. I guess nobody else knows how IRV works either.