nonpartisan elections

Do anti-party reforms ironically require major-party backing?

I’m sure we will hear a lot about the RCV measures that just were on the ballot. Only in DC did one pass/cause RCV adoption (or retention).¹

An out-of-sample test of the ‘shifting coalitions’ view of electoral reform

Portland (OR) journalist Maja Harris has an interesting post about the surfeit of candidates running in the city’s first STV elections. Does the experience so far reflect the perspective I built to understand Progressive Era adoptions of the same?

What is a “multi-party primary”?

There is some controversy over what to call the various “top-X”/“jungle primary” electoral systems now in vogue. The National Conference of State Legislatures now offers the term “multi-party primary” with the following definition:

A small but growing number of states hold a single primary in which all candidates, regardless of party, are listed on a single ballot. States vary in the number of candidates who advance out of this primary to the general election…

Elections for Nebraska’s unicameral, nonpartisan legislature closely mirror this process except ballots do not identify the candidates’ party.