One Real Good Reason To Have Primary Election "Run-Offs" for Congress

Amerisrael ^

[Amerisrael]

It is worth the investment of time and money in order to have a candidate that a clear majority of voters want and will support.

[Run-offs in presidential and gubenatorial primaries as well] 

Otherwise you often have a situation where the candidate with the least support can actually win because the other candidates "split the vote".

Such was the case in yesterday's Connecticut 2nd congressional district Republican primary:

U.S. House District 2 [GOP Primary]  map	140 of 141 precincts 99%
Janet Peckinpaugh	X 11,284 (43%)
Daria Novak	9,846 (38%)
Doug Dubitsky	5,087 (19%)

Because there will be no run-off vote between the top two vote getters, Janet Peckinpaugh [rino], will be the 2nd district GOP nominee with only a "minority" of the vote.

The clear majority of voters were split between two good conservatives.

Free Norwich is right that both Daria Novak and Doug Dubitsky are good folks who would represent and serve their 2nd district well in Washington.

Unfortunately, that will not happen because a "rino" will be the nominee with only a "minority" of support.

It is clear from the vote totals that Janet Peckinpaugh was not the choice of the majority.

She recieved 43% of the vote. A clear majority of 57% did not vote for her.

A run-off election between the top two vote getters could resolve this problem.

Fair Vote echos this concern in their article "Primary Run-Offs Show Need For Reform". A brief excerpt:

"FairVote prefers runoffs to plurality voting.  Single-winner races can produce undemocratic outcomes when more than two candidates run - issues of "spoilers," "split votes" and illegitimate victories follow."

[This is precisely how Peckinpaugh "won" the primary].

[cripplecreek]

That’s really up to the states.

Personally I kind of wish we had runoffs here in Michigan but our primaries need to be closed first.

[Amerisrael]

“... but our primaries need to be closed first.”

That’s another huge problem.

Otherwise liberals can cross party lines to vote for the candidate will be the easiest to beat.

[Logic n' Reason]

State Issue...

State Issue

State Issue.....

[xzins]

The clear majority of voters were split between two good conservatives.

We did that in the last presidential primaries as well. It means:

1. Conservatives are stubborn, stupid, and/or unwilling to cooperate

or

2. Conservatives have sold out to the Rinos and are covertly helping them to win

or

3. Conservatives aren't as united at rinos

or