Florida and Michigan: use surveys

[ciphergoth]

Florida are talking about spending $10-$13 million on rather flawed June primaries to replace the discounted early primaries that the DNC have disqualified for being against the rules.

Why don't they just hold a survey? Choose 1000 registered Democrats in each state in some way that can be seen to be random in a fair way, ask them, and choose delegates that way? There's no reason not to expect the same result as a proper primary, except that they can do a much better job of it for far less money.

They won't of course, but that's because of an emotional attachment to everyone getting their ballot than because it will actually make a difference.

Comments

[thekumquat.livejournal.com]

There isn't yet any such list of registered Democrats - you only have to register 4 weeks before the primary (probably varies by state), and lots of people vote for the candidate of the party they don't support who they judge would do worst. In some states you don't have to register at all and can vote for Dem or Reps in the primary as you wish.

E.g. my family are in Michigan, where only the Republicans and Clinton stood, seeing as it was unofficial. My aunt registered Republican, voted Huckabee because he's a nutjob most likely to lose to any Democrat, and registered Dem again afterwards.

[henry_the_cow]

That is just bizarre.

I wonder if anyone in the UK joins political parties they disagree with in order to influence leadership elections? I guess the parties choose leaders so infrequently that it's not worth the hassle.

[thekumquat.livejournal.com]

I've heard of people joining the BNP or Green or even Monster Raving Loony parties as a kind of protest against mainstream party politics, but given you atually have to pay Real Money to join, I suspect it's not common (unlike making protest votes, which is - again especially for the BNP)

[nikolasco.livejournal.com]

The waiting period varies widely; I know MD has a three-month closing before the primaries. There's also a substantial number of states that hold open primaries (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_primary).

See also: tactical voting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tactical_voting)