The 2014 primary season is underway, and voters in eight states have already cast ballots that will determine winners in the 2014 midterm elections. Since 371 congressional districts are safe for one of the major parties, whichever candidate in the majority party wins their party’s nomination in those districts is going to be safely elected in November’s general election. Despite their importance, turnout has been upsettingly low in many of these primaries – sometimes as low at 16% of registered voters. It’s time for us to fix the primaries.   

• Monopoly Politics 2014 shows just how determinative of the final outcome primaries will be
• See whether your state uses open or closed primaries
• Learn about the particularly bad turnout problem in states that use primary runoffs
• Read our recent newsletter including more information on the primaries
• Top Four elections: a ranked choice alternative to the “Top Two” model of primary elections
• Primary elections can have highly fractured fields, as was the case in Nebraska this week where Republicans nominated a candidate for governor with just 26.5% of the vote. Ranked choice voting would help.
• Fair representation voting in primaries and general elections would elect a more representative and diverse Congress