How would you restructure your party's primary?

[Adam Griffin]

If you could re-do your party's primary, how would you restructure it?

First of all, the modern-day argument that "superdelegates exist so that party activists and party leaders don't have to compete against one another" is stupid. So, I'll keep the same number of overall delegates and simply make them all pledged. I'd also keep the same numbers overall as what exist today.

All states will use the same formula: delegates allocated at-large proportionally based on statewide performance. No states will apportion delegates based on "county-level equivalents" or any of that stupid nonsense. All states will adopt a primary system or have half of their delegates disqualified.

The groupings of states to go first, second, third, etc will rotate with each presidential cycle: no state(s) will be given the privilege of being the first to cast ballots in any two consecutive elections.

The country will be broken down into four groups: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest and West. Each region will have at least one state present in each set of contests (with the exception of the 4 vote-rich contests, in which one region will dump 500+ delegates each week for four weeks). There will also in some way be a "fifth region", which consists of all the Democrats Abroad and all of the territories; it will dump all of its votes in one set of contests (Week 3).

Each region will dump an approximately identical number of delegates relative to the other regions in each set of contests.

The primary calendar will last 12 weeks:

Week 01: 466 delegates ..........
Week 02: 000 delegates
Week 03: 633 delegates .............
Week 04: 000 delegates
Week 05: 226 delegates .....
Week 06: 166 delegates ...
Week 07: 546 delegates ...........
Week 08: 501 delegates ...........
Week 09: 556 delegates ............
Week 10: 530 delegates ...........
Week 11: 473 delegates ..........
Week 12: 663 delegates ..............

[OSR stands with Israel]

Have 5 super tuesdays with 10 states each, makes all states proportional , and add 100 superdelegates

[LLR]

1) Significantly lower number of super delegates

2) Diversify Super Tuesday states -> Move the Deep South states

3) Shorten the schedule

4) Make a diverse state first

Too lazy to post a complex schedule

[hurricanehink]

My system would put emphasis on competitive states. Nominees should be able to prove they can compete there.

1) Line up the 50 states plus DC according to the previous cycle's election results.
2) Remove the state's with the ten largest populations to prevent the beginning of the process being too expensive.
3) Start with the state whose result was closest. Exclude any from Step 2 if applicable. This is usually one of the most important states, and given how much money and time is thrown into the first caucus/primary state, it should be first. As Florida was one of the largest states in 2012, it would be North Carolina first in this system.
4) Week 1, use the first state available. Continue for the next three weeks for the next closest states (still excepting the ten largest states, thus removing Pennsylvania and Ohio). Weeks 2-4 would be Virginia, Colorado, and New Hampshire.
5) Week 5, the first Super Saturday (I would get rid of Super Tuesday in the interest of ensuring maximum turnout), with five contests. If one of the ten largest states was one of the ten closest states, then that state's primary/caucus is held here.
6) Week 6. Repeat five contests, including if any of the remaining ten largest states were within the ten closest.

TL;DR Calendar
1) North Carolina
2) Virginia
3) Colorado
4) New Hampshire
5) Florida, Iowa, Nevada, Wisconsin, Minnesota
6) Ohio, Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Missouri
7) Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Indiana, South Carolina, Mississippi
Oregon, Montana, Alaska, Washington, Texas
9) Louisiana, Maine, Illinois, Connecticut, and New Jersey
10) Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Kansas
11) Nebraska, Alabama, California, Massachusetts, Arkansas
12) West Virginia, Maryland, Rhode Island, New York, Idaho
13) DC, Utah, Wyoming, Vermont, and Oklahoma

[Santander]

I actually wouldn't keep the primary system at all.

But if I had to keep it, I wouldn't change too much. The current early states are pretty good choices on the D side. I think NC would probably be better than SC as the first southern state, but keeping the early states small gives outsiders a shot at establishing momentum, so SC can stay. MI and OH are great microcosms of the D coalition and should come right after the early states, as part of a balanced schedule between the Northeast, South, West and Midwest. Big, safe D states like NY and CA can go last to avoid spending unnecessary amounts of money before the general election.

[Enduro]

1. Have them all on the same day.

2. One week later, would have the convention.

3. All delegates pledged, no super delegates.

4. Limit debates to 3 before primaries; if a brokered convention, then one more after primaries.

5. Allow candidates to have as many two or three way debates as they want. Maybe, I'm not sure about this one, but would like to try this out, because it would've been great to see a Rand Paul vs Chris Christie debate without Donald Trump ruining everything.

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

All Closed Caucuses

A Big 10 Version of Super Tuesday (Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan)  ((New York and Maryland is not Big 10 Country))) which goes first.

Then A New England Caucus Day (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts)

Then Big 12 (Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, Kansas, North/South Dakota)

Then the Pacific NorthWest (Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Washington, Alaska)

The Big East Primary (New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland(DC is part of Maryland primary and has no electoral vote as XXIII amendment is repealed) and West Virginia, Maryland )

Pac 12 Primary (California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Hawaii, Guam)

SEC Primary (Kentucky, Tenessee, Arkansas, North/South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Virginia)

Mixed Proportional (50% + 1 gets all delegates. No majority vote it's proportional)

Big 10 Primary is first and starts no earlier than February 1st and no later than February 15th

No Caucus can occur on a Sunday

No Superdelegates

All delegates are bound till the conclusion of the first ballot of the convention unless a states slate are from a majority for a candidate. Majority slates cannot be unbound.

In the event of a "brokered convention" two candidates can combine delegates to achieve a majority. The candidate with the higher amount of delegates will be the nominee and the candidates with lesser in a majority coalition shall be VP.

[Bigby]

Every state would vote on the same day, with all primaries being proportial. If no one reaches the majority of delegates, then the top three winners go to a runoff four weeks to six weeks later. If a majority is still not reached, then the top two go to a second runoff. The schedule must be made to where the second runoff must be at least six weeks before the Convention. Every state will have the same primary rules, and caucuses are not allowed period.

I am a Republican, but I would do this for the Democrats too. Also for the Dems, no more superdelegates would exist.

[Enduro]

1. Have them all on the same day.

2. One week later, would have the convention.

3. All delegates pledged, no super delegates.

4. Limit debates to 3 before primaries; if a brokered convention, then one more after primaries.

5. Allow candidates to have as many two or three way debates as they want. Maybe, I'm not sure about this one, but would like to try this out, because it would've been great to see a Rand Paul vs Chris Christie debate without Donald Trump ruining everything.

Apply this to any party.

[Former Senator Haslam2020]

Libertarian 50 state plus territory primary

[LibertyCircuitRider]

All Closed Caucuses

A Big 10 Version of Super Tuesday (Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan)  ((New York and Maryland is not Big 10 Country))) which goes first.

Then A New England Caucus Day (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts)

Then Big 12 (Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, Kansas, North/South Dakota)

Then the Pacific NorthWest (Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Washington, Alaska)

The Big East Primary (New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland(DC is part of Maryland primary and has no electoral vote as XXIII amendment is repealed) and West Virginia, Maryland )

Pac 12 Primary (California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Hawaii, Guam)

SEC Primary (Kentucky, Tenessee, Arkansas, North/South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Virginia)

Mixed Proportional (50% + 1 gets all delegates. No majority vote it's proportional)

Big 10 Primary is first and starts no earlier than February 1st and no later than February 15th

No Caucus can occur on a Sunday

No Superdelegates

All delegates are bound till the conclusion of the first ballot of the convention unless a states slate are from a majority for a candidate. Majority slates cannot be unbound.

In the event of a "brokered convention" two candidates can combine delegates to achieve a majority. The candidate with the higher amount of delegates will be the nominee and the candidates with lesser in a majority coalition shall be VP.

Good idea

[Seneca]

There is something to be said for the current system of having the early contests one at a time, rather than making the first contest a Super Tuesday style affair with multiple states voting on the same day. The current system allows candidates without significant fundraising to gain traction. The alternative, proposed by many of you, heavily favors those candidates who are able to fund raise the most, that is to say the "establishment."

That said, the first in the nation primary does need to be rotated; it's a disgrace that Iowa and New Hampshire have had such an out-sized role in deciding who will be president. Of course, not every state can be eligible to go first, as Muon pointed out in an earlier discussion, there are serious costs to going early. Below is his point and my response.

It's a costly proposal for states that only have one primary that combines state and congressional races with the presidential primary. Those states would have to double their spending on primaries. Rotating dates is undesirable for large states that set up an electoral calendar that functions the same every two years.

Like Muon said, many states would rather not go first for various reasons. With that in mind, I would do the following:

Ask all Secretary of States to volunteer their state to go first. Put those states which volunteer in a hat and pull out four names (1 by 1). Those 4 take the slots of IA, NH, SC, and NV. The rest of the volunteers go on Super Tuesday. The 4 states who went first last cycle are relegated to Super Tuesday to ensure some rotation.

This way candidates have to navigate different landscapes, new voters get to play an outsized role in primary elections, and the good people of Iowa and New Hampshire get a respite from 24/7 campaigning.

Additionally, I would stipulate that only states which were willing to shell out the money to hold primaries be eligible to go early or on Super Tuesday. Caucuses are abominations and those that can't be eliminated should be relegated to the very end of the calendar.

In this setup, after Super Tuesday the remaining contests would be those large states like California and New Jersey that prefer to hold their presidential primaries at the same time as their state primaries and local elections. That means the rest of the primary calendar is out of my control (as the imaginary head of the DNC/RNC). Not an ideal situation, but one I could live with.

[rpryor03]

[Oldiesfreak1854]

The first and most obvious thing would be to add superdelegates (and I could see that happening IRL in 2020 if Trump is nominated.)  However, I think they should get an equal vote with the pledged delegates, and should be fewer in number.  And possibly make all contests a proportional or hybrid system.