GOP Sets Out to Prevent Another Donald Trump in 2020

[muon2]

I agree only Republicans should be able to vote in the REPUBLICAN primary. We also need to use proportional delegate distribution across the board like the Democratic Primary. The latter is more important than the former.

Some states will have difficulty meeting that requirement. You have to have party registration to have a closed primary. Forcing voters to declare a party could even be unconstitutional in some states.

Good.  If you want to influence a party and its platform, join it.  Otherwise sit on the sidelines as an Indy until the GE.

What if your state has no party registration?

I selfishly support all states having partisan registration so I can finish my damn map I've been working on!

In your state it would take a major change in state law, and perhaps a change in IL Supreme Court opinion, too. The ILSC has ruled that people are free to declare for a different party with each electoral cycle. The grace voting system allows one to select a partisan ballot type as part of early voting with registration, so one could not close that without abolishing early voting. That doesn't even factor in same day registration (which is effectively the grace voting system applied to election day).

[Antonio the Sixth]

That's not a good idea.

[Buffalo Bill]

This might be good but let's get on board.  Otherwise what's the point of holding off a vote on the Supreme Court nominee?  Are we going to do this to Clinton for 4 years?

[J. J.]

You could permit county committees to nominate candidates for delegates, then a regional committee could select from those members, and a state committee can elect from those.

It could be done in states where they don't have party registration. 

[Young Conservative]

Good.  If you want to influence a party and its platform, join it.  Otherwise sit on the sidelines as an Indy until the GE.

I agree with the RINO! Frankly, Although I wanted Trump to win and am giving him an enthusiastic and hopeful chance, I look forward to 2020 and the primary battle.

[Adam Griffin]

Unfortunately, there's not much they can do in many cases.  A lot of states mandate open primaries, so the party has no control over who can participate.

They can privatize their primaries/caucuses and foot the bill for them. As far as I know, there is no requirement that a party hold its nominating process through the Secretaries of State. An example of this is Utah GOP's experimentation with online voting this year.

The party could simply say "you must be a registered Republican" in states where partisan registration exists and "you must have voted in [x#/%] of GOP primaries within the past [y] years; donate [$x] to the party; give x number of hours in volunteering time" or otherwise receive authorization from a county/state party.


Let's be real, though: the GOP isn't going to pull itself into the 21st century with respect to revamping the process along hese lines. The only way it's going to deal with the Tea Party/Trump phenomena is to eliminate the post-1972 concept of primaries and return to an era where party leaders decide the nominee. The cretins will bitch and moan, but what are they going to do? Stay at home? Vote Democratic? LOL, give me a break.

[The Mikado]

I strongly think that primary reform should be a major topic in both parties, with this being a fantastic opportunity to do away with abominations like the Iowa Caucus (and caucuses in general) and create a far more streamlined primary process, perhaps starting in March and lasting through May.

If parties were more open to experimenting, this would be the perfect time to roll out IRV. IRV would be perfect for primaries, with their clown-car assortment of huge numbers of candidates.

[MarkD]

I strongly think that primary reform should be a major topic in both parties, with this being a fantastic opportunity to do away with abominations like the Iowa Caucus (and caucuses in general) and create a far more streamlined primary process, perhaps starting in March and lasting through May.

If parties were more open to experimenting, this would be the perfect time to roll out IRV. IRV would be perfect for primaries, with their clown-car assortment of huge numbers of candidates.

I've been hoping, for many years, that the whole country would do away with allowing each state to choose its own date for presidential caucus or primary. I've been hoping for a nation-wide schedule to be set up in which no state is allowed to hold a primary caucus before April 1, that only small states (1 or 2 seats in the House of Reps) hold them during April, only medium-size states (3 to 10 seats in the House) hold them during May, and lastly make all of the largest states wait until June. So I hope you're right that, because of this year's election, both parties are going to be eager for significant changes.

[Mr. Morden]

I strongly think that primary reform should be a major topic in both parties, with this being a fantastic opportunity to do away with abominations like the Iowa Caucus (and caucuses in general) and create a far more streamlined primary process, perhaps starting in March and lasting through May.

If parties were more open to experimenting, this would be the perfect time to roll out IRV. IRV would be perfect for primaries, with their clown-car assortment of huge numbers of candidates.

I've been hoping, for many years, that the whole country would do away with allowing each state to choose its own date for presidential caucus or primary. I've been hoping for a nation-wide schedule to be set up in which no state is allowed to hold a primary caucus before April 1, that only small states (1 or 2 seats in the House of Reps) hold them during April, only medium-size states (3 to 10 seats in the House) hold them during May, and lastly make all of the largest states wait until June. So I hope you're right that, because of this year's election, both parties are going to be eager for significant changes.

I don't see how that's going to happen.  The parties are happy to let the state governments pay for the primary (in most states), meaning that the states are free to choose their own dates.  Now, the parties can and are influencing the date selection by imposing penalties for states going outside a specified window, but to herd the states as significantly as what you're suggesting seems unrealistic as long as the states are running the elections and footing the bill.