The Only Way to Fix Our Broken Presidential Primary

Ever y four years, many Americans look at the presidential primary system and ask: Is this really the best way to choose a nominee? It’s hard to say yes. Iowa and New Hampshire unfairly monopolize the candidates’ time, energy, and resources for at least a year. Voters elsewhere must then wait to choose from a field that has been narrowed by voters from two small, unrepresentative states that hold roughly 2 percent of the U.S. population. The lengthy process rewards campaigns that can call upon deep pockets and favorable media coverage.

It’s unsurprising that calls for reform emerge, like clockwork, every four years. Sometimes these expressions of discontent result in substantial changes: the steady abolition of caucuses, the defanging of superdelegates, the moving of states like Nevada and South Carolina to the front of the line so as to diversify the early-state gauntlet. These intermittent changes have fallen far short of a systemic overhaul. If anything, they might have placed the much-needed deeper structural reforms to the primary process further out of reach. Read Full Article »