Elections are funny things

Good people win, good people lose. I heard a lot of ideas and concepts this election cycle.

I have been hearing a lot of talk about closing the primary races, shortening early voting and having instant run offs if no candidates get over 50% in a primary.

I must say I am intrigued by all of the concepts.

To me a primary is to select the best person from a particular party to go up against the best person from the other party. Lately it has become a battle where infiltration by people from the opposition party are picking the ones that fit there agenda best.

Why even have primaries if that is what is going to happen?

Also, while a win is a win, I don't think any true competitor likes a win with less then 50% of the vote. It is sort of like kissing a cousin. An instant run off is a possible solution. One of the only down sides I see at first glance is the additional cost of running another race by a candidate or funding the cost of another election by the state. Some more ideas on how to fix this problem are welcome.

Some candidates have also complained about the cost of running a "Long campaign". While voters enjoy the convenience of early voting the "long campaign" as it is called, is expensive to run. Sending mail or keeping up an advertising blitz for two weeks favors the rich candidates. Some people think shortening early voting to 8 days (possibly Saturday to Saturday) might be a good compromise and still give people a good chance to vote early.