There is a down to the wire Labour leadership election that could send the Bernie Sanders-esque Jeremy Corbyn into a surprise first place finish as Leader of the Opposition. Like Bernie, Jeremy is a democratic socialist representing a far left constituency, he has been independent and outside of Labour leadership his entire career, a critic of the Iraq War which he voted against, and of the corporate centrist New Labour direction the party went into under the Clintoneqsue Tony Blair. Yet a key difference is that Jeremy is the odds on favorite to win his race, and it is largely because of new rules adopted by the Labour party.
These new rules are aptly summarized by the BBC:
Key dates: Ballot papers will be sent out on 14 August; voting can take place by post or online. They must be returned by 10 September. The result is on 12 September
Who can vote? All party members, registered supporters and affiliated supporters – including those joining via a union
The voting system? The Alternative Vote system is being used so voters are asked to rank candidates in order of preference
How does it work? If no candidate gets 50% of all votes cast, the candidate in fourth place is eliminated. Their second preference votes are then redistributed among the remaining three. If there is still no winner, the third place candidate is eliminated with their preferences redistributed. It is then a head-to-head between the last two candidates
The Atlantic article I linked to has the fee to join the party at a reasonable 3 pounds ($4.70 USD). The result of this change has been a surge of new members of the Labour party.
Despite concerns of Tory trolling in the race, only one instance of fraud has been found so far, and Interim Leader Harriet Harman, a Blairite who is not a leftist by any means, has claimed this will be a fair and transparent vote.
So what can Mass Dems learn from our comrades across the pond? Particularly as many here complained about how welcoming and transparent our current process is?
1. Closed party contests expand membership
By closing the party contest to registered members of the party, it actually increased the registration rolls almost three fold in the UK and could do much to move many of our Dem leaning unenrolleds into our ranks.
2. Alternative Voting Ensures a healthy debate and positive campaign, eliminates spoiler effect
Many here lamented that Coakley was nominated with a plurality of the vote while the majority of the party selected one of her two opponents. There were also heated debates between Grossman and Berwick supporters over these issues. The spoiler effect and a nominee with a minority of his or her party behind her, is eliminated under ATV.
I would posit that ATV should be the voting method progressives support in general, and we should practice what we preach by adopting it for our primaries.
It has also forced a robust debate where radical ideas like re-nationalizing the railroads ( widely popular stance in the UK since privatization was such a failure, sorry Bob Neer) have now become mainstream, with Corbyn’s nearest rival Andy Burnham endorsing a variation of that. If Hillary required the second choices of Bernie supporters, or if Grossman relied on the second choices of Berwick supporters, these kinds of concessions and compromises are more likely than they would be in a winner take all, first past the post system and will ensure a nominee and platform more committed to party principles.
3. Online voting and mailed primary ballots ensure high turnout
Not sure of the legal ramifications for doing that here, seeing as Sec. Galvin has a lot of say and just got the tutorial on how to use a telegraph, but I suspect if every registered Democrat was mailed a ballot or able to vote online, we would have significantly higher turnout than a contest a few weeks after Labor Day held on a Tuesday when many people are working. It would also be easier to elect delegate slates to the convention this way and expand participation, particularly of under 30 voters who do everything else online.
Anyway, this is a rough draft, not a thesis, but I am open to amending these ideas and looking at how these best practices can inform our own party process here.
jcohn88 says
IRV is definitely needed for mayoral elections in Boston. We had 12 candidates in 2013, and the two who advanced to the general had only 18% and 17% of the vote–clearly not a reflection of the wishes of the electorate.
Christopher says
On the one hand we don’t select party leaders, either committee chairs or legislative floor leaders, by popular vote at all in this country. On the other hand I guess we could look at it as a nomination contest for Prime Minister like we do for President.
IRV I’m pretty sure would have to be adopted by law rather than party rule. I also prefer to keep the caucus method of electing delegates as an organizing tool.
sabutai says
I don’t think Corbyn is quite comparable to Sanders — not sure Sanders is buddy buddy with the regime in Venezuela.
That said, I struggle to think of times when ATV isn’t the better choice from First Past the Post. As for mail ballots, I believe Oregon does that for elections, and I have no idea why it isn’t more widespread.
Mind, if it leads to the Mass Dems getting someone like Corbyn, I may change my mind.
I’d rather it be headed by someone who isn’t treating the Mass. Dems as a third job (after state rep and private lawyer). I’d rather the Dems focus on organizing more and fundraising less. I’d rather it hire three good interns for the long run, rather than the occasional connected nephews who rotate on a constant basis and can’t answer basic questions. I’d rather it buy 40 iPads so the next nominating convention isn’t agonizing.
jconway says
I was really trying to steer the conversation towards how Labour selected and the three practices Mass Dems could learn from. Corbyn is definitely illogical on foreign policy, from NATO withdrawal to being friendly towards Putin, Chavez and Hamas while Bernie is comfortably in the rational center on most foreign policy questions. It’s too bad since I like Corbyn on the domestic front better than his opponents, but Burnham seems to be embracing the economic left without going full metal Kucinich on foreign policy.