The Future of American Primary Elections

The Future of American Primary Elections

Edited by Robert G. Boatright and Richard C. Barton. Forthcoming, De Gruyter, 2025

Foreword Trent Lott and Tom Daschle

1. Introduction, Robert G. Boatright and Richard C. Barton

Part I: Contemporary Primary Elections

2. How Distinct are Primary Voters? Insights from the 2024 Primary Election Study – (Richard C. Barton and Carlo Macomber)
3. Who Votes in Primaries and What Are Their Attitudes Toward Compromise? – (Zachary Albert and Raymond J. La Raja)
4. The Congressional Primary Calendar and Turnout: Simultaneous Primaries and Competitiveness – (Caitlin E. Jewitt and Sarah A. Treul)
5. Policy Priorities, Candidate Backgrounds, and Primary Rules: A Descriptive Examination of 2024 Primary Candidates – (Mike Cowburn and Marius Sältzer)
6. Running Scared in the Primary: Campaign Behavior of Safe Incumbents in a Partisan Era – (Hayley M. Cohen)

Part II: The Effects of Primary Reform

7. Assessing the Impact of Alaska’s Top 4-RCV Electoral Reform – (Glenn Wright, Ben Reilly, and David Lublin)
8. Re-evaluating the Effects of the Top-Four System in Alaska on Election Results – (Ryan Williamson and Ceili Fallon)
9. The Consequences of a Top-5/RCV System in Nevada: Advantaging Moderates but Sidelining Third Parties? – (Jeremy Gelman, Evan Pritsos, and Ben Reilly)
10. The Case for Top Two Nonpartisan Primaries – (Jesse Crosson)

Part III: Future Directions and Alternative Reforms

11. The Overlooked Role of Political Parties in Electoral Reform: – (Hans Noel)
12. Primary Elections, Voting Reform, and Election Administration – (Michael Ritter and Caroline Tolbert)
13. Optimizing Nonpartisan Primaries with Ranked Choice Voting and Proportional Representation – (Deb Otis and Rachel Hutchinson)
14. A Constitutional Perspective on American Primary Elections – (Derek Monson)
15. Maximum Convergence Voting: Madisonian Constitutional Theory and Electoral System Design – (Edward Foley)
16. What a National Primary Day Would Look Like, and How we Might get There – (Robert G. Boatright and Caroline Tolbert)