Is there a lore reason why American elections are so convoluted? (lemm.ee)

submitted 9 months ago by tombruzzo@lemm.ee to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net

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Are they stupid?

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[-] Mardoniush@hexbear.net 5 points 9 months ago

The idea that primaries are open to the general public and not just paid up party members (or, even internal selection committees with only indirect accountability to the rank and file members) is wild. The US doesn't have political parties in the real sense that other countries do, unless of course the "Wrong" candidate gets voted in.

[-] InevitableSwing@hexbear.net 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Due to federalism - each state is different. Some have open primaries and some don't. Iowa doesn't even have a primary. They have a caucus. It's not open - each party has its own thing. It's... Haha - it's too hard for me to explain.

Explainer: How the Iowa caucuses work - YouTube

What's not explained is there's a lot of yelling in the gym to try to get people to go from one candidate's "team" to another. It's a pretty silly thing to do in the era of the internet for a nation of 340 million people. Also - Iowa and New Hampshire have very small populations and they are far from being demographically representative. They are very white states.