The Pros and Cons of Open Primaries and Ranked Choice Voting
Do open primaries and ranked-choice voting have the potential to improve American elections, or will they create more problems than they solve?
Kevin Meyer, former lieutenant governor of Alaska, 2018-2022; Steve Goldstein, executive director of Save Democracy; and Jaime Molera, former Arizona superintendent of public instruction join the O'Connor Institute Civics for Life webcast to discuss the issue.
Featured Panelists
KEVIN MEYER
Lieutenant Governor of Alaska
(2018-2022)
Mr. Meyer served as Alaska Senate President in 2015-2016 and was elected as Lt. Governor in 2018. As the Lieutenant Governor of Alaska, he served on numerous boards and committees including the National Lt. Governors Association Policy Resolution Committee and National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) Elections Committee.
In November 2020, during the term of Lt. Gov. Meyer, Alaska voters decided whether to adopt Ballot Measure 2, Ranked Choice Voting, which placed all the candidates for a particular statewide office into one primary election. The top four vote-getters from the primary election then advance to the general election. In the general election, voters can pick one candidate or can rank their preferred choices from one through four. He was also in office during the November 2022 election when Ballot Measure 2 was implemented.
STEVE GOLDSTEIN
Executive Director Save Democracy
Representing the “Pro” Point of View
Mr. Goldstein spent much of his 25-year career delivering news as a host and reporter for Phoenix’s NPR station KJZZ, where he was a driving force behind the outlet’s coverage of politics, elections, and public policy. Saving Democracy Arizona is a coalition of Arizona citizens to examine the state’s primary election structure and explore alternative nonpartisan voting systems.
JAIME MOLERA
Co-Founder and Partner Molera Alvarez
Representing the “Con” Point of View
Mr. Molera served as the 18th Superintendent of Public Instruction for Arizona. Raised in the border town of Nogales, Arizona, he served as the education adviser and chief of policy for Arizona Governor Jane Dee Hull. Mr. Molera is now a partner with Molera Alvarez, a government affairs and policy development firm. He was named “One of the 50 Most Influential Leaders in Arizona” by the Phoenix Business Journal.
Want more? We have a Q&A with the Honorable Kevin Meyer that looks at "Does Ranked Choice Voting Help or Hinder Elections?" and go deeper into this topic.
Moderator
Liam Julian
Liam Julian is director of public policy for the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute for American Democracy. He was previously managing editor of Policy Review magazine in Washington, D.C. His writing and commentary on public policy topics has appeared in a variety of publications such as The Washington Post, The Atlantic, City Journal, and National Review and on programs such as NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Mr. Julian also spent time working with the College Board, where he oversaw development of Advanced Placement curricula, including the redesign of the AP U.S. Government and Politics course. From 2006 to 2013, he was a Hoover Institution research fellow at Stanford University.