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Intent
To elect candidates with strong popular support for a single-seat position.
Proposal
A single-seat election is an election for a government office held by a single person.
A primary election is held to determine the candidates who will be considered in the final election. Any person who meets the eligibility requirements for the position may submit their candidacy for the primary election. The primary election is a plurality, ranked choice, ranked pairs, or tournament vote for the most preferred candidates. The top five candidates are presented to voters in the final election.
The final election may use ranked choice or instant-runoff, ranked pairs, tournament (Condorcet), plurality, or any other suitable method preferred by the voters or established by law.
The candidate with the most votes in the final election earns the position.
Discussion
A single-seat position can be in any branch and level of government.
Examples in local government: mayor, sheriff.
Examples in regional government: county supervisor, county clerk.
Examples in state government: governor, secretary of state, attorney general.
Examples in federal government: president, chief investigator, chief justice, speaker of the house of representatives.
In a single-seat election, the candidate with the most votes earns the seat. Because there can be more than two candidates in a final election, receiving the most votes of any candidate is not necessarily a majority of all the votes of the constituents. For example one candidate may receive 35% of the vote, one may receive 25%, one may receive 20%, one may receive 15%, and one may receive 5% of the vote. The candidate with the most votes is the one who received 35% of the vote. However, 35% is not a majority of all voters.
The primary elections referenced here should not be confused with “party primaries” which a political party may hold internally to determine who that political party will endorse in the general election. This proposal is for general elections involving the entire population of registered voters within a government’s boundary.
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