• absentbird@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Each state and party runs their own, so I guess it depends. In Washington State we made the primary election run the same as the general: there’s a list of candidates with party affiliations, and the two with the most votes progress to the general in November.

      • absentbird@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        There’s 50 states, and they don’t all do it the same way. Each state has 2 senators, 1-52 representatives, etc. Then there’s national elections where a small pool of candidates is voted on by the entire country, but which names appear on which ballots and how depends on the county you’re voting in.

          • absentbird@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            No, you were just very confused and it’s a lot of assumptions to rethink.

            Each county runs their own elections. It’s not obfuscated, it’s federated.

              • absentbird@lemmy.world
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                2 days ago

                Centralized elections are often much more obfuscated and less transparent. Federated elections are more resistant to corruption and less confusing for voters.

                I know the exact process of my county’s voting system, I can meet with the people involved and have conversations with them. It’s a human-level system with paper records and secure processes.

                Replacing that with a top-down national voting system would not reduce obfuscation in any way.

                • BanMeFromPosting@lemmy.ml
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                  2 days ago

                  The discussion was on wether or not the elections were obfuscated, which they are. You are now trying to move the goalposts on to a discussion of the merit of obfuscation, because you can’t make your brain work well enough to cede a point.

                  • absentbird@lemmy.world
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                    2 days ago

                    The core issue is the system itself: first past the post voting necessitates two parties for decisive votes, and any method to arrive at that outcome is going to be hostile to nuance.

                    Though I would argue that the process of choosing a super powerful leader through popular vote is a bit weird to begin with.

                    There are a lot of things about American politics that need correcting, but the federated election process is not one of them. It’s a good thing, and it isn’t obfuscation. If you want to keep saying it is you’re going to have to explain it clearly.