Are primaries democratic? Should they be?

[Motorcity]

1) Some of them are caucuses, which are actively antidemocratic in these ways:

   1a) Public balloting, meaning intimidation is a factor

   1b) Severe time commitment, disenfranchising people who can't afford to make it out
         to a high school gymnasium for a few hours on a weeknight

2) Some states vote late, meaning they aren't afforded the same breadth of choice of
    candidates as the early states, since some have dropped out by then

1. You are also forgetting public transportation. Small towns do not have buses. How does someone who live in public housing with no car get to the high school gymnasium?


2. Yeah, a big argument back in 2016 was that the primary was basically over by June yet the largest state had no impact.

[Motorcity]

Ideally, both parties should have open primaries with ranked choice voting in every contest and have the order of the contests change every election cycle. This would increase participation in primary elections and make it less likely for a candidate to win the nomination based off plurality support in the party or a couple of wins in unrepresentative early states.

I agree, but have all states vote on the same day. In this day and age, we aren't going to get another Jimmy Carter. A nobody who rents a motel room with pocket money and wins the state by going door to door.