Which election law change was most boneheaded?
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  Which election law change was most boneheaded?
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Question: See title
#1
Georgia runoff changes
 
#2
Massachusetts U.S. Senate appointment changes
 
#3
Minnesota candidate death/removal - election postponement
 
#4
Other (please post)
 
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Author Topic: Which election law change was most boneheaded?  (Read 780 times)
Mr. Matt
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« on: September 26, 2020, 05:28:07 PM »

  • In Georgia, after the 1992 Senate election where incumbent Democrat Wyche Fowler lost a runoff with Republican Paul Coverdell, the Dems in the legislature changed the law only requiring a runoff if the winner had less than 45%. Max Cleland won his race in 1996 with only 48.9% of the vote. Then after Republicans got the legislature in 2005, they changed it back to 50%. link
  • In Massachusetts, the Dem legislature didn't want Mittens picking John Kerry's replacement if he won the Presidency so they changed the law to just make the Senate seat vacant until a special election. Obviously Kerry didn't win and then their law almost screwed them in 2009 when Ted Kennedy was dying. They rushed to change the law back to a gubernatorial appointment just before he died. Now that Charlie Baker is governor and if Elizabeth Warren is chosen to be in a Biden cabinet, the law might be changing again. link
  • Minnesota's laws regarding a death or withdrawal of a candidate before the general election were changed after the death of Sen. Paul Wellstone in 2002 (and probably also indirectly because of Jon Grunseth in 1990). If a "major party candidate" dies/withdraws, the regular general election is voided and a special election would be held afterwards. This of course brings us to today in MN-2 where a single-issue pro-marijuana candidate (and potential GOP plant) died suddenly, the seat may be vacant at the start of the new Congress, and incumbent Democrat Angie Craig may have to run in a low-turnout special election though she may have already won the voided general election through no fault of her own. link


If you have another example, please post it.
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Mexican Wolf
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« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2020, 06:52:23 PM »

When Scott Walker planned to apply for a recount in the 2018 Wisconsin governor's election after losing by 1.1%, only to realize that he couldn't due to a law he signed saying the losing margin had to be less than 1%.
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Battista Minola 1616
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« Reply #2 on: September 26, 2020, 07:43:15 PM »

Literally all Italian ones in the last thirty years.

1993
75% majoritarian and 25% proportional for no reason at all. No actually the reason was to force bipolarism upon people without totally scrapping the proportional.
The proportional part was closed lists for the Chamber of Deputies. For the Senate it was literally giving seats to the best losers in the region.
Ah and there was this magical thing called scorporo which basically meant that majoritarian candidates were linked to proportional lists and when you won your constituency your votes got subtracted from your list's proportional tally and it was just hilariously minoritarian until politicians got smarter and in 2001 both the left and the right just linked all their majoritarian candidates to fake lists to shift the scorporo burden on the fake lists.
After that it was decided to make a new law.

2005
100% proportional but had much bigger problems.
Literally if your coalition took 26% of the votes and the other coalition took 25% of the votes, you were automatically guaranteed 55% of the seats. However only in the Chamber of Deputies because in the Senate it worked on a regional basis (which tended to neutralize the effect if different coalitions won different regions).
Also closed lists, again.
In the end it was declared unconstitutional lol.

2017
37% majoritarian and 63% proportional for no reason at all. No actually the reason is that the Senate has half the seats of the Chamber of Deputies and they thought recycling the 1993 Senate map for the 2017 Chamber was a clever idea saving a lot of work to lawmakers.
The proportional part is closed lists. You can't even make panachage. Choice level = 0.
Hilarious gerrymandering in the Senate (really, look at the Emilia-Romagna map, it doesn't make any sense).
This is going to end soon since too bad we have just cut the number of Deputies and Senators - because we are stupid Smiley Smiley Smiley - and this is now obsolete.
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Former President tack50
tack50
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« Reply #3 on: September 28, 2020, 11:55:30 AM »


Honestly looking at that list Italy should probably just go back to the First Republic laws? (which were iirc just straight PR?)

Alternatively maybe just have straight national PR for the Congress and some form of regional PR for the Senate?
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Battista Minola 1616
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« Reply #4 on: September 28, 2020, 12:05:01 PM »


Honestly looking at that list Italy should probably just go back to the First Republic laws? (which were iirc just straight PR?)

Alternatively maybe just have straight national PR for the Congress and some form of regional PR for the Senate?

Chamber of Deputies*

Well the First Party System laws *were* pretty much national PR for the Chamber and regional PR for the Senate. It's written in the Constitution that Senators must be elected on a regional basis.
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Orser67
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« Reply #5 on: September 28, 2020, 01:54:55 PM »

In terms of own-goals, Walker's recount law sounds like the winner, although honestly I'm not sure how how warranted a recount is when one candidate wins by >10k votes (Evers won by ~30k votes in 2018).

But in terms of fairness, the MN law is absolutely ridiculous. Even putting aside that it may cost Democrats a House seat, the law is extremely unfair to both major party candidates, to the people of that district who will unnecessarily go without representation, and to the taxpayers who have to finance an unnecessary election.

Also, it's not a recent change, but while we're talking about terrible election laws, I'd like to throw in a mention for MS's absolutely awful quasi-electoral college system for statewide elections.
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lfromnj
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« Reply #6 on: September 28, 2020, 02:04:42 PM »

When Scott Walker planned to apply for a recount in the 2018 Wisconsin governor's election after losing by 1.1%, only to realize that he couldn't due to a law he signed saying the losing margin had to be less than 1%.

Did he? I mean it doesn't matter because no way a 1.1% margin gets overturned on a recount.
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Mexican Wolf
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« Reply #7 on: September 28, 2020, 06:58:30 PM »
« Edited: September 28, 2020, 07:04:39 PM by Mexican Wolf »

When Scott Walker planned to apply for a recount in the 2018 Wisconsin governor's election after losing by 1.1%, only to realize that he couldn't due to a law he signed saying the losing margin had to be less than 1%.

Did he? I mean it doesn't matter because no way a 1.1% margin gets overturned on a recount.

Rebecca Kleefisch told supporters at a Walker rally in the early morning of the 7th to prepare for a recount because the race was too close to call. The Milwaukee absentee ballots were still being counted at the time, and once they were tabulated, the margin became too wide to allow for a recount under the new law.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/11/07/wisconsin-elections-republicans-tightened-recount-law-2016/1918417002/

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/11/07/scott-walker-eyes-damaged-absentee-ballots-recount-decision/1918944002/

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bethbaumann/2018/11/07/wi-gov-it-may-all-come-down-to-a-recount-n2535465
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lfromnj
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« Reply #8 on: September 28, 2020, 07:03:27 PM »

When Scott Walker planned to apply for a recount in the 2018 Wisconsin governor's election after losing by 1.1%, only to realize that he couldn't due to a law he signed saying the losing margin had to be less than 1%.

Did he? I mean it doesn't matter because no way a 1.1% margin gets overturned on a recount.

Rebecca Kleefisch told supporters at a Walker rally in the early morning of the 7th to prepare for a recount because the race was too close to call. The Milwaukee absentee ballots were still being counted at the time, and once they were tabulated, the margin became too wide to allow for a recount under the new law.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/11/07/wisconsin-elections-republicans-tightened-recount-law-2016/1918417002/

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/11/07/scott-walker-eyes-damaged-absentee-ballots-recount-decision/1918944002/

Ah it wasn't really a self own. It wouldn't have really helped to recount there as it would have still gone to Evers. Seems like a reasonably good common- sense law for statewide races.
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Sestak
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« Reply #9 on: September 28, 2020, 08:25:43 PM »

the Massachusetts one is not boneheaded at all if they were confident they'd always have the majority to change it back and forth whenever necessary.
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« Reply #10 on: September 28, 2020, 08:38:32 PM »

One can make an honest case for both versions of the GA and MA laws. The current MN law is f#cking retarded.

Also, not sure why MA Dems don't just do what WY Pubs did and require that Senate vacancies be filled by pre-approved members of the same party as their predecessor.
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