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  • Democratic primary
  • Republican primary
  • Public opinion survey
  • Statewide Survey Results
    Click here for the results of a statewide poll of 1100
    respondents on their first-choices and second-choices
    in the Senate primary as well as their support for
    casting a second-choice in elections.

     

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    Email: ElectionInternship@yahoo.com

    problems with primaries?


    This project on Illinois primaries is focused on the plurality rule: the candidate who earns the most votes wins the election, with no need to secure a majority of the vote. This simple, traditional rule has a profound effect on elections and government, especially in multi-candidate races.

    This year, there are seven candidates running in each party’s primary for the U.S. Senate nomination. Odds are, the winner will earn between 30 and 40 percent of the vote, which means between 60 and 70 percent of the voters wanted another candidate. Could the ‘wrong’ candidate win the election because the majority of voters spread out their votes among several similar candidates? Should voters have the ability to choose a first-choice and a second-choice among the candidates? Should a candidate have to earn more than 50% of the vote in order to win?

    Please participate in this statewide discussion on plurality primaries in Illinois and potential improvements to our elections.

    The site includes results from a two scientific statewide telephone surveys (coming in early March), an opportunity for visitors to answer the telephone survey online, two online polls for the Senate primaries that allow visitors to rank the candidates, results of previous Illinois primaries where the winner earned less than a majority of the vote, examples of other polls from multi-candidate races that queried second choices, explanations of how different voting systems like instant runoff voting work and ways to get involved. The site is sponsored by the Center for Voting and Democracy and the Midwest Democracy Center.

    © Copyright 2004 Primary Poll.