Would you prefer if there were a primary today to choose the Senate candidate...

[Eric J in MN]

...instead of delegates to the DFL State Convention choosing the candidate?

[loveable liberal]

1. primary please.

[dflprincess]

2. Only if we had party registration and closed primaries in Minnesota

I wouldn't want Republicans crossing over to help pick the DFL candidate.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. I echo that sentiment

Open primaries are open to abuse as the parties try to get each other's weakest candidate in.

[question everything]

6. Same here

Caucuses disenfranchise voters who, for whatever reason cannot get away for several hours at a cold winter night in Minnesota.

And I agree with them being closed. Sure, voters can change their registration but at least they will vote as Democrats. And primaries for all offices, please, including the presidential ones.

[Eric J in MN]

4. How do you stop a Republican from registering as DFL...

...if we tried to have a closed primary?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. You couldn't stop them, but most wouldn't bother

any more than you can stop them from attending caucuses.

In Oregon, you register by party (we don't here), and under the vote-by-mail system, they send you the ballot for the party you're registered for. Before vote-by-mail, we were still registered by party. Our affiliation was listed on the precinct roster, so when we walked into the polling place, the poll worker handed us a ballot from the party we were registered for.

I never heard of any significant cross-over voting in primaries. Once they were registered, it was too much of a hassle for most people to change their party affiliation.

[lavndrblue]

7. Yes

I believe Jack would win in a primary. There are too many special interest groups that force delgates to vote as endorsed. What happened to the party of 'one voice, one vote'?