Some states in the US have “open primaries”, in which anyone—even members of a rival political party—can vote to select a party’s electoral candidates. In Utah, for instance, there is a concern that right-wing activists will try to manipulate the Democratic primary in favour of the candidate they consider the weakest. But:
So-called tactical voting in open primaries, here and elsewhere, is a perennial possibility that mostly fizzles come Election Day, voting experts say.
¶ Even if sabotage is uncommon, open primaries can lead to unusual results:
Around the state, Democratic activists were facing the smacking electoral truth that a non-campaigning, unemployed, black, country-living, coo-coo-for-Cocoa-Puffs nobody who’d been kicked out of the Army and was currently facing federal sex charges had just beaten — in the Democratic primary, and by 17 percentage points — a well-known former legislator, judge and current Charleston County councilman who’d raised a quarter of a million bucks for the race and for months been campaigning his ass off.
Australia’s system of closed preselections and factional stitch-ups certainly has its problems, but as Alvin Greene shows, it could be worse. [via]