Run-off primary election
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A Run-off primary election is an election in which all candidates for the office appear on one ballot and if any candidate receives a majority of the votes, he/she is elected to that office. If no candidate received a majority in the primary, the top two finishers would compete in a run-off election. This style of elections is used in the U.S. State of Louisiana.
Louisiana adopted this system of election in 1975 on the recommendation of Governor Edwin Edwards. Some analysts feel that Edwards advocated the system to make it easier for himself to be elected to office. Edwards had been elected in 1972 after going though a Democratic Party primary, a run-off of that primary, and a general election. His Republican Party opponent David Treen had, by contrast, been unopposed in his party's primary.
Louisiana adopted the system for Congressional elections in 1978, holding the primary in October and the run-off in November. This system was held to be in violation of federal law in 1997 by the Supreme Court in its Foster v. Love decision. After the decision, Louisiana moved the Congressional primary date to November and the run-off to December. In May 2005, Louisiana passed a law moving the primary back to October, with provisions intended to follow federal law. Experts are skeptical on if this change will be allowed.
Most people in Louisiana support the system but occasionally there are proposals to return to the traditional first past the post system.
The main arguments against this system include
- It favors incumbents, who usually win a majority of the vote in the primary. [citation needed]
- It can benefit 'fringe' candidates (such as David Duke) who may finish second in the primary.
An example of the Louisiana system in action:
| Primary Election | Runoff Election |
| October 19, 1991 | November 16, 1991 |
| Edwin Edwards (D) - 523,096 (33.8%) | Edwin Edwards (D) - 1,057,031 (61.2%) |
| David Duke (R) - 491,342 (31.7%) | David Duke (R) - 671,009 (38.8%) |
| Buddy Roemer (R) - 410,690 (26.5%) | |
| Clyde Holloway (R) - 82,683 (5.3%) | |
| Sam Jones (D) - 11,847 (0.8%) | |
| Ed Karst (D) - 9,663 (0.6%) | |
| Fred Dent (D) - 7,835 (0.5%) | |
| Anne Thompson (R) - 4,118 (0.3%) | |
| Jim Crowley (D) - 4,000 (0.3%) | |
| Albert Henderson Powell (D) - 2,053 (0.1%) | |
| Ronnie Glynn Johnson (D) - 1,372 (0.1%) | |
| Ken "Cousin Ken" Lewis (D) - 1,006 (0.1%) |
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