• @FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    You had a primary with no challengers.

    Is this your first time voting? The same thing happens every election year in down ballot races. If you don’t like the candidate, you can always write-in vote.

    • knightly the Sneptaur
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      12 months ago

      You had a primary with no challengers.

      I.e., not a primary at all.

      Is this your first time voting? The same thing happens in down ballot races in every election.

      This isn’t a downballot position, but even if it was, the lack of choice would still render the primary moot.

      If you don’t like the candidate, you can always write-in vote.

      I did.

      “Uncommitted” was very popular in my state. I hope they win.

      • @FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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        02 months ago

        If you voted uncommitted or write-in then congratulations, you voted in a primary. Which means there was a primary.

        • knightly the Sneptaur
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          12 months ago

          If there wasn’t any competition then it wasn’t a primary, it was a formality.

          • @FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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            02 months ago

            If there isn’t any competition, then it’s a noncompetitive election. It’s still an election. In fact, it’s the most common type of election.

            • knightly the Sneptaur
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              22 months ago

              I.e., not an election at all.

              You can stop pretending like the party’s failure to provide any choice is evidence of Democracy in action. Quite the opposite, in fact.

              • @FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                What makes you think the party is responsible for providing choices?

                Consumerist thinking at its finest. But the DNC isn’t a restaurant or Costco. They don’t exist to provide choices, that’s up to volunteers. The DNC is just there to crown the winner.

                So if nobody steps up and volunteers to challenge an incumbent, then nobody will challenge the incumbent.

                • knightly the Sneptaur
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                  22 months ago

                  What makes you think the party is responsible for providing choices?

                  That’s what parties exist for, to align political candidates that they might support each other. Going into a general election without a primary to test the candidates only ensures an untested vandidate will be on the ballot.

                  Consumerist thinking at its finest. But the DNC isn’t a restaurant or Costco. They don’t exist to provide choices, that’s up to volunteers. The DNC is just there to crown the winner.

                  “The DNC is just there to crown the winner.”

                  You can’t be a winner if there is no contest. The coronation of “presumptive candidates” (presumed, specifically, by party leadership) is exactly what lost the election in 2016.

                  So if nobody steps up and volunteers to challenge an incumbent, then nobody will challenge the incumbent.

                  And thus, the party is disqualified from claiming that it is the party of democracy.

                  • @FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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                    2 months ago

                    The party exists to support their candidate in the general.

                    The party doesn’t care, at all, whether the primary is competitive. In fact, until recently parties often held caucuses instead of primaries, or just selected candidates in smoke-filled rooms.

                    You can’t be a winner if there is no contest

                    This year there will be plenty of local candidates who will run opposed in the general election. If those races have no winners, then who will fill those offices?