OPINION:
As third in line to be president, the speaker of the House of Representatives is too important a role to be determined by the majority party trading favors. Let’s return elections for executives to the people, not politicians.
The states should have open elections in the primaries to allow for a better choice of candidates. All state voters should be allowed to cast a vote for a good candidate in any party they choose.
The final vote for president should be “rank choice” with four choices submitted by each state. It is unlikely that a president would be chosen first with two-thirds of the states on initial ballot, but it’s more important to get someone acceptable to the majority.
The candidates should be ranked by points received: four points for first, three for second, two for third and one for fourth. The rankings below the top four should be reduced by eliminating 50% from further consideration.
The remaining list of candidates should then be sent back to the entities to be updated, if an entity had any candidates eliminated. They could then nominate an updated list of candidates. This should be continued until a consensus is reached, with all entities agreeing on the top four candidates.
After the four candidates are ranked, the one with the fewest points should be eliminated if no consensus is reached. Then the entities should rank the final three. If there’s no consensus after that, they should rerank by adding the first and second selections.
The president is the highest-ranking. The vice president is the second-highest, and third is speaker of the House. Now you have your new executives.
JAMES HILL
Welcome, Maryland
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