PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Republican state Sen. Frank Farry of Bucks County is planning to introduce legislation that would tweak primary elections in the hopes of easing voter dissatisfaction while putting the best candidates into the general election.
Currently, a candidate can win with far less than 50% of the vote.
“When you have candidates winning with 30-some percent of the vote in the primary, to me, that’s not a resounding gust of wind behind you heading into November,” Farry argued.
Under his plan, if no candidate in a primary breaks 50% of the vote, there would be a runoff between the candidates who finished first and second.
“If they had voted or supported the person that finished third or fourth or fifth, they have an opportunity to reexamine it,” he said. “Now that choice is between the people that finish one and two, and they can determine which one they want to be behind.
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“Hopefully, that gives the voters themselves the best choice between two candidates, because at least a majority of each party sent their nominee to the election in the fall.”
He adds a primary runoff may help voters feel less dissatisfaction with election results, especially in areas that have a heavy Republican or Democratic majority, where the winner of the primary is either unchallenged or a heavy favorite to win in the general election.
Farry is co-sponsoring the bill with state Sen. Ryan Aument of Lancaster.
The legislation would only apply to primaries in federal or statewide races. Ten other states have a similar law.