They Can Only “Win” by Cheating …

Editorial by Ten Bears at Homeless on the High Desert. Ten Bears is reviewing the politics or the changing of the rules in Montana for the 2024 Senatorial Election. And changing the rules only for 2024. Sounds almost like Wisconsin plans to impeach a newly elect Supreme Cour Justice.

They Can Only “Win” by Cheating . . . , Homeless on the High Desert, Ten Bears, g’da says . . .

Daily Chaos: Republicans in the Montana state Senate on Tuesday evening passed a bill to change the rules for the 2024 U.S. Senate election―and only the 2024 U.S. Senate election―in a move Democrats blasted as a “partisan power grab” aimed at weakening Democratic incumbent Jon Tester in a tough state. The proposed legislation would do away with partisan primaries and instead require all the candidates to compete on one ballot. The top-two vote-getters would be advancing to next year’s general election, and there’s little question that neither of them would be an independent or belong to a third party.

State Sen. Greg Hertz, a Republican who sponsored the legislation, insisted he was trying to put this top-two primary system, which is already in use in California and Washington state, in place because “​​[w]e want to make sure that the winning U.S. senator has more than 50% of the supporting people in Montana.” He also defended the decision to put this in place for just one race in just one year, saying that he was picking the U.S. Senate race for a top-two “test run” because of the power of the office and its six-year term.

Critics argued this was no more than a scheme to weaken Tester, and Tester only, in a state where Republicans frequently complain that Libertarian Party candidates cost them vital support. The senator himself won his 2006 contest by unseating Republican incumbent Conrad Burns with a 49-48 plurality, and he defended his seat six years later by pulling off a 49-45 victory in another race where a Libertarian claimed the balance. Tester won reelection in 2018 with a 50-47 majority against Republican Matt Rosendale, who may challenge him again this cycle, with the rest once again going to the Libertarians.  

The top-two bill passed the state Senate Tuesday in a 27-23 vote, with all 16 Democrats and seven Republicans in the negative. (The chamber the same night also voted to ban instant-runoff voting, which is not in use in Montana.) The legislation must still be approved by the state House, where the GOP enjoys a 68-32 edge, before it could go to Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte. It’s possible that there would be a legal challenge should this become law, and election law professor Quinn Yeargain thinks there may be an argument that the proposal is unconstitutional. /”

Used to be a nice place to live, now it’s another shithole like Oregon, Idaho