A model to fix Illinois’ broken primary system

On Tuesday, a small number of people in Illinois will head to the polls to determine the party nominees for November’s general election. If history and current projections are any guide, we are looking at a turnout that would be considered a crisis in any other healthy democracy. Yet, in Illinois, we call it primary election day.

As millions of dollars flood our airwaves and mailboxes, the target isn’t the average citizen or swing voter — it’s the “reliable” Democratic primary voter. Only 19% of Illinois registered voters went to the polls for the 2024 primary. This trend holds nationally; only 21.3% of eligible voters participated in the 2022 primary.

Democratic candidates in Illinois and their consultants invest staggering sums of money to target those reliable Democratic primary voters, knowing that whoever wins Tuesday in this “blue” state will easily win in November when the main election, in name only, takes place. Every candidate knows what the voters often miss: that the action is in March, not November.

The current partisan primary system is a gatekeeper that deprives voters of meaningful choices in the general election. It incentivizes candidates to play to the furthest edges of their base and inevitably devolves into personality fights and negative campaigning, leaving the exhausted majority of voters to choose between two pre-selected options in November.

In 2024, effectively 87% of seats in the House of Representatives were decided in the primary, and were “safe” in the general election, according to a report in U.S. News & World Report. For those of us in the thick of Democratic politics, this high-cost, low-participation churn has become the “new normal,” but we should not accept this distortion of democracy as acceptable.

There is a better way: the Alaska model.

In 2020, Alaska moved to a nonpartisan “Top Four” primary. There are no separate Democratic or Republican ballots. Every candidate — regardless of party — appears on a single ballot available to every voter. The top four finishers move on to the general election, where voters use ranked choice voting to ensure the winner has true majority support.

The results in Alaska have been a revelation:

• Wider participation: Voters aren’t forced to join a party just to have a say. In their first cycle under this model, Alaska saw a massive increase in “meaningful votes”— ballots cast in truly competitive elections. They elected more women, created a bipartisan governing coalition and had the most productive legislative session in recent memory, according to Unite America Institute.
• Reduced polarization: When you need to be one of the top four, and eventually need second-choice votes to win, you can’t afford to alienate half the electorate. Negative campaigning largely goes away, candidates appeal to voters on issues, and coalitions begin to form. Serious people are elevated; performative politicians cap out.
• Appeal to the majority: Right now, we spend an absurd amount of money to win a very targeted few votes because the system is designed for niche targeting among reliable Democratic primary voters. A nonpartisan primary forces capital to compete for a broader, more representative audience, including the 41% of Illinois voters who identify as independents (versus 39% Democrats, 20% Republicans). Nationally, the number of voters identifying as independent is higher among military veterans (55%) and younger voters (56%).

We are currently sleepwalking through a process that degrades our democracy by exclusion. We’ve accepted a system where the “primary” is the only election that matters, yet it’s the one where the fewest people have a voice.

Illinois doesn’t have to stay stuck in this cycle of expensive apathy. By adopting the Alaska model, we can move toward a system where every vote is a meaningful one, and where our representatives are accountable to the many, not the few.

Todd Connor is co-founder of Veterans for All Voters, a national grassroots organization advocating for political reforms to depolarize politics and expand democratic participation. He previously founded Bunker Labs and The Collective Academy, and he teaches social impact at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.