Team: Allegheny College
Advisor: Nina Kasniunas
Team Name: NominGators
Students: Stephanie Albert, Trevor Filipiak, Brett Fuchs, Elizabeth Kozub, Ray Srp
Reform Idea: Our proposal is for a five-region primary system. There will be an approximate total of 87 delegates to be won in each region, and one delegate won per congressional district. Two extra delegates are earned for winning a state's popular vote. The regional primaries will be held 14 days apart and always on Saturdays. The same system will be in place for both parties and all primaries will be open.
NominGator PowerPoint Presentation
Team: Allegheny College
Team Leader: Jackie Conrad (student)
Students: Chris Seeley, Cat Van Wagner, Wyatt Schroder, Jeff Youngs
Reform Idea: Our plan is to divide the country into five equal regions. Over a span of 10 weeks, the number of primaries will increase each week, creating a "snowball" effect. Our plan also includes reforming voting logistics and methods to attempt to increase voter turnout. This includes mandating same-day registration, open primaries for all 50 states, mail-in voting options, outlawing super-delegates and outlawing the "unit-rule".
Allegheny Team #2 PowerPoint Presentation
Team: Case Western Reserve University
Advisor: Alexander P. Lamis
Students: Lonnie Brown, Bill Egar, Geoff Kunkler, Kayla Wheeler
Reform Idea: It is necessary to develop and adhere to a strict set of rules regarding the American primary system. Those rules ought to: seek to back-load the primaries; establish a system which rotates the order of the states; and ensure that each party's nominee is not determined until near the end of the primary season. This system would both provide equity and also encourage participation by a wide array of voters, including younger generations.
Team: Chatham College
Advisor: Brian Calfano
Chatham Team #1
Students: Jenn Hollern, Sam Hunt, Maggie Leathers, Katie Mika, Brenn Scott, Mauritza Strong
Reform Idea: We examine various possibilities for reform, including a wholesale reconstruction of campaign finance laws governing contributions, and the development of regional primaries. We believe that both sets of changes will facilitate a nomination process that is more transparent and representative of the democratic ideal.
Team: Chatham College
Advisor: Brian Calfano
Chatham Team #2
Students: Alexandra Isaacs, Sophia Halasowski, Johanna Jackson, Caitlin Nagelson, Gulrukhsor Sharipova, Ellen White
Reform Idea: Our concern is with the role the media plays in shaping public perception of front runner status and candidate viability in the nomination process. We contend that voting decisions are often made in the absence of quality deliberation because broadcast and electronic media emphasize visual attractiveness over policy substance.
Team: Cleveland State University
Advisor: Justin Vaughn
Cleveland State University Team #1
Students: Jen Crump, Rob Duckworth, Dan Turner, Rob Zeller
Reform Idea: Our reform idea will be called Ordered Population Voting (OPV). OPV consists of four set primaries in two months from April to June and will each be held on a Saturday. The four groups will be ordered from smallest to largest states reflecting their population. Finally, the winner-take-all system will be thrown out so that each state will have proportional voting system calculated state-wide.
Cleveland State University Team #1 PowerPoint Presentation
Team: Cleveland State University
Advisor: Justin Vaughn
Cleveland State University Team #2
Students: Spence Hall, Liliana Gershenovich, Reid May, Ken Miller, Steven Rys, John Sawczak
Reform Idea: We propose that the states' primaries or caucuses be grouped into seven roughly equal and geographically contiguous clusters that will hold their primaries together at three-week intervals. We base the sequencing of clusters on a random lottery. Within each cluster, one of the four smallest states selected on a rotating basis will lead off the set of primaries by one week, thus giving each region one state for "retail politics."
Cleveland State University Team #2 PowerPoint Presentation
Team: Edinboro University of Pennsylvania
Advisor: Julie Stainbrook
Team Name: Nomination Reform Marketing Team
Students: Christian Hurst, Brandon Kent, Toni Malena, Shannon Phillips, Thomas Roberts
Reform Idea: Our plan would first engage young people with a series of posters or ads dramatizing the problem and encouraging action. Interest and education precedes action.
Our idea would involve four geographic regions of similar delegate power, with the dates of their primaries or caucuses determined by a lottery. Two small states, also selected by lottery, would replace Iowa and New Hampshire as the guaranteed lead-off states, allowing less known or funded candidates a chance to gain momentum.
Edinboro University of Pennsylvania PowerPoint Presentation
Team: Grove City College
Advisor: Michael Coulter
Team Name: Team Publius
Students: David Hanson, Anthony Maneiro, Jared Walczak, Caleb Weirz
Reform Idea: Major changes are both unwise and politically unviable. Certain adjustments, however, could improve the nomination process. Firstly, states with closed primaries should be encouraged to hold semi-open primaries, which favor increased youth turnout. Secondly, national parties should employ incentives at their disposal, including the allocation of additional delegates as a reward for cooperation, to streamline the primary calendar. Finally, parties should penalize states holding preference primaries, which diminish interest and confidence in the political process.
Grove City College PowerPoint Presentation
Team: Hiram College
Hiram College Team #1
Students: Sean Callahan, Chris Hostetler, Dantavious Jarrels, Lauren LeBlanc, Wiley Runnestand, Doug Stark, James Stubbins
Reform Idea: Super-Delegates: We propose a way of making the super-delegates more responsible to the people while still providing necessary oversight in case of a populist candidate that is truly unqualified. This process would help simplify elections and also make the super-delegate system more transparent to the public. Our plan would also provide another battleground for candidates to compete in, to show their prowess.
Hiram College Team #1 PowerPoint Presentation
Team: Hiram College
Hiram College Team #2
Students: Anna Harris, Beth Henderson, Bryana Loretz, Eddie McGlynn, Aurelia Nugroho, David Pritts, Jared Wolschlager
Reform Idea: No State Left Behind: Voters in states that hold their primaries or caucuses late in the season often complain their vote doesn't matter and, essentially, it doesn't. If the race has already been narrowed to just a few candidates, the states in the later part of the season did not have the opportunity to voice an opinion for a candidate they really believed in but who got eliminated. Also, though it did not happen this year, SuperTuesday could clinch the nomination for a candidate, making all contests afterward unimportant. However, the process of drawing out the nomination process instead of having a national primary date is beneficial for numerous reasons: The horse race between candidates and the media hype it generates makes people excited; voters hear about the candidates and the issues for a long time and hopefully become passionate about a certain candidate. A drawn out process allows voters to really get a feel for who they're voting for and gives them more time to investigate platforms. Our proposal involves holding five SuperTuesday type events. The fifty states should be broken into clusters--depending on size and region-- and each cluster should hold their primaries/caucuses on one of five Tuesday voting days that would be two weeks apart. The media hype and excitement would still be strong because every group would matter. The big states wouldn't come first and leave a few more states to trickle in; instead, the campaign would have to go until the very end because a large cluster of votes would still be up for grabs with the last group.
Hiram College Team #2 PowerPoint Presentation
Team: Hiram College
Hiram College Team #3
Students: Kris Immell, Lauren London, Natalie Rushton, Lori Singer, Steve Voytek
Reform Idea: Our presentation will attempt to reform the nomination process for both the Republican and Democratic parties. In order to eliminate certain issues such as frontloading and super delegates, our proposal will present a system that will break the United States into four main regions that will hold their primaries and caucuses during the first four months of the election year, (January through April), with a Super Tuesday at the end of each month. The main focus of our presentation will be to bring the nomination back to the people of the United States and make every vote count.
Team: Penn State-Behrend
Advisor: Robert Speel
Students: Matthew Burkel, Erik Huet, Robert Raver, Joshua Snyder
Reform Idea: The Penn State Erie proposal for the Nomination Reform Initiative conference at Allegheny College's Center for political participation is a version of what is often referred to as the "Delaware Plan," in which small states would vote first and big states would vote last. Our proposal will also recommend to the political parties that all states will hold a presidential primary rather than a caucus and that all states use a combination of proportional representation and winner-take-all methods in election of delegates.
Penn State-Behrend PowerPoint Presentation
Team: Slippery Rock University
Advisor: Heather Frederick
Team Name: The Elite Eight
Students: Ryan Ambrose, Paul Ditomasso, Diana Hafera, Tyler Heckathorn, Marios Kritiotis, Ryan McGregor, Alex McNeill, Scott Stepanovich
Reform Idea: The Voter Empowerment Process
The primary election calendar, shortened to ten weeks, is based on voter participation. Voting sequence for each state is based on the stateÕs voter turnout in the previous presidential primary or caucus. This system would encourage all voters to participate because they would actually be competing to give their state, and their voices, greater influence in future elections. Young voters in particular would feel less apathy and powerlessness due to their vote making a difference.
The Elite Eight PowerPoint Presentation
Team: Slippery Rock University
Advisor: Sharon Sykora
Team Name: Preferred Pennsylvania Plan Proponents
Students: Steven Barb, Jessica Cosme, Kendra Mundell, Seth Skykora-Bodie
Reform Idea: The Preferred Pennsylvania Plan is a presidential primary reform system that combines rotating regional primaries, enhanced public funding, and optimized media coverage in an attempt to address flaws in the current selection process. Our system is designed to foster increased voter participation while selecting the presidential candidates through a more democratic selection process than presently exists.
Slippery Rock University Team #2 PowerPoint Presentation
Team: St. Anselm College
Advisor: Jennifer Lucas
Students: Matthew Fuller, Matthew St. John
Reform Idea: In our plan, Iowa and New Hampshire retain their first-in-the-nation status. The other states are split into four regional groups. All states in one group hold their contests on the same day, with a regional contest following every four weeks afterwards. Initially the first group is chosen by lottery. From then on, each region goes first (after Iowa and New Hampshire) every fourth cycle.
St. Anselm College PowerPoint Presentation
Team: University of Akron
Advisor: Daniel Coffey
Students: Todd Bullion, Joel Carter, Aaron Hooser, Jeffrey Parrot, Jonathan Siepker
Reform Idea: Many reform proposals fail to acknowledge the incentives that candidates, states and political parties have in holding primaries and caucuses early in the presidential election year. Each of the four rounds serves the needs of the different participants in the process. First, we maintain Iowa and New HampshireÕs position as the first nomination contests. Second, we propose a round of small states to ensure that small state interests are represented. The third round will be a ÒNational Primary DayÓ. Finally, to ensure that the contests for each party are not wrapped up too quickly, we hold a round of the four largest states that hold up to a quarter of the delegates for each party.
University of Akron PowerPoint Presentation
