politicians do these type of bills because: 1. they know it agitates, and therefore distracts the populace - it 'flood the zone' and in doing so it crowds out other news. 2. It is a spectacle that shows the politicians are 'doing something'. 3. Europe, and much of the world are plagued by closed primaries. america is blessed to have open primaties - this is also a reason that mechanisms like ranked choice/jungle elections are deplyed - it drastically reduces the opportunity for a party favorite to be displaced. 4. So what britain does, knowing that all the politiicans are exacly the same with very, very, rare exception - and that those pompous floor debates that they love to show on tv - is just for idiots - becuase they accomplish nothing, they try and distinguish political parties and their candidates (the party deicdes the candidate, not the 'people') 5. This is also why much of the world has way more secure elections - becuase they dont have to worry about fraud because ALL of the candidates are the same, its riskless, nothing will trun over the political course. 6. As America has open primaries it ebcomes impertive to 'cheat' so as to greatly preserve the opp for dynastic rellover