A guest commentary on the op-ed page last week drew jeers and only a little support when its author proposed run-offs for his party’s primaries as a way to choose a candidate who has the support of the largest interest groups within the party. But there are additional reasons that make the idea worth debating.

A run-off might have the top two candidates after a primary to face each other, with all voters returning after several weeks or a month to choose between just these two. The commentary offered the most often cited reason for a run-off. When a primary race has, say, four candidates, with three representing the broad party interests and one representing a dedicated minority within the party, the three would split the majority of votes and could easily lose to the candidate with his or her dedicated supporters. This can be a negative result for the party’s agenda, although it may not hurt the party’s chances in November, depending on how the many unenrolled voters react. Whether a run-off would have helped produce a better candidate last month in either the Maine Democratic or Republican races, which had six and four candidates respectively, is not the point; the question has come up often enough to deserve attention.

Virtually undiscussed when lawmakers have considered run-off bills is the role of news coverage in informing voters about a candidate. When four or six or eight candidates are in a race, reports on the achievements and goals of each candidate are brief, and candidates’ assertions about their own beliefs or about the beliefs of other candidates are barely examined as news outlets work hard just to get the basics out about everyone. Similarly, debates usually are shallow because candidates get only a few minutes each to explain a position. Voters have a responsibility themselves to find out something about the candidates before primary, but a subsequent race of only two is a lot easier to examine than one with six.

The convenient technique of instant run-offs, in which voters at a primary indicate their first and second choices, wouldn’t provide a solution to the lack of in-depth coverage. But several states have run-offs weeks after their primaries. Maine legislators have discussed this possibility several times before, including last year, but never have been very supportive, just as the Secretary of State’s Office is cool to the issue. Both raise a legitimate concern: The lack of turnout for primaries (25 percent of Democrats, 29 percent of Republicans last month) and the likelihood that even fewer voters would vote in a run-off suggests that ever fewer people would determine the outcome. There are compromises with either the current or run-off system; voters would do well to be aware of them.