Third Party Advocates Opposing Top Two

image
Author: Chad Peace
Published: 15 Jul, 2009
Updated: 21 Nov, 2022
2 min read

From FreeandEqual.org: A Back Room Budget Deal earlier this year means the so-called "Top-Two" Primary will be voted on by California citizens.

The vote would institute a Washington state style "Top-Two" system, in which the top two vote getters in the primary are the only names to appear on the November ballot -even if that means only one political party is represented.

Free & Equal board member Richard Winger writes in Ballot Access News:

California newspaper reporters and political columnists have mentioned recently that Californians will be voting on the "top-two" system in June 2010. These articles constantly repeat the idea that the California legislature is now filled with ideologues of the left and right, and that "top-two" will replace them with "moderates" (these articles also constantly refer to "top-two" as "the open primary").

History suggests that "top-two" won't replace "ideologues" with "moderates." In 1996, the voters of California passed an initiative for the "blanket primary", and that system was used in the primaries of 1998 and 2000. The "blanket primary" is identical to the "top-two" system, in the operation of the primary and the primary ballot. In both systems, all primary voters get an identical ballot, a ballot that lists all candidates of all parties (although under the blanket primary, independents did not run in the primary). The big difference between the blanket primary and top-two is that in a blanket primary system, the top vote-getter from each party goes on the November ballot.

In the California 1998 primary, not one incumbent state legislator was defeated for re-nomination. If the proponents of a top-two primary were correct, there should have been many state legislators defeated in the 1998 primary. After all, the primaries of 1996 (which had elected all Assembly members) and the primaries of 1994 and 1996 (which had elected all Senators), were completely closed. Independent voters could not vote in those primaries.

Top-two proponents say that California legislative districts are so gerrymandered, the same party always wins the general election for state legislature. They also say that the "ideologues" win the primaries because the "moderate" independents are locked out of the primaries. But, the evidence from 1998 disputes that.

Every argument that the proponents of the Top-Two Primary put forward has been refuted. The fact is, that Democrats, Republicans, minor parties, and independents all agree: the Top-Two Primary is a bad idea.

The Top-Two Primary was defeated by the voters of Oregon this past election. In the year to come, Free & Equal Elections will work to coordinate with other like-minded organizations to ensure that the Top Two Primary is defeated in California as well. Free & Equal will also announce a series of public forums about the Top Two Primary in California in the coming weeks.

IVP Donate

Latest articles

CA capitol building dome with flags.
Why is CA Senator Mike McGuire Trying to Kill the Legal Cannabis Industry?
California’s legal cannabis industry is under mounting pressure, and in early June, state lawmakers and the governor appeared poised to help. A bill to freeze the state’s cannabis excise tax at 15% sailed through the State Assembly with a unanimous 74-0 vote. The governor’s office backed the plan. And legal cannabis businesses, still struggling to compete with unregulated sellers and mounting operating costs, saw a glimmer of hope....
03 Jul, 2025
-
7 min read
I voted buttons
After First RCV Election, Charlottesville Voters Back the Reform: 'They Get It, They Like It, They Want to Do It Again'
A new survey out of Charlottesville, Virginia, shows overwhelming support for ranked choice voting (RCV) following the city’s first use of the system in its June Democratic primary for City Council. Conducted one week after the election, the results found that nearly 90% of respondents support continued use of RCV....
03 Jul, 2025
-
3 min read
Crowd in Time Square.
NYC Exit Survey: 96% of Voters Understood Their Ranked Choice Ballots
An exit poll conducted by SurveyUSA on behalf of the nonprofit better elections group FairVote finds that ranked choice voting (RCV) continues to be supported by a vast majority of voters who find it simple, fair, and easy to use. The findings come in the wake of the city’s third use of RCV in its June 2025 primary elections....
01 Jul, 2025
-
6 min read