Eveline Dowling

Eveline Dowling, PhD, is a Senior Fellow at Expand Democracy and a UC Davis-trained political scientist. She researches electoral systems, political behavior, nonpartisanship, and democratic reform.

California’s Top-Two Primary Has a Plurality Problem—And It's Easy to Fix

The good news is that the fix does not require a constitutional amendment but instead by a simple statute.

By Eveline Dowling

June 17, 2026

California Capitol Building. Making California's Top-Two system better wouldn't require a constitutional amendment, but a legislative statute.

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