The landscape of  California politics may be about to change dramatically.

An open primary system for state elections-- a primary that allows voters to cross party lines--will appear on the ballot in June 2010. State open primary elections would be similar to municipal elections, although the primary vote getter would not win outright---the top two vote-getters would  proceed to a November run-off.

Although the  measure was proposed by Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria) in exchange for his vote on the recently-approved budget, the idea had been well researched before. Steve Peace, former California Department of  Finance director and Democratic state senator, worked with a group of  lawyers for three years to craft a proposal similar to the state of Washington's nonpartisan primary system. The proposal, titled "The California Independent Voter Project," was drafted within the narrow legal boundaries provided by the state constitution and a 2000 U.S. Supreme  Court decision that invalidated an earlier California open primary  law.

"The principal  value of the legislation we drafted is to ensure that a decision is made in the general election, when more people vote," Peace said. "We spent  eight months going through tedious and extensive legal work, not only to  ensure its constitutionality, but also to meet California's political  culture."

Under Peace's project, voters would still be able to state a  party preference upon registering---unlike in Washington---but it would be  more of a public declaration than a membership in a party.

"We believe that  the freedom of choice of an individual is the fundamental right of every citizen, and no system should contain that right in some sort of fidelity to an organization," Peace explained.

His primary beefs with the current system are that it lets political parties work as a duopoly to block out competition, and that it produces polarized candidates whose ideologies are skewed compared to citizens at large.

"In my view, both  parties have become philosophically corrupt--- they're not policy bodies. They're election systems," Peace said. "They're more interested in getting  a majority and more perplexed when they get a majority as to what to do  with it."

Rick Hasen, an  elections lawyer who teaches at Loyola Law School, assisted in the  drafting of the Independent Voter Project and says the language of the  ballot measure is very similar to it.

"I believe it is  very strong constitutionally," Hasen said of the draft initiative  originally proposed. Hasen had initially warned that the Legislative  Counsel's office had provided a draft that might not withstand  constitutional scrutiny. Gov. Arnold  Schwarzenegger has long listed open primaries as a reform he supports,  comparing it to his fight to have legislative boundaries be redrawn by an  independent commission rather than the Legislature, a measure that voters  approved on the November ballot. "When it comes to  the open primaries, I can tell you, that (it) is something that both  parties hate," Schwarzenegger said in a speech recently. "It's not good  for politics. But remember, what is not good for politics is good for the  people. That's the bottom line here."

Maldonado agrees, stating that he requested the open primary measure provision after 10 years of service in the Assembly and Senate and "watching all the dysfunction that goes on."

"We have had late budgets every year, politicians always taking California to the brink of  bankruptcy and putting politics first, instead of the people," Maldonado  said. "I put this forward so we can have a California government that  works and a state that will be governable... Right now it's a broken system, and it needs to change."

GOP Chairman Ron  Nehring vehemently opposes an open primary plan and is calling for party  delegates to formally oppose the measure. He believes such a measure would further regionalize and polarize the state, with no Democrat or Republican  candidate appearing in some parts of the state. He says the possibility of  having to chose between two Democrats or two Republicans after the primary  undermines the democratic process and voter choice. Nehring defends the  process by which political party candidates are elected---on definitive  platforms, by members of the party--- as essential to maintaining  independence in political parties.

"Primary elections  were a progressive reform that gave the power to nominate candidates  directly to voters who join political parties," Nehring said in a statement.  "The so-called open primary proposal would reverse that reform, disconnecting rank and file party members from directly choosing  party nominees."

The possibility of  parties having to restructure to accommodate a changing political  landscape is one that Maldonado acknowledges, but sees as a  positive.

"Parties will have  to find candidates that appeal to broader California, not just candidates  that focus their message to maybe 20 percent of the extreme right or left  of the party," said Maldonado. "This will increase voter participation,  turnout and interest."

The open primary issue may be one of the few on which Democratic and Republican party  leaders agree.  Jess Durfee, chair of the San Diego Democratic Party,  is concerned with several aspects of an open primary system, one being the  exact same concern expressed by Maldonado---alienating voters.

"You could easily  have two Democrats or two Republicans running against each other in the  general election," Durfee said. "I have friends in Washington, and they  hate the system. I was told that in the last election cycle, there were  four legislative races in the state where the runoff candidates were the  same party...That would significantly reduce voter turnout and  disenfranchise huge percentages of voters."

Durfee also expressed concern  that, without party loyalty, candidates would be more significantly  exposed to lobbyists and special interest groups with deep  pockets. Durfee believes  there are other ways to deal with hyper-partisanship in the Legislature,  including reducing the supermajority requirement that gives one-third of  the Legislature the power to reject a bill.

California, Rhode Island and  Arkansas are the only three states that require a supermajority to pass  appropriations bills---such as the budget.

"That makes for  very hard-line partisan wrangling, like what you saw this budget cycle,"  Durfee said. "An open primary doesn't alleviate that."

Party leaders and open primary proponents agree on one thing---the need to fix the system  that, in Maldonado's words, "Takes us to these horrible, horrible places  where we have to tell voters they might not get tax rebates or that road  construction will stop." In June 2010, Californians will be able to vote on how they want to  vote.