Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Locking in a two-party system

This November 2, voters in California and the state of Washington will weigh in on their states' primary election system. Both Proposition 62 in California, sugar-coated with the name "Voter Choice Open Primary Initiative," and Initiative 872 in Washington - ”the so-called "People's Choice" initiative - will result in a harmful change to each state's political system and a big loss for voters.

These ballot measures would transform their states' political primary systems into a system practiced by only one other state - Louisiana. Think about that for a second - Louisiana. Not exactly a place known for its clean elections or its moderate politics.

...Under California and Washington's earlier blanket primary, the nominees from all political parties competed against each other in a single primary free-for-all reminiscent of California's gubernatorial recall election. Then the highest vote-getter for each political party advanced as their party's nominee to the November election—Democrats, Republicans and third-party candidates. Voters had a range of partisan choices in the November election.

In contrast, under Proposition 62 and Initiative 872, only the top two vote-getters in the primary will be eligible to appear on the November ballot. And here's the catch: The top two could be from the same political party!
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