California Court Upholds Labels for Ballot Status Parties in Top Two Elections; Arizona Independents Want Fair Access to Primaries

This ruling upholds a distinction between ballot status parties and other parties or candidates in how candidates are listed on the new Top Two election ballots in California. This distinction is a dubious one for third party advocates like Richard Winger, the country's leading ballot access expert. At a time when parties are losing favor among the electorate, at least part of the controversy over California's new open primary system seems to rest on the listing of party labels.

Where do you line up on my little survey?

A. Listing a party is important because it indicates the ideological position on a left-right political spectrum.
B. I don't like parties, I vote for the candidate.
C. What's ballot status and who benefits from that?
D. Other ________ (Tell me what you *really* think!)

Let me know what you think!

PROP 14
U.S. District Judge Upholds California’s Discriminatory Ballot Label Law (Ballot Access News) The opinion says that California has an interest in maintaining the distinction between qualified parties and unqualified parties, and cites various opinions from systems in which parties nominate candidates.

And meanwhile.....
OPEN PRIMARIES 
Tucson Independent voters in danger of being left out of Primary (Fox 11 AZ) It wasn't clear that the Independent voters needed to request a ballot.  So, yes we did make a mistake in that," said city spokesman Michael Graham. That mistake has since been corrected. The city says it mailed Independent voters a postcard on May 16 warning them they'd have to pick a party to vote in the primary.

Independent Voters: 40 Percent of the Electorate, Not Just Some Demographic Group

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• CBS Panel Cool on 'Far Right' GOP Candidates, 'Bush Looks Like Abraham Lincoln' (By Brad Wilmouth, NewsBusters) Avlon agreed that the GOP candidates are "far right": "That is a fundamental problem with the Republican Party that has moved from center right to far right, increasingly, and, look, independent voters are 40 percent of the electorate, the largest and the fastest growing segment. So this isn't just some, you know, demographic group you got to appeal to."
• Dan Walters: Older Democratic politicians clogging up the waiting line (By Dan Walters, Modesto Bee) Top Two: Regardless, it will empower the growing ranks of independent voters. And it may compel candidates to make wider appeals, rather than concentrating on the ideological true believers who have tended to dominate closed party primaries.

California Top Two Open Primary May Bring Bigger Cultural Changes Than Elimination of Partisan Gerrymadering

CALIFORNIA
November 2012 Targets - Part One: The Assembly (By Allan Hoffenblum, Publisher of the California Target Book and owner of Allan Hoffenblum & Associates, Fox & Hounds Daily) Somewhat surprising, it's beginning to appear that the top-two open primary may do more to change the culture in Sacramento than the elimination of the partisan gerrymandering.

Arizona Top Two Abolish Party Primaries

OPEN PRIMARIES
Arizona Group Wants to Abolish Party Primaries (KSAZ- Fox Phoenix) The Arizona Open Government Coalition wants to replace the party primaries with a single-primary system open to all voters. The two candidates with the most votes would advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation.

California: Non-Partisan Redistricting, Libertarians and Top Two

CALIFORNIA

• Steven Greenhut: Left wins redistricting game in California (By STEVEN GREENHUT / Special to the Orange County Register) California’s new electoral districts crafted by a supposedly nonpartisan commission, which actually did the bidding of left-wing and ethnic interest groups, will almost certainly ensure a two-thirds legislative majority for tax-hiking Democrats.
• Libertarians bemoan new primary system, back pot (By Kyle Magin, The Union - SW Nevada County CA) The party's national Chairman Mark Hinkle was in Grass Valley on Friday rallying party members and prospective party members to both causes. Speaking before about 20 people at Mi Comida Mexican Restaurant, Hinkle railed against Proposition 14, a 2010 California ballot initiative that established an “open primary.” That means that during primary season, all candidates, regardless of party, will run against each other in the primary election. The top two, regardless of party, will move on to the general election. That spells trouble for third parties, Hinkle said. “The problem with that is third parties are not usually the top two vote-getters,” Hinkle said. “What happens to Libertarian ideas and Libertarian candidates after the primary? We're done.”
• Good Riddance to the Early Primary (By John Wildermuth, Fox & Hounds Daily) That's not what the state needs, especially this year. The primary will be the first election run in the new districts redrawn using the 2010 census data. It also will feature some important - and entertaining -- Democrat vs. Democrat and Republican vs. Republican scrums, made all the more interesting by California's new open primary rules. With all those changes, the state needs more primary voters, not fewer, if the ultimate results are going to be truly representative of the state.

Abel Maldonado May Benefit from Top Two + Independent Redistricting

CALIFORNIA

• Few political jolts in Monterey County redistricting plan (By LARRY PARSONS, Monterey Herald) The biggest buzz about the new maps is to the south of the county. Republicans are hoping the new 24th congressional district will enable Abel Maldonado, a former Republican state senator from Santa Maria who used to represent Monterey County, to defeat eight-term Democratic Rep. Lois Capps of Santa Barbara.
• Maldonado, Capps in SYV congressional race (By Marga K. Cooley/Associate Editor, Santa Ynez Valley News)

Voters Want Top Two Open Primaries

OPEN PRIMARIES

• California’s Golden Opportunity at Bipartisanship (Reid Wilson, National Journal/On the Trail) The second development, ironically, gives the parties much less say in selecting a nominee. Under a 2010 voter initiative, the top two finishers in a primary advance to the general election—regardless of their party affiliation. That means there is no guarantee a Republican or Democrat makes it through to November; a primary could just as easily produce two Republicans, or two Democrats (That was almost the case in a recent special election in California's 36th Congressional District, where a Republican businessman made it to the general election by a scant margin).
• Group seeks single primary to counter Ariz. party extremists (by Mary Jo Pitzl, The Arizona Republic) The Arizona Open Government Coalition wants to replace those traditional primaries, which they largely blame for what they describe as the state's extremist politics, with a single-primary system open to all voters. Under its proposal, the top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, would advance to the general election.

Non-Partisan Primary for Arizona?

ARIZONA INDEPENDENT
Arizona's 2-party circus not working (by Linda Valdez, The Arizona Republic) Former Phoenix Mayor - and Democrat-turned-independent - Paul Johnson thinks he has a better way. He is working to bring a nonpartisan primary to Arizona. Language for a ballot initiative is written and is being reviewed, he said. Within 30 days, the work will begin to collect signatures for the Open Government Initiative. This constitutional change would replace partisan primaries with a single election open to all candidates and all registered voters. The top two vote-getters go on to the general election.

More Voters Walking Away From Two-Party System - A Case for Top Two

It's never been more clear that in order for new ideas, new alliances, new directions to emerge in our country, independents -- those who choose to go outside the box politically -- need to be included in our political process. Top two open primaries is one structural reform that is gaining support all over the country, much to the distress of the parties...

TOP TWO OPEN PRIMARIES

• More voters walking away from Democrat and Republican parties (AZ Central/Laurie Roberts' Columns & Blog) Meanwhile, with each set of new registration numbers, more and more Arizona voters are walking away from the two-party system. Yet the system remains, just as it has since statehood. When are we going to get around to dropping this antiquated system and going to a general and a runoff, where everybody votes on all the candidates regardless of party designation?
  
• Independent voters continue to rack up numbers (By David Rookhuyzen, Green Valley News) The state’s voting system could also be contributing to the high number of unaffiliated voters. Independents in Arizona can vote in any party’s primary election, except the Green Party, meaning there is no penalty for not having a party affiliation, Davis said. However, independents in Arizona are barred from voting in the presidential primary — or Presidential Preference Election — next year, which is reserved for members of the major parties.
  
• South Carolina Republicans Win Opportunity to Present Evidence Against Open Primary (Ballot Access News) On July 18, a U.S. District Court Judge in South Carolina issued an 8-page Opinion in Greenville County Republican Party v State, 6:10-cv-1407, the case in which the South Carolina Republican Party argues that the Constitution protects its ability to limit its primaries to party members.
• California State Appeals Court Sets Oral Argument in Case Against Two Aspects of “Top-Two” (Ballot Access News) This is one of the two cases that challenges two particular details of the Proposition 14 “top-two” system...

California: Top Two Open Primary + Independent Redistricting = Blow to Partisan System

CALIFORNIASteve Lambert: Redistricting's one-two punch (By Steve Lambert, Whittier Daily News) Shifts in population have forced a redrawing of lines throughout the state, and for the first time since 1992, those choices aren't being made by politicians, rather by a citizens panel that may just well be the most powerful Californians this side of the prison guards union.

California's Top Two Open Primary Challenged by Democrat-Tea Partier

OPEN PRIMARIES

TOP-TWO OPEN PRIMARY FACES LEGAL CHALLENGE FROM DEMOCRAT-TURNED-TEA PARTY ACTIVIST (by Damon Eris,  CAIVN) Having voted for himself as a write-in candidate in the special general election, Galacki seeks to challenge top-two both as a registered voter who was prohibited from running for the office as a write-in candidate and as a voter who cast a write-in ballot that was not counted.

California Top Two Open Primary Creates Opportunity

CALIFORNIA
Editorial: Who'll fill void left by Nielsen and LaMalfa? (Redding Record Searchlight) Last but far from least, no current incumbent lives in either the Assembly or the Senate district, though some might well move. That — along with the new open primaries next year — raises the prospect of wide-open legislative races in the districts that include Shasta County. And that means opportunity. Shasta County once routinely supplied the political leaders who represented the north state in Sacramento, but the area lost its mojo about a decade ago.

ARIZONA Coming Soon: Top Two Primary

OPEN PRIMARIES

• New Group Seeks to Implement Top Two Open Primary in Arizona (Poli-Tea)
• NEW OPEN GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE MAKES THE CASE FOR NONPARTISAN PRIMARIES IN ARIZONA (by Damon Eris, AZIVN) A multi-partisan group of former elected officials is seeking to place a constitutional amendment on the 2012 ballot that would replace Arizona’s current semi-closed primary with a top-two open primary system similar to that which was passed by California voters last year.
• “Top-two” proposal may favor centrist candidates, but critics fear unintended consequences. (by Jeremy Duda, ARIZONA CAPITOL TIMES in Williams Tea Party) Former GOP congressional candidate Paulina Morris and former Arizona Public Service CEO Bill Post are co-chairing the campaign committee with Johnson, while former Republican legislators Carolyn Allen and Bill Konopnicki and former Democratic lawmaker Ted Downing have signed on, as well. The organizers say the top-two primary — they object to the term “jungle primary” — is generally popular with voters and they expect Arizonans to approve the measure if it makes it onto the ballot. 

Death of Duopoly: Independent Voters on the Rise

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Death of the Duopoly -Being binary is bad for business, so when will politics cure its bipolar disorder? Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch on the lessons Washington should learn from the real world. (By NICK GILLESPIE and MATT WELCH, Wall Street Journal) As the number of independents rises, voters who are free from party affiliations are more inclined to view political claims with due skepticism. By refusing to confer legitimacy on the two accepted forms of political organization and discourse, they hint strongly that another form is gathering to take their place.
• More SD voters say ‘independent’ (By: Bob Mercer, The Daily Republic) There were 88,450 independents registered as of June 15, according to the latest numbers from the state elections office. That is a record number.
• INDEPENDENT VOTERS MUST TAKE TO FACEBOOK TO GROW THEIR MOVEMENT (by Christopher A. Guzman, CAIVN) As the 'mainstream' media airwaves are often charged with heated and polarizing rhetoric, many citizens are looking for an alternative. In light of Pew's findings, the time is ripe for Independent voters to effectively spread their message to their disillusioned peers regarding which candidates and issues they believe deserve a chance to be heard.

CALIFORNIA TOP TWO
REGION: Prop. 14 will bring as much change as legislative redistricting (By MARK WALKER, North County Times) Minor-party candidates have little chance of appearing in general elections because members of the Green or Libertarian parties, for example, rarely command enough votes to finish first or second in votes cast in the primary.

PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS
University of Michigan Press is About to Re-Publish Error-Plagued Election Data Book (Ballot Access News) It does not include any Libertarian presidential candidates, not even Ed Clark in 1980 who got 921,299 votes. But it does include Lenora Fulani’s vote in both 1988 and 1992, even though in 1992 she placed fifth (with 73,714 votes), behind not only Ross Perot (who is included) but also behind Andre Marrou (the Libertarian, who received 291,627 votes, but who is not included) and Bo Gritz (the Populist Party nominee, with 107,014 votes, also not included).

EDUCATION REFORM
Arizona schools look at Florida as reform model (by Pat Kossan, The Arizona Republic) But the question is, will such reforms produce the same positive effects in this state as they did in the other? Florida enacted reforms before the 2007-09 recession, which gutted state coffers nationwide. Arizona lacks the money to fully implement Florida's reforms, such as training for teachers, bonuses for schools that improve or free preschool.

California Top Two Open Primary In Action

CALIFORNIA TOP TWO OPEN PRIMARY

• Craig Huey’s #2 Showing In CD36 … Not an Upset or a Surprise. (By Allan Hoffenblum, Fox & Hounds Daily) This was CA's first congressional special election that was run under the new "Top Two Open Primary" law, with all sixteen candidates appearing on the same ballot and the top two vote getters, regardless of party, going against each other in a July 17 Runoff election.
• How Did a Conservative Finish as One of Top-Two Vote-Getters in the Liberal 36th Congressional District? (by Jessica Levinson, KCET) The May 17th primary election was one of the first elections held under California's new open primary, top-two election system. Indeed it was the first such race for federal office. Under the new law, any voter can vote for any candidate in the primary election, and the top-two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation proceed to the general election. Hence general elections could see competitions between members of the same party. Such an election was expected to occur between Hahn and Bowen, both Democrats.

California Top Two Open Primary: Now You're in a New World!

California's first top two open primary results (and lest we forget, the activity and the hard-fought grassroots movement that spoke to our national increasingly independent political dismay over the past 15 years, the people who gathered thousands upon thousands of signatures to get on the ballot and engineered a win by referendum (California Proposition 14) in a partisan primary in the state of California, to allow independents to vote in primaries -- INDEED, let's try to be straight here -- to include all voters and attempt to do away with partisan primaries and party privilege altogether, AND which WON at the ballot box in June 2010, has now seen its first practical results last week.

And not surprisingly, made some select headlines this week, notably: "Now you're in a new world..." and "leading the people in the purple T-shirts to push the Republican Party to the middle..." Note to Dan Morain and Ben Tulchin -- good luck gaming Top Two for Dems, Repubs and ideologues (aka "moderates"...)

Word to the wise:  Talk with some independents who are building the real on-the-ground movement of serious political independents who don't so much cotton to "moving" any political party anywhere. That's a partisan fantasy. We're looking to take over the political means of production. We're talking to each other and making plans. We're grassroots and gathering numbers, strategy, strength and, frankly, a national moral high ground. Pay attention! Look!


CALIFORNIA TOP TWO OPEN PRIMARY

• Analysis: Brown returns to inside game of wooing Republicans (By Steven Harmon, Contra Costa Times) "There might be some protection money to protect a moderate vote," said Ben Tulchin, a Democratic pollster. "Before, with a closed primary in a conservative district, you couldn't do anything to dislodge them. But you're in a new world now. We'll have new districts and with open primaries, the threat from the right is smaller ---- you won't get taken out in a primary. If you're a moderate, you'll have a better chance of winning."
• Dan Morain: SEIU leader wants to prod GOP to the center (By Dan Morain, Sac Bee) Although the 2012 primary is a year away, Kieffer is focusing on new open primary rules, understanding that the system can be gamed in ways that could force conservatives into losing fights with moderates... For 20 years, the SEIU has played almost exclusively in Democratic politics. More than any other interest group, the union drove the party hard to the left. Now Kieffer is leading the people in the purple T-shirts to push the Republican Party to the middle, understanding, as he does, purple is a combination of red and blue, the colors of the two parties.

And in the meantime, below is the usual negative commentary from Richard Winger's anti-Top Two campaign which he promotes on his otherwise excellent round-up of practical, legislative and media sources that might fuel a movement to turn the country around and open up the political system... Too bad...

• Commentary on California’s Experience with “Top-Two” in Recent Congressional Election (Ballot Access News) SEE following 3 articles linked to BAN
• California’s Open Primary: An Open Can of Worms? (BILL WHALEN, Advancing a Free Society, Hoover Institution/Stanford University) Judging by the results, Californians might want to take a mulligan on last year’s Prop 14 vote. In a district where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by 18%, the surprise outcome was a July runoff between . . . a Democrat and a Republican. Not a principled Democrat who ran on health care or foreign policy, mind you, but one whose strategy was to purposely dilute the progressive vote. As for the Republican, he’s a little-known advertising exec whose stem-the-tidal-wave-of-red-ink ad was music to the Tea Partiers’ ears: two kids at a lemonade stand, getting socked by a $427,000 tax bill (each kid’s share of the $14 trillion national debt). In other words, a runoff between two pols not to be mistaken for a couple of holier-than-thou moderates.
• Open primary in CA: adios, democracy (T.A. Barnhart, Blue Oregon) I have been unstinting in my criticism of “open primaries”. I voted against a Portland School District candidate because he had been endorsed by Phil Kiesling, who keeps trying to flog this anti-democratic idea in Portland. I have argued against “open primaries” (which can take various forms but all have the same outcomes) for two reasons: political parties should be free to select their nominees for public office without intrusion from non-members, and small “third” parties will be obliterated./
• Legal case against Top Two Primaries, Proposition 14 and SB 6 - Richard Winger and Gautam Dutta (Green Party of California co-spokesperson Michael Feinstein YouTube Channel)

UTAH OPEN PRIMARY VS. CAUCUS
OUR VIEW: Voters should choose candidates (By Standard-Examiner Editorial Board) Utah's political parties should move to a primary system to select candidates for office. A state convention that allows a tiny percentage of party members to select candidates is exclusionary. An open primary winner would better represent the values and beliefs of the voters he represents.

ARIZONA OPEN PRIMARY
Arizona's political center yet to find a voice (DAILY SUN EDITORIAL BOARD) In other words, at least two-thirds of the lawmakers in the next session are likely to come from districts where the outcome is not only decided in the primary but decided in favor of a party ideologue -- moderate candidates just can't seem to turn out enough supporters in August to finish any better than second. That's why we continue to push for an open primary for all parties, with the top two finishers going on to the general election in November. That way, the second-place finisher in a primary in a lopsided district -- the norm in Arizona -- at least gets a chance to appeal to a broader electorate not once but twice -- in the primary and the general election.

NEW YORK

• NY-26: At T - 3 Days, Poll Says Hochul Leads (BY CELESTE KATZ, Daily News/Daily Politics) Siena: "Viewed more favorably than Corwin or independent Jack Davis, Hochul has moved  from trailing Corwin by five points, 36 to 31% in Siena’s April 29 poll to having a lead three days  before the election. Davis has dropped as the choice of likely voters from 23 to only 12%." Green Party candidate Ian Murphy registers 1% support, with 7% of respondents undecided.
• Analysis: Gay marriage in NY hits stumbling blocks (by Michael Gormley, AP, Seattle Post Intelligencer) Frank MacKay, the influential chairman of the state Independence Party, told The Associated Press last week that he personally supports gay marriage. He noted the state's third largest party opposes "discrimination and prejudice in all its myriad forms." That could counter pressure from state Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long, who said lawmakers voting for gay marriage won't carry his line.

Voters Beware: Pennsylvania Elections Lock Out Independents

Pennsylvania's growing group of independent voters is not happy with being locked out of the state's closed primary rules... California voters won a top two open primary system through referendum last June...

PA NEEDS OPEN PRIMARIES

Feels left out (LETTER Daily American - PA) Yesterday was not an opportunity to exercise my right to vote. Indeed, I was not allowed to vote because I am a registered Independent and the political parties are so afraid of the Independent voters and their free from political bondage thinking, that they have quietly, but surely, removed any chance that we might actually influence a selection of candidates by structuring the voting process to exclude us.

TOP TWO OPEN PRIMARY CALIFORNIA

Playing Chess on the Prop 14 Game Board (By Joel Fox, FOX & HOUNDS DAILY) Los Angeles County election officials say we won't know until at least Friday who will be in the runoff for the 36th Congressional District seat. This race could prove the first test of Proposition 14 and not merely in the sense of having two members of the same party facing each other in the general election.

California Top Two Produces Unexpected Result

CALIFORNIA TOP TWO OPEN PRIMARY

• California Special Election Produces Unexpected Result (By IAN LOVETT, NY Times/The Caucus) The race to succeed her is the first for national office in the state since California voters approved an open primary system in the fall, and thus had been closely watched to see how it might change elections in the state. The top two finishers in the primary, regardless of party, move to a runoff if no candidate receives a majority of the vote.
• TWO DEMOCRATS TAKE TOP SPOTS IN TOP-TWO OPEN PRIMARY [UPDATED] (by Damon Eris, CAIVN) With 100% of precincts reporting, LA City Councilwoman Janice Hahn came first in the race with 24.7% support.  In second place was Secretary of State Debra Bowen at 21.5%.  Bowen was followed by Republican businessman Craig Huey, who had garnered 20.4% of the vote.  Republican Mike Gin and progressive Democrat Marcy Winograd rounded out the top five.
• Contact California-based Independent Voice

Historic California Top Two Primary Day

CALIFORNIA TOP TWO PRIMARY DAY

• Light turnout expected in election for vacant US House seat in Southern Calif.'s 36th District (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. Daily Journal) The race also is notable because it is the first congressional test of California's new open primary system for electing lawmakers. Voters, regardless of registration, can select candidates from any party, and if no one clears 50 percent to win outright, the top two vote-getters advance to a runoff, even if they are from the same party.
• Historic election arrives (By Eric Bradley, LA Daily Breeze) Passed by voters last June, Proposition 14 created the "jungle primary" - where all candidates appear on a single ballot. The change is aimed at reducing partisanship and ensuring that general elections are less perfunctory. If no candidate wins a majority, then the top two, regardless of party affiliation, advance to a runoff, set for July 12.

The End of Partisan Primaries: California Special Election May 17 Will Use Top-Two

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Dems have money to spend as jungle primary looms in California (By Sean J. Miller, The Hill/Ballot Box) The top-two vote-getters will advance out of the open primary to the general election on July 12. But if a candidate breaks 50 percent of the vote in the primary, he or she will win the special election outright.
• California Democratic gathering offers chance to celebrate, and challenges too (By Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times) The party holds the power in the Capitol, but that hasn't yet led to solving major problems. Key issues at the convention will be the 2012 elections and Proposition 14, which ended partisan primaries.