• Home
  • Independent Voter News
  • Quizzes
  • Election Dissection
  • Sections
  • Events
  • Directory
  • About Us
  • Glossary
  • Opinion
  • Campaign Finance
  • Redistricting
  • Civic Ed
  • Voting
  • Fact Check
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. top-two primary>

California’s top two primary is what democracy should look like

Jason Altmire
July 21, 2022
Top-two primary in California

Primary voters in California may vote for any candidate, regardless of party.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Altmire, a Democrat, represented Pennsylvania in the House of Representatives from 2007 to 2013. He studies primary election systems and is on the advisory board of Open Primaries.

In what has become an annual ritual, the Los Angeles Times recently attacked California’s nonpartisan primary election process.

The focus of the piece was the state Senate’s 4th district. According to the Times, the Northern California district “belongs” to the Republican Party. The area has previously elected many Republicans, so the result must be preordained.

On June 6, eight candidates ran in the 4th district primary. Six were Republicans and two were Democrats. When all the votes were counted, the two most popular candidates – those who got the most votes – were Tim Robertson and Marie Alvarado-Gil, both Democrats. They now advance to face one another in the general election.

This was all the Times needed to once again criticize the nonpartisan system, now in place for a decade. The criticisms are frustratingly familiar: It allows unfair results like in the 4th district. It has not produced moderation. Independents don’t care enough to vote in primaries. The reform has not produced meaningful change.

These criticisms are dead wrong.


The premise that Republican voters in the 4th will skip the general election because there is not a Republican on the ballot is incorrect. Research by Charles Munger showed that so called “orphaned” voters participate in high numbers. Andy Sinclair at Claremont McKenna found that 60 percent of Californians like the system, and that voter approval of the legislature has gone from 10 percent to 50 percent in a decade.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

The 4th district race was what democracy should look like! The six GOP candidates were unable to inspire broad support and ended up balkanizing the conservative vote. They didn’t adapt their message and they lost because they couldn’t inspire the voters. So now, two Democrats will compete to represent a conservative-leaning district. To remain in office, whichever Democrat wins will be required to legislate in a way that appeals to voters of the conservative district, breaking the norms of traditional party politics. In today’s polarized times, we need more of that, not less.

Sinclair points out that defining “moderation” is difficult. It’s a tricky term that means different things to different people. Some have argued that Sacramento has become even more bipartisan, while other research shows modest effects. We know this much to be true: While California is still dominated by the Democrats, the parties no longer control the electoral process, from primaries to gerrymandering. Voters have freedom to choose from all the candidates. In many races, candidates whose rhetoric appeals only to their extreme base lose to candidates with a more inclusive message.

We can debate whether this leads to more moderation, but it undeniably leads to more pragmatism and accountability. There’s certainly a better reception in Sacramento for the Chamber of Commerce’s proposals for business growth now than under the previous partisan primary system. California Forward spoke to dozens of legislators and found “the majority of respondents felt that the top two primary has empowered more independent-minded, moderate, mainstream, and centrist candidates. Similarly, a majority felt that the top two primary shifts power away from the extremes — both special interests and party leadership, and benefits include increased competition and representation of a broader range of views in campaigns.”

In 46 states, candidates for Congress and state legislature are forced to compete in primary elections that are controlled by the parties, not the voters. Winners tend to be those candidates who are more responsive to small partisan interest groups than to the broader electorate. In states with party-controlled primaries, 40 percent of state legislators run unopposed in November. California has short-circuited this and put power in the hands of the voters. Has this led to a political utopia? Of course not. The parties still exercise control, and there are still powerful special-interest groups in California that have choked off innovation on every issue, from homelessness to taxes to energy to land management. Yes, “politics as usual” is still alive and well in California.

But in most states, voters have no tools to combat this. Now they do in California. Politicians no longer draw the lines of their own districts, and voters no longer vote in party-controlled primary elections. The voters have a system they like, and they more often than not use it to make an impact, even though it is still messy and imperfect.

Don’t let the critics fool you. No district belongs to a political party. The primaries don’t belong to a political party. They should belong to the people, and California’s system helps keep it that way.

From Your Site Articles
  • Will changes to voting laws affect turnout in 2022? - The Fulcrum ›
  • Mailed ballots boosted 2020 turnout. Will they work in 2022? - The ... ›
  • Seven states prepare for primaries June 7 - The Fulcrum ›
  • Will Anne Marie Schubert be California's 1st independent AG? - The ... ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • California Election 2022 Voter Guide - CalMatters ›
  • 2022 California primary results: Who will advance to November ... ›
  • Election Night Results | 2022 Primary Election | California Secretary ... ›
top-two primary

Join an Upcoming Event

STAR Voting Massachusetts Monthly Meeting

Equal Vote
Aug 08, 2022 at 7:00 pm
Read More

Phonebanking with Better Ballot SC

Aug 09, 2022 at 6:00 pm EDT
Read More

Election Observing Citizen Engagement Forum

The People
Aug 10, 2022 at 8:00 pm EDT
Read More

Canvassing at Soda City Market w/ Better Ballot SC

Aug 13, 2022 at 10:00 am EDT
Read More

Improve Texas Elections – August 16ember 7

Ranked Choice Voting for Texas
Aug 16, 2022 at 7:00 pm CDT
Read More

Charlotte Conservatives BBQ

Americans Wake Up
Aug 18, 2022 at 6:30 pm CDT
Read More
View All Events

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

The Fahey Q&A with Kaitlin LaCasse, protecting Maine elections from big money and foreign interests

Katie Fahey

America needs a Declaration of Independents

Lawrence Goldstone

Activism needs transparency, too

Alina Clough

Courage is the measure

Debilyn Molineaux

Organizing for collective impact: Transforming American democracy together

Caleb Christen

Three ways to change voting (or nonvoting) behavior

Jess Riegel
latest News

Nominations for key election leadership positions up for grabs Tuesday in four northern states

Kristin Shiuey
Reya Kumar
Richard Perrins
10h

The state of voting: Aug. 8, 2022

Our Staff
12h

Podcast: Framing is vital for survival

Our Staff
15h

Vermont is poised to make history by being the last state to make history

Barbara Rodriguez, The 19th
05 August

Podcast: A conversation with social entrepreneur Sam Daley-Harris

Our Staff
05 August

Both parties are failing to put country over party – in totally different ways

Ross Sherman
04 August
Videos

Video: BREAKING: Democrats Move Ahead With Climate, Tax, Health Care Bill As Sinema Signs On

Our Staff

Video: The All-America City Award experience

Our Staff

Video: There's a new political party forming. See who's behind it

Our Staff

Video: The US economy

Our Staff

Video: History of Independence Day: USA's First Fourth of July

Our Staff

Video: Memorial Day 2022

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Framing is vital for survival

Our Staff
15h

Podcast: A conversation with social entrepreneur Sam Daley-Harris

Our Staff
05 August

Podcast: Making government work

Our Staff
04 August

Podcast: When the people decide

Our Staff
03 August
Recommended
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon

Nominations for key election leadership positions up for grabs Tuesday in four northern states

Voting
State of voting - election law changes

The state of voting: Aug. 8, 2022

Voting
Podcast: Framing is vital for survival

Podcast: Framing is vital for survival

Podcasts
​Kaitlin LaCasse collects petition signatures in Raymond, Maine.

The Fahey Q&A with Kaitlin LaCasse, protecting Maine elections from big money and foreign interests

Campaign Finance
Vermont is poised to make history by being the last state to make history

Vermont is poised to make history by being the last state to make history

Elections
Video: BREAKING: Democrats Move Ahead With Climate, Tax, Health Care Bill As Sinema Signs On

Video: BREAKING: Democrats Move Ahead With Climate, Tax, Health Care Bill As Sinema Signs On