An initiative to convert Arizona elections to the top-two primary system now used by Louisiana, Washington state and California is expected to qualify this year. Assuming the initiative has enough valid signatures, it will be on the November 2012 ballot. The petition deadline is July 1 and only another 50,000 signatures are needed.
The avg. voter registration, in Arizona's General Election of 2010, was 1/3rd. Republican, 1/3rd. Democrat, and 1/3rd. Other.
Will the 1/3rd. Other make a difference with a Top-Two Primary?
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!
Michael H. Drucker
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4 comments:
A system that gives only two choices in the November election hurts independent voters. Inevitably top-two systems give us a November ballot with one Democrat and one Republican, or in rare cases two Democrats or two Republicans.
That suggests we need better ballot access for al candidates. Is part of your message - the candidate choices will only be Dems or Reps.? Open Primaries only works if all who want to be candidates get a fair shot of getting on the ballot.
Every minor party candidate who has run in a top-two primary (in all the states that have used that system so far, Louisiana, Washington, and California) has failed to place first or second in the primary (except when only one major party member was running). There is no doubt that top-two systems eliminate minor party candidates from the November campaign season.
So how would you change the concept of open primaries?
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