Thanks to Richard Winger of Ballot Access news for this post.
Florida proponents of a top-two system have filed a proposed initiative constitutional amendment with the Secretary of State. The proponents include attorney Glenn Burhans, Jr., of Tallahassee, and Andrew Jones.
BALLOT SUMMARY:
Replaces closed political party primaries for congressional and state partisan elective offices with primaries where all qualified registered voters may vote regardless of party affiliation of the voter or candidate. Qualified candidates appear on one ballot. The top two vote getters per office advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation. Candidates nominated by a party appear on the ballot as that party’s nominee; other candidates may indicate their party preference on the ballot.
Reading the petition, there was no indication about candidates who get a majority vote winning. So if you get 99% of the vote, there still is a run-off election?
Currently Florida’s primaries are closed, so a voter has to decide to vote in one party's primary, and pass over the candidates from the other party who also appeals to them. Top-Two would help voters avoid this as they could have the best of both worlds. Vote for a favorite Democrat for Sheriff and a favorite Republican for Governor.
But Top-Two will crush the 3rd parties and Independent candidates in the middle.
In the 1960s efforts were made to get the Legislature to pass a fair law for 3rd party access. Despite a lot of money spent, and promises broken by Legislators, Florida voters did not get real reform until a Libertarian led effort to pass a state constitutional amendment in 1998. Due to either just luck, or an enlightened electorate, the amendment passed, despite it being opposed by both major parties and many major newspapers.
The amendment states: It takes any third-party or independent candidate 242,000 signatures, plus a large filing fee, to appear on the ballot for statewide office. A Democrat or Republican need only pay the filing fee, of which he/she gets a 50 percent rebate. Let me know if I got this right or please correct me.
The amendment has a life of at least 20 years, meaning it could be up for change in 2018.
During the last 18 years, with the exception of the Libertarian Party, most other 3rd parties have rarely used this fair ballot access legislation. Hopefully all the 3rd parties in Florida will keep it as part of the state constitution and amend it to reduce the number of signatures or correct the fee discrepancy.
To voters who think that being able to vote for the candidate is more important, they fail to realize that Top-Two will destroy the historic 3rd party which has forced the major parties to make reforms which otherwise, they might not have made.
CLICK HERE to read the petition (PDF).
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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2 comments:
The attorney in charge of the proposed initiative sent me a friendly e-mail, saying maybe his group will instead switch to the Louisiana system, in which no one is barred from the November ballot.
As you know, this is the system I think is the best but would add Rank-Choice voting, so the voter only has to vote once.
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