California Top-Two Open Primary Would Increase Election Administration Costs, According to County Elections Officials

Proposition 14, on the California June 2010, proposes a top-two open primary. Several county elections officials have recently been asked to estimate whether, if passed, the measure would increase costs to taxpayers. San Diego County estimates an additional cost per election of $.75 per voter, and Sacramento County estimates an additional cost of $1.85 per voter.

One reason the costs will increase is that the counties would still need to print up separate primary ballots, intended only for members of each party, for county central committee elections. Another cost is that the implementing measure requires that each primary ballot have at the top, “Voter-Nominated and Nonpartisan Offices” in 24-point boldface gothic capital type. Then, in smaller type, the ballots must say, “All voters, regardless of the party preference they disclosed upon registration, or refusal to disclose a party preference, may vote for any candidate for a voter-nominated or nonpartisan office. Voter-Nominated Offices. The party preference, if any, designated by a candidate for a voter-nominated office is selected by the candidate and is shown for the information of the voters only. It does not constitute or imply an endorsement of the candidate by the party indicated, and no candidate nominated by the qualified voters for any voter-nominated office shall be deemed to be the officially nominated candidate of any political party. Nonpartisan Offices. A candidate for a nonpartisan office may not designate a party preference on the ballot.”

This verbiage must appear on each ballot card. It is so lengthy, it will require the counties to print more ballot cards than they would have otherwise. Also, each candidate may have next to his or her name, “My party preference is the ____ Party,” as well as the candidate’s occupation (California ballots already show the occupation of each candidate). In some counties these must be printed in multiple languages.


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California Top-Two Open Primary Would Increase Election Administration Costs, According to County Elections Officials — No Comments

  1. P.R. and A.V. — NO primaries are needed — save some taxpayer cash — to spend on other vital stuff.

    How much money for ALL the elections in the U.S.A. per year ???

    O.1 percent of the U.S.A. GDP ??? More or less ???

    The cost to have an appearance of *democracy* — when in fact ALL the major regimes in the U.S.A. are EVIL and VICIOUS ANTI-democracy gerrymander monarchies / oligarchies — both houses of the Congress, ALL 99 houses in the 50 state legislatures and many local govt gerrymander regimes.

  2. I love the language, bravo CA. — towards equal non-partisan voter-candidate treatment via total ballot “bill-board-advertizing” by ballot font size.

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  4. What happened to the basic voter instruction of —

    Vote for ONE (1) ???

    — regardless of how the candidates got on the ballots and regardless of any labels they have ???

    Thus — how much longer will it take for the voters to vote — with the standard dummies asking the poor suffering poll workers — what does this stuff mean — I am confused, etc. — causing other voters standing in long lines to get more and more angry ???

    How many pounds of stuff in the absentee voter packages ???

    LOGO — V14 — with perhaps the 14 in the middle of the V — as in VE Day – Victory in Europe 8 May 1945 and VJ Day – Victory in Japan 14 Aug 1945 in WWII — to END the rule of the EVIL party hacks.

    See the V resistance signs in Europe in World War II.

  5. Perhaps the printing of the zillion words for the ballots etc. is a New Age way to *stimulate* the economy ???

  6. #3: It always astonishes me when an independent or adherent of a small party favors the “top two open primary,” since that monstrosity makes it nearly impossible for independents or small party candidates to reach the final, deciding election.

    Rather, the two final candidates will almost always be (1) a Democrat and a Republican, (2) two Democrats, OR (3) two Republicans.

    It’s downright masochistic for a small party member to be willing to give up the power for his party to officially nominate candidates, and to make it even harder for his party to elect anyone to office.

    Furthermore, why should the voters be limited to just two choices in the final, deciding election?

  7. # almost always AIN’T always = forever (or at least until the govt regimes go bankrupt and collapse — as they are doing quickly).

    P.R. and A.V. = REAL reforms — NOT all the New Age JUNK stunt distraction stuff — top 2 primaries, IRV, NPV, etc.

  8. What is the current cost per voter in San Diego County and Sacramento County? Did they release a more detailed calculation of their costs?

  9. # 6 It seems the regimes survive with the top 2 NONPARTISAN systems in many, many, many local regimes — around for 100 plus years.

    What is the magical percentage of ALL voters who should somehow have a *right* to nominate a candidate to be put on the general election ballots ???

    0.001, 0.002, etc. 1, 2, 3, etc. ???

    P.R. and A.V. — NO primaries are needed.

  10. #10: “Top two” elections are OK for local elections because (1) local officials are involved with providing services, rather than with policy issues, and (2) the national parties do not get involved in local elections.

    In Louisiana’s “top two” (aka “open primary”), there have been state and congressional elections in which the national party and the state party supported opposing candidates.

    In my view, parties deserve to be able to officially nominate candidates for state and federal offices, which, after all, is one of the basic functions of a political party.

  11. #11: It deserves mention that, in 2008, Louisiana wisely returned to holding party primaries for its congressional elections.

    This means that only Washington state now uses the “top two” to elect its congressional delegation.

    Only Washington and Louisiana use the “top two” (“open primary”) to elect all of their state officials.

  12. #11 NONPARTISAN legislators can NOT make *policy* — i.e. ONLY party hack legislators can make *policy* ???

    Sorry – such ideas are LUNATIC — par for the course in this New Age of party hack mass lunacy — getting worse and worse since Perot in 1992.

    What is the magical percentage of party hack voters to get together and take over the PUBLIC nomination system for PUBLIC offices ???

    0.000000001 percent or more or less of ALL voters ???

    What is the party hack definition of a crowded ballot ???

    Bigger than the Los Angeles phone book ???

    A note – 1929-2009 govt deficits due to the EVIL party hacks — about $ 15.4 TRILLION — now more than the 2009 GDP — about $ 14.3 TRILLION.

    The deficits directly caused 2006-XXXX Great Depression II — by totally wrecking the savings – private capital investment connection.

    Send in your pennies today to pay off the party hack deficits.

    P.R. — for both party hacks and nonpartisan folks.

    NO primaries are needed.

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