Since the California primary election on June 8, this blog has generally avoided posting links to commentary about California’s Proposition 14, because so much of that recent commentary just rehashes what has already been said in the last few months. However, this Atascadero News editorial about Proposition 14 makes a somewhat new point.
P.R. and App.V. — regardless of MORON editorial writers.
ONE election for the groundhog types to worry about.
Newsweek had a brief blip on the California proposition after it passed — claiming that it would be a good thing for moderates and Independents.
Now, had they just written, “moderates” I would not be as annoyed. I doubt the validity of that argument but the notion that the proposition is promoting more moderate candidates is — at least — the frequently used punch line.
However, I fail to see how this proposition will be helpful to Independent or minor party candidates. I do not live in California and probably — if i did — would not be voting for such candidates, but my reading of the proposition was that it was devestating to such candidates and raised serious problems with voter choice.
Under the pre-Proposition 14 law it was extremely difficult for independent candidates to qualify (under 1% of congressional races since 1964).
If an independent candidate is just seeking to get a few percentage of the vote, they are essentially a vanity candidate. If they are trying to be elected as a plurality winner, they should be able to advance to the general election under a Top 2 system and win the general election.