Bloomberg News has this article by writer Francis Wilkinson, saying the California top-two system has not achieved its goal of reducing polarization and boosting more moderate candidates. One error in the piece is the reference to Louisiana. Louisiana does not have primaries (except for presidential primaries). It only has general elections (held in November for congressional races), and in the fairly unusual event in which no one gets a majority, a run-off in December. Thanks to Eric Wong for the link.
Didn’t it use to have a jungle primary? Or was that a misnomer?
MORE NON-VOTES IN GENL ELECTIONS IF NOT 1 D AND 1 R ON BALLOTS.
NOOO EXTREMIST PRIMARIES.
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PR
APPV
TOTSOP
@Q,
“primary” is an adjective meaning first. A primary election is the first election of a possible series of elections.
In Louisiana the Open Primary is held in October. If a candidate receives a majority of the vote they are elected. Otherwise a runoff is held in November.
Sometimes the Open Primary is referred to as a jungle primary. This is to contrast it with partisan primaries where voters are separated into different areas, similar to a zoo.
Zoo primaries are better.
@A.Z.,
Better to keep the primates under control.
I agree. If you’ve ever had to clean up after they get loose, you know what I mean.
@Q
The Louisiana format is a general election with a runoff if no candidate receives a majority. Because most states have a system where they have a primary and the candidates from that go on to the general election, many people want to view Louisiana as a variation of that. Since high-profile offices, such as Governor or Senator, can usually be expected to have a runoff due to no candidate getting a majority in the general election, people call that the primary and then think of the runoff as the general election. But the vast majority of offices are decided in the general election and don’t have a runoff.
Is that still the case with the new elections reform that passed?