John Myers of KQED, the leading public broadcasting station in northern California, has this interesting analysis of the top-two system on major party nominations and processes. He expects primary turnout to continue to be quite low. He also notes the success of major party leaders in helping influence which candidates declare for office.
ANY body in CA ever hear about —
P.R. and nonpartisan App.V.
— i.e. NO robot party hack primaries.
If one compares the results of the SOS and Controller’s races it is clear that much of the support for Dan Schnur came from Republicans, which belies the claim made in the analysis that Republicans are more likely to stick with their party.
There is nothing in the article about the Top 2 primary being causal of the low turnout. It notes that turnout in California has been decaying for decades.
Being based in Northern California, he probably doesn’t recognize how abysmal turnout is in Southern California, particularly among those who do not view public television.