Virginia Delegate Sam Rasoul (D-Roanoke) has filed a 2017 bill to convert all partisan elections (except presidential elections) to a top-two system. It is HB 541 and is a proposed constitutional amendment. See this story. The story is incorrect when it says that Nebraska and Louisiana have top-two systems. Louisiana has abolished primaries (except presidential primaries) and only has a general election. In the few cases when no one gets a majority, there is a run-off. Louisiana does not vote for Congress until November. Nebraska has semi-closed primaries for all partisan office. Because Nebraska has non-partisan elections for the State Senate, proponents of top-two frequently claim Nebraska has a top-two primary, but that claim is incorrect.

Currently Virginia has open primaries. The voter registration form in Virginia does not ask the applicant to choose a party or independent status. So on primary day, any voter can choose any party’s primary ballot.

If the United States had a top-two system for president, the only candidates who would be allowed to run in the general election this year would be Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

Laurence Kotlikoff is an economist who is filing to be a write-in presidential candidate in every state that has procedures for write-in presidential candidates to file to have their write-ins counted. On September 19, the Georgia Secretary of State told his campaign that he will be be allowed to receive write-ins in Georgia. Earlier the state had denied him this status, on the grounds that he hadn’t included an affidavit saying the notice of his candidacy had been published in a newspaper. But then the state realized that he had filed that affidavit, but the state had misplaced it.

On September 13, both sides in the lawsuit Soltysik v Padilla, 16-55758, now pending in the Ninth Circuit, agreed to mediate the case. The mediation conference is set for September 27. The issue is whether members of unqualified parties may have their party printed on the ballot when they run for Congress or partisan state office. The plaintiffs are registered “Socialist” but under current law, their ballot label is “party preference: none.”

By contrast, Washington, the only other state that uses a top-two system, lets any candidate choose any partisan label if it is 15 characters or less and is not obscene. This year, in the California primary, two candidates were on the ballot for U.S. Senate who were registered members of unqualified parties. Eleanor Garcia is registered “Socialist Workers” and Don Grundmann is registered “Constitution.”