Timm Herdt, Politics Editor of Ventura County Star, says California’s Top-Two System Should be Repealed

Posted on by June 8, 2014
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Timm Herdt, state editor of the Ventura County Star and author of a weekly politics column that is distributed nationally by Scripps Howard Syndicate, says in this column that California’s Proposition 14, the top-two system, should be repealed. Herdt notes that he had supported it when it was on the ballot in June 2010.

Herdt does not mention the effect Proposition 14 has had on California’s minor parties, but he does point out that the system has not been kind to the state’s independent candidates. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

Western Political Science Association Gives “Best Paper” Award to Citrin-Lenz-Ahler Paper on California’s Top-Two System

Posted on by June 8, 2014
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Last month, the Western Political Science Association gave the Charles Redd Award for the Best Paper on the Politics of the American West to political scientists Jack Citrin, Gabriel Lenz, and Douglas Ahler. The award was for their 2013 paper, “Do open primaries help moderate candidates? An experimental test on the 2012 California primary.”

That paper, which was published in 2013, concluded that California’s top-two primary in 2012 did not elect more moderate candidates, because the experimental evidence showed that most California voters were not informed about the ideology of candidates in their own districts.

Truthdig Carries Ellen Brown’s Analysis of California’s Top-Two System

Posted on by June 8, 2014
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Truthdig has this analysis of California’s top-two system, written by Ellen Brown, the Green Party candidate for State Treasurer of California this year. Truthdig is nine years old and has won many awards for journalism excellence. UPDATE: the article is now on Huffington Post. FURTHER UPDATE: the article is also now in Peoples Voice.

SurveyUSA Poll for Georgia U.S. Senate and Gubernatorial Races

Posted on by June 8, 2014
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On June 7, SurveyUSA released a poll for the U.S. Senate race in Georgia. No one yet knows for sure who the Republican nominee will be, so the poll asked about the general election for two possible sets of candidates. If Jack Kingston is the Republican nominee, the results are: Kingston 43%, Democrat Michelle Nunn 37%, Libertarian Amanda Swafford 6%, undecided 13%.

If David Perdue is the Republican nominee, the results are: Perdue 43%, Nunn 38%, Swafford 6%, undecided 14%.

The poll also includes Governor, with these results: Republican Nathan Deal 44%, Democrat Jason Carter 38%, Libertarian Andrew Hunt 7%, undecided 11%. Both polls break down the results by age, gender, race, partisan affiliation, ideology, and education. The previous best Libertarian showing for Governor of Georgia was 4.01%, in 2010. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.