The Press Herald of Portland, Maine, has this editorial comparing Instant Runoff Voting and Top-Two Primaries. The editorial prefers Instant Runoff Voting. It says, about top-two systems, “Five months before the election, most voters haven’t tuned in yet and won’t have had the benefit of hearing candidates’ messages honed over long campaigns.” This is an apt criticism, and supporters of top-two generally don’t have a response to this point.

Unfortunately, the editorial writers are not aware that the term “open primary” does not mean a top-two primary. “Open primary” was the name given to the primary system Wisconsin invented in 1907, in which there is no registration by party. Every party has its own primary ballot, but any voter is free to choose any party’s primary ballot. The U.S. Supreme Court has issued several opinions which define the various types of primary, and the U.S. Supreme Court uses the traditional definition; so do political science textbooks. Notwithstanding that, journalists all across the country use “open primary” in wildly different ways. Pennsylvania journalists use “open primary” to mean a closed partisan primary in which the party organization hasn’t made any endorsements. Illinois journalists use “open primary” to mean a secret open primary (in which the primary voter chooses a party primary ballot in the secrecy of the voting booth). British journalists use “open primary” to mean a primary administered and paid for by a party, in which any voter may participate.

All ballot-qualified parties in North Dakota nominate by primary. The primary is open. On primary day, all voters are free to choose any party’s primary ballot. The only ballot-qualified parties in North Dakota in 2010, and also in 2014, were the Republican, Democratic, and Libertarian Parties.

Although it is not possible to know the exact number of voters who choose any party’s primary, it is possible to know this approximately, by looking at the primary election returns. In the June 2010 primary, the largest vote total received by any Republican candidate was 65,205 votes; the largest vote total for any Democrat was 28,404 votes; the largest for any Libertarian was 548 votes.

By contrast, in June 2014, the largest vote total for any Republican was 50,446; for any Democrat, 30,154; for any Libertarian, 1,555. Thus while Republican primary voters dropped 22.6%, and Democratic primary turnout stayed approximately the same, Libertarian primary participation tripled.

Parties remain qualified by polling 5% in November for certain statewide offices. The only third parties that have met the North Dakota vote test to remain ballot-qualified in the last 100 years were the Reform Party in 1996, and the Socialist Party in 1914. The Libertarian Party is optimistic that, for the first time, it will meet the 5% vote test this November. This year, the only office that counts, for which the party has a nominee, is the Secretary of State’s race. Attorney General also counts, but no Libertarian is running for that office.

Monday, June 23, is the Illinois deadline for minor party and independent candidate petitions. The Libertarian Party is submitting 43,992 signatures for its statewide slate; the Green Party is submitting approximately 29,900 signatures for its statewide slate; the Constitution Party is submitting 30,600 signatures. In Illinois, any filing is accepted, even if it lacks the number of signatures set forth in the law. However, any petition is potentially subject to challenge from private individuals. The state requires 25,000 signatures for statewide petitions.