California only had two statewide ballot measures on the June 5, 2012 ballot. The votes won’t all be counted until the first week in July. As this story shows, the measure to impose a new tax on cigarettes was trailing on election night by 63,000 votes, but at this point, it is only behind by 17,000 votes, with many votes still uncounted.
The Alameda County Superior Court will hold a hearing in Rubin v Bowen on August 28, 2012, at 9 a.m., in Oakland. The case, filed last year by the Peace & Freedom, Libertarian, and Alameda County Green Parties challenges the essence of the top-two system, on the grounds that it injures the voting rights of voters who wish to vote in November for minor party candidates.
The judge who has this case has already declined to issue injunctive relief, but he has permitted the plaintiffs to file an amended complaint, which was filed on May 10, 2012. Here is the state’s brief, trying to persuade the judge to dismiss the case.
The Arizona Libertarian Party recently decided to open its August 2012 primary to independent voters, and to voters who are registered into unqualified parties. See this story.
Hotline studied California election returns in 1998 and 2000, and determined that the California top-two open primary is likely to injure Democrats, relative to Republicans. See a description here.
In 1998 and 2000, California used a blanket primary. All candidates for all partisan office appeared on the same primary ballot, and all voters used that primary ballot. The top vote-getter from the ranks of each party advanced to the November election. Therefore, the blanket primary did not injure either major party relative to the other. But the data from that period shows that in the top-two open primary now in effect, Republicans gain a significant advantage over Democrats, because Republican voter turnout is consistently higher in primaries than Democratic primary turnout. That means, sometimes, no Democrat ends up on the November ballot, even in races in which Democrats might have been able to win in November, if only they had a candidate on the ballot. Thanks to Rob Richie for the link.
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), and the Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), the state’s largest two newspapers, have together run three opinion pieces in favor of the top-two open primary initiative, but so far none on the other side.
The Star ran an op-ed in favor of the idea on November 24, 2011. It is by Paul Johnson, former Mayor of Phoenix, and Si Schorr. The title is “Open Elections would Improve Representation, Reduce Hyperpartisanship.”
The Arizona Republic ran a piece on December 4, 2011. It is by Linda Valdez, and is titled “Arizona 2012: Making Government Work.”
The Republic ran a second boost on June 13, 2012. It is by columnist Laurie Roberts. The title is “An open primary is best hope.”
Both newspapers have been asked to carry an opinion piece on the other side, but so far they have not done so. The only media in Arizona so far that has attacked the top-two initiative is the BlogforArizona, which generally seems to support Democrats and oppose Republicans. That blog has an anonymous blogger named “Arizona Blue Meanie”, who has run five blog posts making the case against the top-two idea. Thanks to Thane Eichenauer for the link to BlogforArizona.
