U.S. District Court Mostly Upholds California Top-Two System

Posted on by April 13, 2026
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On April 13, U.S. District Court Judge Maxine Chesney mostly upheld the California top-two system. Here is the 26-page decision. The judge did find problems with (1) the state’s refusal to let members of unqualified parties have their party label on the ballot; (2) the early filing deadline in presidential election years, which is in December of the year before the election. So the plaintiffs are free to amend their Complaint with more details about how those two provisions are faulty.

For the main issues in the case, the judge simply relied on the fact that the State Court of Appeals upheld the top-two system in 2014, and the same plaintiffs in the current case were mostly in the 2014 case. The 2014 decision was deeply flawed and factually incorrect. It said that the state interest in a top-two system was to let independents vote in primaries, and stated erroneously that before top-two came into existence, independents could not vote in Republican and Democratic primaries. The reality is that there are many types of primary systems that let independents vote in primaries, and yet don’t restrict access to the general election ballot. But Judge Chesney did not delve into problems with the 2014 decision.

Ohio Bill for a Top-Three System

Posted on by April 13, 2026
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Ohio State Senator Louis W. Blessing III (R-Cincinnati) has introduced SB 395. Here is the text. It would eliminate party nominees for Ohio congressional elections and elections for state office. Instead, individuals would file for the primary, and the top three vote-getters would be the only names on the general election ballot. At the general election, each of the three candidates would be placed on the ballot three times. Each of the three pairs would be matched against each other. The winner would be the candidate who won at least two of the pairings. If none of the three won at least two of the pairings, the winner would be the candidate whose loss was the narrowest among the three pairings.

Like almost all of the top-two, top-three, or top-four proposals, SB 395 makes it more difficult for a party to obtain or keep qualified status. Currently a party stays on the ballot by polling either 3% for Governor, or 3% for President. The bill would eliminate the gubernatorial option. Therefore, only parties that poll 3% for president would be qualified. The only third parties that have polled 3% for president in the nation during the last hundred years are the American Independent Party in 1968, the Reform Party in 1996, and the Libertarian Party in 2016.

The bill provides that candidates could choose to be listed on the ballot with the name of a qualified party. But candidates who didn’t describe themselves in association with a non-qualified party could not have their preferred party name on the ballot.

New York Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Files Lawsuit to Receive Public Funding

Posted on by April 13, 2026
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On April 8, the Republican candidate for Governor of New York, Bruce Blakeman, filed a lawsuit in state court to obtain public funding. The board that regulates public funding had denied Blakeman because he hadn’t identified his Lieutenant Governor running mate in his application. Blakeman v The New York State Public Campaign Financing Board, Albany County Supreme Court, 904036-26. Here is his filing.