An effort to repeal California’s top-two primary system is one step closer to qualifying for the ballot in 2028.
Secretary of State Shirley Weber announced Tuesday the proponent of the ballot initiative was cleared to begin gathering signatures.
If enough signatures are gathered and voters approve the measure, California could return to the partisan primaries for congressional and statewide offices, including gubernatorial elections in 2030.
This year’s primary election for California’s governor raised the alarm among Democratic Party leaders when it became apparent there was a real chance two Republican candidates could advance to the general election amid a crowded field of Democrats.
But this possibility had party leaders in San Diego on both sides of the aisle questioning the so-called ‘jungle’ primary system.
“At the end of the day, here's the deal: Whether you're a Republican, Democrat, or an independent, you deserve a real choice in November,” Cole Marting, executive director of the San Diego Young Republicans, said. “That's what this is about. So let's enable choice.”
“I think Californians deserve as many choices as possible,” said Will Rodriguez-Kennedy, chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party. “And what we've seen is that the top-two system has kind of created these and actually built into the sort of binary choices that people have.”
Ultimately, Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton advanced to the general election. In each gubernatorial election since the primary system was changed, one Democrat and one Republican have been the top two candidates.
The proponent of the initiative, Democratic consultant Steven Maviglio, must gather 874,641 signatures from registered voters, according to Weber. This is equal to 8% of the total votes cast in the 2022 November general election.
Maviglio said the top-two primary system limits voters' choices and disenfranchises third-party supporters. The initiative will “restore fair elections” and put every party on the general election ballot, according to its website.
“We've had this failed experiment now for a better part of a decade,” Maviglio said. “And what we've seen has really reduced voter choice in November, when many races we're going to be choosing between two candidates at the same party, statewide constitutional offices, congressional races, legislative. And that doesn't give voters the encouragement to go to the polls, because there's no one that can reflect their values and their party.”
Eight congressional races, two state Senate seats, and 10 State Assembly districts in California will have two candidates from the same party on the ballot this November.
There have been 18 or more same party runoff elections for congressional and state legislative seats each year in California since the top-two primary system was implemented, according to CalMatters.
“There's not a single party that opposes us,” Maviglio added. “From the Greens, to Carl DeMaio in San Diego, to the former chair of the Republican Party, to the California Labor Federation. This crosses all different philosophies and partisan politics because people know it's a failed experiment.”
California adopted the top-two primary system with a ballot initiative in 2010. San Diego State University political science professor Bryan Adams previously told KPBS that it was initially intended to make general elections more competitive.
“So if you have a district that's overwhelmingly Democratic and you have a Democrat running against a Republican, whatever, he knows the Democrat’s going to win,” Adams said. “And so the real election happens in the primary. And that can be really problematic, because primaries have much lower voter turnout, and they tend to be dominated by party activists.”
Adams said proponents of the change also believed it would lead to more moderate candidates succeeding versus those at extreme ends of the political spectrum who may appeal to those party activists that dominate primary turnout.
But Adams said it hasn’t necessarily done either.
“You can make a plausible case that maybe we haven't quite polarized as much as if (we) were still using, say, a semi-closed primary system,” Adams said. “But the effect is fairly minor and the effects are fairly minor on, generally, on competitiveness.”
Maviglio has until Jan. 11, 2027 to submit signatures to county elections officials.
A group called More Choice California announced Wednesday that they are challenging the ballot title for this initiative.
“The sponsors of CA’s landmark top two primary that opened the process to millions of voters vowed today to stop efforts by party insiders and special interests to rob Californians of their right to vote for the candidate of their choice,” the group said in a press release.
The group received major funding from the Independent Voter Project, who are the authors of the original ballot proposition that created the open primary system. They argue the initiative would return the state to holding closed primaries, in which only registered members of a party could vote in that party’s primary.
“California's 5.4 million No Party Preference voters, 28% of the registered electorate, would lose their right to participate in primary elections while party leaders regain control over who gets a voice,” the press release said.
The ballot initiative does not enforce closed primaries on political parties. Maiviglio says that would be up to individual parties to decide.
