Posted on 05/18/2010 6:01:12 PM PDT by SmithL
For registered members of California's minor parties, Proposition 14 isn't just about winning or losing elections.
It's a matter of survival.
"It pretty much wipes us out," said John Reiger, former congressional candidate for the Peace and Freedom Party.
Proposition 14 would create a "top two" primary in which candidates of all party affiliations run on one primary ballot. The two candidates who win the most votes, regardless of party, would face off in the general election. The system would not apply to presidential primaries.
Supporters say the change would let voters choose the best candidate and give the 20 percent of voters registered as decline-to-state a greater say in elections.
The proposal to eliminate party primaries has drawn criticism from the state Democratic and Republican parties. But it's also opposed by members of California's qualified minor parties, who say they would be locked out of the new political process.
Candidates who are neither Republican nor Democratic don't exactly thrive under the current system.
The last one elected to the Legislature was the Green Party's Audie Bock of Oakland, who made it to the state Assembly in a 1998 special election. Bock lost a bid for a full term the next year after re-registering as a decline-to-state voter.
Minor-party leaders readily admit they represent a slim fraction of Californians. A combined 4.5 percent of the state's registered voters sign up with the American Independent, Green, Libertarian and Peace and Freedom parties. But they fear that Proposition 14 could strip some parties of their ballot-qualified status altogether.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
A combined 4.5 percent of the state's registered voters sign up with the American Independent, Green, Libertarian and Peace and Freedom parties.Of which, only the Libertarians tend to siphon off Republican votes.
Fools!
This is horrible. This is the Republcrat Monopoly again.
Prop. 14. Distorted Primary. NO: This was the result of the corrupt deal for the tax increase engineered by Abel Maldonado that included this measure to by-pass party primaries in a manner Maldonado believed would enhance his future election prospects. Instead of voters of each party putting their best candidate forward, this jerry-rigged system is designed to disguise the difference between the parties and force those pesky third parties off the general election ballot entirely.
Big fat absolute NO on this.
Reason number 9,999 to vote a big bad NO NO NO NO NO on this crap.
I don’t vote 3rd party but I don’t have any issues with their existence. In my opinion, restricting 3rd parties is a cowardly act.
If the two major parties don’t like it, they could always try harder to represent the people.
.
bttt
Washington State already has this system. I don’t like it. I like closed primaries. The RNC should make tougher rules for the next set of primaries. That’s what Michael Steele SHOULD be working on, that’s his job.
Not sure...perhaps a YES on this. Losertarians, Greens and Peace & Freedom wackadoos will lose out...
You must love RINO’s.
Whatever...
Anyone pushing this Lib crapola must love RINOs.
Without primary the GOP establishment will back the RINO and accuse the conservative upstarts of “splitting the vote” and saying their guy is “the only one who can win”.
Both of the major party bigwigs would love this, its everyone else who suffers.
Parties that wanted to have a primary (or a nominating convention) would simply have to run it privately ahead of time, with party members pledging to support the nominee in the general election. That might turn out to be an advantage for coherent parties, since the open field in the first round of the general election would tend to splinter the vote.
Closed primaries. Otherwise democrats can scramble conservative results.
Arnold is for it and that says all you need to know.
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