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In 2010, California voters approved Proposition 14, which fundamentally changed how general elections are conducted in the state. Prior to Prop. 14, the general election ballot would include the names of every qualified party’s nominee. The new system created the “jungle primary,” an open primary in which all registered voters could vote for any candidate running, regardless of party affiliation, with just the top-two finishers appearing on the ballot in November.

Two members of the same party will square off in more than 20 legislative or congressional elections this November. The oddity was created by California's new top-two primary system, in which voters could cast ballots for candidates of any party and the two highest vote-getters advance to the general election. Seven California congressional, 13 Assembly and one state Senate race are sure to feature candidates from the same party. In a handful of other races, vote counts were too tight this morning to declare which two candidates will advance to the November ballot. Most of the same-party head-butting this fall...

A group of voters from minor political parties is challenging California's new top-two primary system in the courts, arguing that the election process established under Proposition 14 is unconstitutional. A lawsuit filed Monday in Alameda Superior Court claims that the new system, which sends only the two candidates who get the most votes in the primary, regardless of political party affiliation, to the general election, "severely burdens voter, candidate and party associational rights." "By limiting access to the general election ballot, Prop. 14 effectively bars small political parties, their candidates, and their members from effective political association, precisely at the...

With 700,000 members, the SEIU is California's largest labor union and on Thursday it announced they would be doing something a bit un-SEIUish: The were starting a political action committee to help moderate Republicans reach office. Yup. SEIU California has 87,000 Republican members (216,000 Dems and 80,000 decline-to-state and others) and at Thursday's rollout of the PAC, a few of the Republican ones said they felt the party of Reagan had deserted them. Now, it is held captive by social conservatives and anti-tax types who had no interest in the art of compromising. And that -- along with extremists from...

California GOP rejects divisive open primary plan SACRAMENTO, Calif.—California Republicans on Sunday approved a compromise that leaves in place the current nominating system for GOP candidates in 2012 and will let party members use mail-in balloting to endorse candidates for office starting in 2014. The party was beset by infighting at its weekend spring convention in Sacramento over how to respond to Proposition 14, the voter-approved ballot measure that was intended to produce more moderate candidates for office from both political parties. Under that system, the top two candidates advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation. The GOP...

The California Republican Party's rules committee approved by a 10-8 vote late last night an ambitious endorsement plan that would have the party send out ballots to all registered Republican voters in the state to determine the party's officially endorsed candidates. The plan comes as a response to Proposition 14, passed in 2010, which created a top-two runoff system, regardless of party affiliation. That proposition has drawn the ire of both major parties, which have looked for ways to stay involved in the process of selecting official party candidates, If approved in the party's general session today, as is expected,...

After a combative meeting today marked by tough words and legislative walkouts, California Republicans continued to debate a controversial plan to change the way the party endorses candidates Friday night. Jeff Miller, the finance chair for the state party, warned Republicans gathered tonight that the party's most loyal donor community is "frustrated with the party'' in the wake of efforts by conservative activists lead by outgoing chair Ron Nehring to change the endorsment process. He said that big California GOP key check-writers think that most of the party is speaking to "30 percent of the state,'' not concentrating on its...

Sacramento, Calif. (AP) -- After steep losses at the polls and successive years of dwindling registration, California Republicans gathered this weekend amid infighting over the direction of a party that is ideologically divided and facing an uncertain future in a rapidly changing state. For the first time in many years, frustrated moderates are publicly pushing back, resisting efforts to further insulate the party in what they say is an effort to save the California GOP from itself. In the process, they hope the party will begin to appeal to independent and minority voters, the fastest-growing segments of the state's electorate....

Sparks flew on the opening day of the California Republican Party convention Friday as party officials and delegates debated competing proposals to address the party's role in candidate nominations under the new top-two primary system. Outgoing party Chairman Ron Nehring is pushing a proposal to force pre-primary candidate endorsements under the new election system created by voter-approved Proposition 14. Instead of party primaries, the top two vote-getters in an all-party primary now advance to a runoff election.

State GOP convention: Blowup, outgoing chair accused of "thuggery" Republican State Sen. Sam Blaskeslee of San Luis Obispo, leading the charge against a conservative move to revise the party's endorsement of candidates, sharply criticized the outgoing GOP chair Saturday as a failed leader who has "resorted to thuggery." Blakeslee made the comment after walking out of a heated meeting of the state GOP Rules Committee at the start of a 3-day day statewide Republican Convention which brought 1,000 delegates to the Sacramento Hyatt. His comments come on the heels of efforts by outgoing GOP chair Ron Nehring, who has lead...

Assembly seat at stake under 'top-two' rulesToday could be the day California's new "top-two" primary system really gets its first test.Voters in the 4th Assembly District – covering Alpine County and parts of Placer, El Dorado and Sacramento counties – head to the polls in a special election to replace Republican Ted Gaines, who advanced to the Senate in January. Eight candidates, seven of them Republican, are on the ballot. The district is heavily Republican. Under the new rules, the top two finishers – regardless of party affiliation – will advance to a runoff unless one candidate wins a majority...

With the state's first elections under the "top two" primary created by Proposition 14 under way, California Republican Party officials are stepping up efforts to create a new internal party nomination system. The party has not endorsed in primaries in recent years, but members approved last year the idea of creating a nomination process as a result of of the new system, which abolished party primaries in favor of a system that sends the top two finishers in a primary, regardless of party, to a run-off. CRP Chairman Ron Nehring has drafted an amendment to the organization's bylaws that outlines...

A Peace and Freedom candidate's attempt to run in the upcoming 4th Assembly District special election has sparked a legal challenge related to ballot access under the state's new top-two primary system. Peace and Freedom party member Daniel Frederick argues that an unreasonable requirement for qualifying for the ballot prevented him from running in the March 8 special primary to replace former Assemblyman Ted Gaines, who was elected to the state Senate last month. Under state election law, candidates must pay a filing fee or submit 1,500 voter signatures to qualify for the ballot. A separate provision lowered the threshold...

When the founders considered the form of government to replace the English monarchy, two examples of government led the lists: democracy and republicanism. Reasoning a representative republic led by informed citizens would be more stable than a direct democracy subject to volatile emotions of a public fired up over issues du jour, they opted for the republican form of government. California, in its state constitution, allows for changes to its constitution via the ballot process, allowing propositions to be placed before the public for approval in a general election. California flirts with direct democracy, and, as the founders feared, finds...

Californians approved a measure Tuesday that will dramatically change how voters choose candidates in elections - and could mean that two Republicans or two Democrats would end up as voters' only choices in a general election. Proposition 14, known as the open primary measure, will give every voter the same ballot in primary elections for most state and federal races, except the presidential contest. The two candidates with the most votes would advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation. Prop. 14 had the strong backing of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, who said it could...

SAN FRANCISCO -- The state Supreme Court allowed California on Wednesday to go ahead with a voter-approved overhaul of primary elections, putting all candidates on the same ballot in the first round and matching the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, in the runoff. The justices unanimously denied a request to block the measure, Proposition 14, which takes effect in January.Prop. 14, which passed with a 54 percent majority in June, eliminates party primaries and instead requires all state and federal candidates, except those for president, to run in a single primary for each office. The top two finishers, who...

He has been, in many ways, a governor of firsts:• The first to take office as a result of a recall election.• The first to commute, on an almost daily basis and via private jet, between the Capitol and his Southern California mansion. • The first to have served in the Austrian army, the first to have won the Mr. Olympia body-building title seven times, and - as far as we know - the first California chief executive to have nude photos of himself widely available on the World Wide Web.But "first" does not necessarily mean "great," or even "good."And...

A San Francisco Superior Court judge today issued a tentative ruling denying a request to block the state from implementing the top two primary system created under Proposition 14. A group of candidates and voters have filed a suit challenging the constitutionality of Senate Bill 6, legislation detailing the mechanics of the state's new "top two" primary. Under Proposition 14, approved by voters in the June primary, the two candidates who receive the most votes in an all-party primary will advance to a general election run-off.

While the state Republican and Democratic parties have opposed the voter-approved open primary measure Proposition 14, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown expressed support Tuesday for the idea, saying it could help break partisan gridlock paralyzing Sacramento. When asked by The Bee in March about the initiative, Brown refused to take a position. Brown opened his remarks to the business group the Silicon Valley Leadership Group on Tuesday by lamenting polarizing partisan politics. He then segued into Proposition 14, which would advance the top two vote-getters in a primary to the general election, regardless of their party affiliations. "With the recent...

nder the current imperfect administration of the universe, most new ideas are false, so most ideas for improvements make matters worse. Given California's parlous condition, making matters worse there requires ingenuity, but voters managed to do so last Tuesday. Actually, 8.9 percent of eligible voters did. By a margin of 54.2 percent to 45.8 percent, they passed Proposition 14, the Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act. Proponents outspent opponents 20-1. Of the approximately $4.6 million spent promoting the measure, $2 million came from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's political committee.