From the Redding Searchlight. . .
Critics of Proposition 14, the “open primary” measure on the June ballot, argue – seemingly with a straight face – that it would erode voters’ choices, by limiting general elections to the top two primary candidates, regardless of party. Have they watched the elections today?
Take the north state’s 4th Senate District. Term limits are forcing Sen. Sam Aanestad out of office, and there’s a hot race to fill the seat.
Republican state Senate candidate Doug LaMalfa is a die-hard conservative who earned straight A ratings from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association during his years in the Assembly.
Republican state Senate candidate Rick Keene is a true-blue conservative who earned straight A ratings from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association during his years in the Assembly.
Indeed, Keene happily says there’s scant political difference between him and his opponent, and LaMalfa offers little evidence to the contrary. It’s a good bet, though, that as June nears, campaign ads will remind GOP voters ad nauseam of any stray liberal tendences either man has ever shown. The politics of primary elections favor tight adherence to party orthodoxy over independent thinking.
Republicans easily outnumber Democrats in the district. Barring an electoral earthquake bigger than the one that shook Massachusetts last month, one of these men will be the north state’s senator in Sacramento this time next year. The election will essentially be decided in June by Republican primary voters, who will pick from two candidates whose only incentive is to appeal to those motivated conservatives. Never mind that more than 56 percent of registered voters in the district are not GOP members. Their votes really don’t count.
For unlucky Republicans in the San Francisco Bay Area and other liberal zones, the situation is the same. Just swap the party labels. California has a few genuine swing districts, but they’re as rare as yellow-legged frogs.
The point? Whether the district leans left or right, a relative minority of voters is picking the winners long before the general election. A few other names appear on the November ballot, but for the most part even their own parties write those candidates off.
How’s that working out for California? We send representatives who’ve never had to appeal to anyone beyond their party base to Sacramento. Then we complain about a deadlocked, ideologically polarized Legislature where nothing ever seems to change even though the lawmakers plainly can’t do their job.
If they were running under an open primary, Keene and LaMalfa – both experienced, well-financed candidates – could still end up going head-to-head. The difference? It would be in November instead of June. The entire electorate would have have a say. And the conservative candidates would have to give a nod to independents (the state’s fastest-growing “party”) and even Democrats.
For most voters, that looks like a far more effective choice than what’s on the ballot now.
Our view: The 4th Senate District offers a close-up look at how open primaries would change elections.