A nonpartisan blanket primary is a
primary election in which all
candidate
A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example:
* to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs.
* ...
s for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of the political party. Partisan elections are, on the other hand, segregated by political party. Nonpartisan blanket primaries are slightly different from most other elections systems with two-rounds/runoff, aka "jungle primaries" (such as the (
Louisiana primary
The "Louisiana primary" is the common term for top-two runoff voting system where all candidates for the same office appear together on the ballot in the general election, and if none win a simple majority, a runoff or second round election f ...
),
in a few ways. The first round of a nonpartisan blanket primary is officially the "
primary." Round two is the "
general election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
." Round two ''must'' be held, even if one candidate receives a majority in the first round.
In addition, there is no separate party nomination process for candidates before the first round. Also, political parties are not allowed to whittle down the field using their internal techniques (such as party primaries or
conventions). It is entirely possible that multiple candidates of the ''same'' political party advance to the general election.
In most cases, two winners advance to the
general election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
, in which case it is also called a top-two primary. If more than two candidates are selected for the general election, it may be known as a
top-four primary or top-five primary. It is also known as a jungle primary.
This system theoretically elects more
moderate candidates, since winning might require appealing to voters of both parties in a two-party system.
However, all primaries use
plurality voting and are susceptible to
vote-splitting: the more candidates from the same party that run in the primary, the more likely that party is to lose.
Research on California's primaries have shown no increase in moderate candidates, and no increase in turnout among nonpartisan voters.
Some have proposed using other voting systems in the primary to alleviate this problem, such as the
unified primary based on
approval voting
Approval voting is an electoral system in which voters can select many candidates instead of selecting only one candidate.
Description
Approval voting ballots show a list of the options of candidates running. Approval voting lets each voter i ...
for its first round.
The top-two system is used for all primaries in
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
and
California except presidential primaries, and
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
began using a top-four primary system in the
using
ranked-choice voting.
The so-called
Louisiana primary
The "Louisiana primary" is the common term for top-two runoff voting system where all candidates for the same office appear together on the ballot in the general election, and if none win a simple majority, a runoff or second round election f ...
is similar. With a first round to pick the top two candidates and a second-round to choose between these two. The differences are that the first election is the general election. The second is a later "runoff" election, and there is no second round if a candidate wins more than half the votes in the first round.
Candidate party preference and ballot disclaimer
The nonpartisan blanket primary is different from the
blanket primary The blanket primary is a system used for selecting political party candidates in a primary election, used in Argentina and historically in the United States. In a blanket primary, voters may pick one candidate for each office without regard to part ...
. They are similar in that voters can vote in the first round for a candidate from any political party. The partisan blanket primary was used in Washington for nearly 65 years and briefly in California. However, the blanket primary was ruled unconstitutional in 2000 by the
Supreme Court of the United States in ''
California Democratic Party v. Jones'', as it forced political parties to associate with candidates they did not endorse. The nonpartisan blanket primary disregards party preference in determining the candidates to advance to the
general election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
, and for that reason, it has been ruled ''
facially'' constitutional by the Supreme Court in the 2008 decision ''Washington State Grange v. Washington State Republican Party''.
Chief Justice
John Roberts concurred in the 2008 decision, stating: "If the ballot is designed in such a manner that no reasonable voter would believe that the candidates listed there are nominees or members of, or otherwise associated with, the parties the candidates claimed to 'prefer', the I–872 primary system would likely pass constitutional muster." Each candidate for partisan office can state a political party that they prefer. Ballots must feature disclaimers that a candidate's preference does not imply the candidate is nominated or endorsed by the party or that the party approves of or associates with the candidate.
Subsequent ''
as applied challenges'' were struck down by lower courts. On October 1, 2012, the US Supreme Court refused to hear appeals from
Washington Libertarian Party and
Washington State Democratic Party
The Washington State Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Washington, headquartered in Seattle. It is also commonly referred to as the ''Washington State Democrats'' and the ''Washington Democratic Party ...
. The
Washington State Republican Party had earlier dropped out of the appeal process.
United States
Both Washington and California implement a two-winner nonpartisan blanket primary by plurality vote.
The plan is used in
Texas and other states in
special elections but not primaries. A notable example involved former US Senator
Phil Gramm, who in 1983 (while a member of the House of Representatives), after
switching from the Democratic to the Republican Party, resigned his seat as a Democrat on January 5, ran as a Republican for his own vacancy in a special election held on February 12, and won rather handily.
There have also been efforts in
Oregon to pass a similar law. However, the
Oregon Senate rejected it in May 2007, and it failed in a November 2008 referendum as Measure 65. Oregon voters defeated it again in November 2014 as Measure 90, despite a $2.1 million donation from former New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg and a $2.75 million donation from former
Enron executive
John D. Arnold
John Douglas Arnold (born 1974) is an American philanthropist, former Enron executive and founder of Arnold Ventures LLC, formerly the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. In 2007, Arnold became the youngest billionaire in the U.S. His firm, Centa ...
to support it.
Maryland has explored a top-two primary, erroneously naming it an open primary, such as in 2019 House Bill 26.
Testimony was provided by several organizations, including
FairVote and
Common Cause
Common Cause is a watchdog group based in Washington, D.C., with chapters in 35 states. It was founded in 1970 by John W. Gardner, a Republican, who was the former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare in the administration of Presiden ...
, and independent constituents, and included statements about
Condorcet
Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis of Condorcet (; 17 September 1743 – 29 March 1794), known as Nicolas de Condorcet, was a French philosopher and mathematician. His ideas, including support for a liberal economy, free and equal p ...
systems, proportional representation and
single transferable vote, and concerns that a top-two rather than top-three or more primary would not supply adequate choice for voters.
Florida voters rejected an amendment to adopt the top-two primary in 2020.
Alaska
In the
2020 Alaska elections
Alaska state elections in 2020 were held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Aside from its party-run Democratic presidential primary held on April 10 (not including the Republican Party presidential primary which was cancelled by the state party), ...
, voters approved
Measure 2, which will replace party primaries with a single non-partisan blanket primary, a
top-four primary. The top 4 candidates will advance to a general election that uses
ranked-choice voting. It will be used for all state and federal elections except for the president.
California
California's
blanket primary The blanket primary is a system used for selecting political party candidates in a primary election, used in Argentina and historically in the United States. In a blanket primary, voters may pick one candidate for each office without regard to part ...
system was ruled unconstitutional in ''
California Democratic Party v. Jones'' in 2000. It forced political parties to associate with candidates they did not endorse. Then in 2004,
Proposition 62, an
initiative to bring the nonpartisan blanket primary to California, failed with only 46% of the vote. However,
Proposition 14, a nearly identical piece of legislation, passed on the June 2010 ballot with 53.7% of the vote.
Under Proposition 14, statewide and congressional candidates in California, regardless of party preference, participate in the nonpartisan blanket primary. However, a candidate must prefer the major party on the ballot that they are registered in. After the June primary election, the top two candidates advance to the November general election. That does not affect the presidential primary, local offices, or non-partisan offices such as judges and the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
The California Secretary of State now calls the system a "Top-Two Primary".
Federal elections
The 2012 general election was the first non-special election in California to use the nonpartisan blanket primary system established by
Proposition 14. As a result, eight congressional districts featured general elections with two candidates of the same party: the
15th, 30th, 35th,
40th,
43rd, and 44th with two Democrats, and the 8th and
31st with two Republicans.
In the 2014 general election, eight
congressional districts
Congressional districts, also known as electoral districts and legislative districts, electorates, or wards in other nations, are divisions of a larger administrative region that represent the population of a region in the larger congressional bod ...
featured general elections with two candidates of the same party: the 17th, 19th, 34th, 35th, 40th, and 44th with two Democrats, and the 4th and 25th with two Republicans.
In the 2016 general election, the
U.S. Senate race featured two Democrats running against each other and seven
congressional districts
Congressional districts, also known as electoral districts and legislative districts, electorates, or wards in other nations, are divisions of a larger administrative region that represent the population of a region in the larger congressional bod ...
with two Democrats running against each other: the 17th, 29th, 32nd, 34th, 37th, 44th, and 46th. There were no races with two Republicans running against each other.
California 15th Congressional District, 2012
The 15th district is based in the
East Bay
The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa countie ...
and includes
Hayward and
Livermore. Democrat
Pete Stark, who represented the 13th district from 1993 to 2013 and its predecessors since 1973, lost reelection to fellow Democrat
Eric Swalwell
Eric Michael Swalwell (born November 16, 1980) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for California's 15th congressional district since 2013. His district covers most of eastern Alameda County and part of cent ...
in the general election after Stark won the primary.
Washington (state)
Along with
California and
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
,
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
had a
blanket primary The blanket primary is a system used for selecting political party candidates in a primary election, used in Argentina and historically in the United States. In a blanket primary, voters may pick one candidate for each office without regard to part ...
system that allowed every voter to choose a candidate of any party for each position. That kind of system was ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court in ''
California Democratic Party v. Jones'' (2000) because it forced political parties to endorse candidates against their will.
The Washington State Legislature passed a new primary system in 2004, which would have created a top-two nonpartisan blanket primary system. It provided an open primary as a backup, giving the Governor the option to choose. Although Secretary of State
Sam Reed
Sam S. Reed (born January 10, 1941) is an American accountant and politician who served as the 14th Secretary of State of Washington from 2001 to 2013 and is a member of the Republican Party. Reed was Washington's fourteenth Secretary of State ...
advocated the blanket, non-partisan system, on April 1, 2004, the Governor used the line-item veto to activate the Open primary instead. In response, Washington's
Initiative 872
Initiative 872 was a 2004 ballot initiative that replaced the open primary being used in Washington state with a top-two nonpartisan blanket primary. It was challenged in court up to the US Supreme Court, which upheld the top-two primary in ''Was ...
was filed on January 8, 2004, by Terry Hunt from the Washington
Grange
Grange may refer to:
Buildings
* Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906
* Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682
* Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to a monastery
Geography Australia
* Grange, South Austr ...
, which proposed to create a nonpartisan blanket primary in that state. The measure passed with 59.8% of the vote (1,632,225 yes votes and 1,095,190 no votes) in 2004. On March 18, 2008, the US Supreme Court ruled, in ''Washington State Grange v. Washington State Republican Party'', that Washington's
Initiative 872
Initiative 872 was a 2004 ballot initiative that replaced the open primary being used in Washington state with a top-two nonpartisan blanket primary. It was challenged in court up to the US Supreme Court, which upheld the top-two primary in ''Was ...
was constitutionally permissible. Unlike the earlier blanket primary, it officially disregards party affiliation while allowing candidates to state their party preference. However, the court wanted to wait for more evidence before addressing the chief items in the complaint and remanded the decision to the lower courts.
Washington state implemented this Top 2 primary, starting in the 2008 election
which applies to federal, state, and local elections, but not to presidential elections. There is no voter party registration in Washington, and candidates are not restricted to stating an affiliation with an established major or minor party. The candidate has up to 16 characters to describe on the ballot the party that they prefer. Some candidates state a preference for an established major party, such as the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, while others use the ballot to send a message, such as Prefers No New Taxes Party or Prefers Salmon Yoga Party. Since this is a "preference" and not a declaration of party membership, candidates can assert party affiliation without the party's approval or use alternate terms for a given party. Gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi's
2008 stated preference was for the "GOP Party", although he is a prominent Republican.
Washington state legislature, 14th district, 2010
First Ballot, August 17, 2010
Second Ballot November 2, 2010
[General election results for Washington state, 2010](_blank)
In this race a three-way primary led to a two-way race between two members of the same party (Republicans) in the general election. With over 20% of the population voting for the Democrat and neither Republican winning close to a majority in the primary, both of the Republican candidates had to appeal to Democrats and other voters who did not support them in the first round. For example, incumbent Norm Johnson came out in favor of same-sex civil unions, moving to the left of challenger Michele Strobel, who opposed them.
Washington state legislature, 38th district, State Senate, 2010
First Ballot August 17, 2010
Second Ballot November 2, 2010
In this heavily Democratic district, Berkey was officially endorsed by the 38th District Democratic Party. However, Democratic challenger
Nick Harper bankrolled ads for the Republican candidate to "Squeeze the Middle" and prevent the moderate incumbent Berkey from running in the general election.
[''The Seattle Times'' November 2, 2010, "Time for a do-over in the 38th Legislative District's Senate primary" ][''The Seattle Times'' August 22, 2010, "State Sen. Jean Berkey asks PDC to set aside election results" ] When Berkey placed third in the primary by a margin of 122 votes, the
Moxie Media scandal
The Moxie Media scandal was a 2010 political scandal in Washington state. In that year's state senate primary elections, small political consulting firm Moxie Media engaged in astroturfing that resulted in a surprise loss for incumbent Jean Berkey ...
ensued: the state's election watchdog committee unanimously voted to refer the case to the state Attorney General
Rob McKenna, who within hours "filed suit, alleging multiple campaign-finance violations".
Despite the call of several former state senators to hold another election, the election results were upheld, and Berkey was prevented from running in the general election.
Harper easily won the subsequent uncompetitive runoff election.
Washington state US Senate race, 2010
First Ballot, August 17, 2010 (only top three vote-getters listed)
Second Ballot November 2, 2010
In this race, the three leading candidates' competition resulted in a more moderate and popular Republican facing off against the incumbent Democrat, with a relatively close general election.
Clint Didier
Clinton Bradley Didier (born April 4, 1959) is a professional American football player and politician. He played for the Washington Redskins and Green Bay Packers, and later sought elected office on four occasions. Didier was finally elected to ...
and
Dino Rossi were the two main Republicans vying to run against the incumbent Democratic Senator
Patty Murray. Rossi had much greater name recognition, had narrowly lost two races for governor, and was favored by the party establishment. Didier, a former tight end for the
National Football League's
Washington Redskins
The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) E ...
, had never run for elected office and was endorsed by Tea Party favorites
Ron Paul and
Sarah Palin. Didier might have been able to win the GOP nomination from Rossi in a closed primary that rewards candidates for appealing to the hardline of their base, but the more moderate Rossi was easily able to defeat Didier in the Top Two primary. While one might expect more Democrats in the Top Two primary to vote tactically for Didier, the Republican candidate who was doing much worse in polls against Murray, most Democrats seemed content voting for Murray. If any tactical voting occurred, it seemed to be on the Republican side, with the vast majority of the Republican voters choosing Rossi, perceived as a more electable candidate. In this case, the Top Two primary resulted in a more moderate Republican candidate running against the Democratic incumbent, and likely a much more competitive race than if the
Tea Party candidate had run against Murray.
Washington 4th Congressional District, 2014
The 4th district is a large and predominantly rural district in
Central Washington
Central Washington is a region of the U.S. state of Washington between the western and eastern parts of the state extending from the border with the Canadian province of British Columbia in the north to the border with the U.S. state of Oregon ...
that encompasses numerous counties and is dominated by the
Tri-Cities Tri-Cities most often refers to:
*Tri-Cities, Tennessee, United States
*Tri-Cities, Washington, United States
Tri-City, Tricity or Tri-Cities may also refer to:
Populated places
Americas
Canada
*Tri-Cities (British Columbia), consisting of Co ...
and
Yakima areas. Republican
Doc Hastings
Richard Norman Hastings (born February 7, 1941) is an American politician and member of the Republican Party who served as the U.S. representative for from 1995 until his retirement in 2015. The district includes much of central Washington incl ...
, who represented the 4th district since 1995, retired.
The two winners of the top two primary were the Tea Party candidate
Clint Didier
Clinton Bradley Didier (born April 4, 1959) is a professional American football player and politician. He played for the Washington Redskins and Green Bay Packers, and later sought elected office on four occasions. Didier was finally elected to ...
(endorsed by
Ron Paul) and
Dan Newhouse
Daniel Milton Newhouse (born July 10, 1955) is an American politician and agricultural scientist serving as the U.S. representative for . The district covers much of the central third of the state, including Yakima and the Tri-Cities. Before his ...
, the former Director of the Washington State Department of Agriculture under
Christine Gregoire
Christine Gregoire (; née O'Grady; born March 24, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 22nd governor of Washington from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she defeated Republican candidate Dino Rossi in 2004, and agai ...
and
Jay Inslee and former State Representative.
In a close general election, Newhouse prevailed.
Analysis
Though the intention is to allow multiple candidates from the majority party to advance to the second round, critics note that this can also happen to a minority party when that party runs fewer candidates than another and thus faces less
vote-splitting. Under the nonpartisan blanket primary, a party with two candidates and only 41% popular support would beat a party with three candidates and 59% popular support if voters split their votes evenly among candidates for their own party. For example, in
Washington's 2016 primary for state treasurer, Democrats won a majority of the vote but failed to move on to the general election:
Political science professor Todd Donovan published an article in 2012 for the ''California Journal of Politics & Policy'' called "The Top Two Primary: What Can California Learn from Washington?" Donovan was the only
expert witness in favor of the top-two idea, for the ''as applied'' court challenge of Top-Two. His academic paper states, "The partisan structure of Washington's legislature appears unaltered by the new primary system." Donovan concluded, "The aggregate of all this did not add up to a legislature that looked different or functioned differently from the legislature elected under a partisan primary."
In Washington, major parties originally used an alternate process of party endorsement for partisan legislative and county administrative positions. This would ensure that one official party candidate will be in the primary, theoretically reducing the risk of intra-party vote-splits. However, the law does not allow nominations or endorsements by interest groups, political action committees, political parties, labor unions, editorial boards, or other private organizations to be printed on the ballot.
The indication of party ''preference'' as opposed to party ''affiliation'' opens the door for candidates to misrepresent their leanings or otherwise confuse voters. In 2008, a Washington gubernatorial candidate indicated party preference as "G.O.P." instead of Republican. A public poll found that 25% of the public did not know that the two terms mean the same thing.
[The Elway press release to news organizations was reprinted in ]
Further research on California's 2012 jungle primaries suggests that a jungle primary does not tend to lead to large amounts of crossover votes. Most voters who crossed over did so for strategic reasons. Furthermore, there is evidence that having the top two candidates from the same party could lead to a drop in voter participation in the second round. With regards to reducing political polarization, this does not seem to hold true. Due to lack of crossover votes, an extreme candidate from the majority party can still win over a moderate from the other party.
Though the intention of the system is to get a moderate from the majority party, this will not happen if there is no moderate, if the moderate lacks name recognition, or if voters are unsure of which candidate is more moderate.
See also
*
Instant-runoff voting
Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is a type of ranked preferential voting method. It uses a majority voting rule in single-winner elections where there are more than two candidates. It is commonly referred to as ranked-choice voting (RCV) in the U ...
*
Two-round system
*
Two-party-preferred vote
In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, ...
References
Notes
External links
Land of a Thousand Liebermansanalysis by
Nate Silver
Nathaniel Read Silver (born January 13, 1978) is an American statistician, writer, and poker player who analyzes baseball (see sabermetrics), basketball, and elections (see psephology). He is the founder and editor-in-chief of ''FiveThirtyEight ...
of ''
FiveThirtyEight.com''
Will California's 'Top Two' Primary Work?''
The New York Times'' provides six views on new California primary
Washington's top-two primary gets voters the better choice''
The Seattle Times'' editorial praising Top Two primary in Washington state 2010 elections
Top Two primary worth consideringadvocating Top Two primary for Arizona
Pros and cons of a top-two primaryThe ''
Los Angeles Times'' presents two views on the Top Two primary
Stop Top TwoFree and Equal Elections Foundation, a coalition of independent and minority party activists opposing the Top Two primary
upholding
top-two primary
A nonpartisan blanket primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of the political party. Partisan elections are, on the other hand, segregated by political party. ...
{{U.S. political divisions electoral reform, state=expanded
California elections
Washington (state) elections
Electoral systems
Primary elections
Elections in the United States