Trace the history of the primary (party nominating) system in California.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

About 100 years ago, Progressives wanted to take power away from party bosses because they controlled elections by being able to select the candidates and nominees for their parties. Progressives put the power to select party nominees in voters' hands when they created the direct primary, which prevented party bosses from pre-selecting candidates. Progressives banned party bosses from endorsing individuals (a preprimary endorsement ban), and instituted cross-filing, which helped promote nonpartisanship by allowing all candidates to run in any party's primary, and their own partisan affiliation wouldn't be printed alongside their names. This system was in place until the 1950s, when cross-filing came to an end. The state then had closed primaries, whereby voters had to be registered members of a party to vote in a party's primary. That system was in place until the late 1990s, when voters approved the blanket primary (a form of the open primary), a system whereby all candidates would appear on the same ballot, and voters could choose whomever they wanted. Under the blanket primary, each party would end up with a nominee for each office, but couldn't ensure that their own party's voters had chosen them. The U.S. Supreme Court declared this system to be an unconstitutional breach of the party's right to freely associate. Afterward, the system reverted to a semi-closed party primary (a modified system) in which only registered voters, and independents if the parties allowed their votes to be counted, could participate. Finally, the Top-Two primary was adopted by voters and went into effect in 2012. The primary is now a "voter preference primary" in which all candidates appear on the same ballot (with their parties indicated), and the top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, will move on to the general election. This means two Democrats or two Republicans might go on to the November general election where they face off against each other.