In Washington State, voters approved a new primary system, Measure I-872. In California, Proposition 62 establishing the same type of primary system (top two candidates in primary go on to general election ballot, regardless of party registration) was defeated. Indeed, California voters approved a rival proposition put on by the Legislature, Prop. 60, intended to enshrine the partisan primary in California. (Proposition 60 could still be nullified by the California Supreme Court, because the Court is already receiving briefing on the question whether Proposition 60’s placement on the ballot violated a California constiitutional provision requiring each amendment the Legislature proposes to the voters be submitted for a “separate vote.”)
I was part of the legal team for Prop. 62, and believe that the measure would have survived a constitutional challenge in the courts. I also lament the fact that Prop. 62 was necessary in the first place. California voters approved a more modest version of Prop. 62, the “blanket primary,” in 1998. But the Supreme Court, erroneously in my view, struck it down as violating the associational rights of political parties. We will now see if the Washington proposition is challenged, and, if so, how the courts react.