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Did the State GOP Create a Workaround to the New Open Primary Election System?

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In June 2010, voters passed Proposition 14, which will fundamentally change the way we hold elections in California. Instead of having party primaries, in which the nominee of each party proceeds to the general election, we will have open primaries and top-two general elections. Under it, any voter, regardless of party affiliation, can vote for any candidate in the primary election. Then in the general election only the top-two voter-getters, regardless of the party affiliation of those candidates, proceed to the general election. The purpose of Prop 14 is to create a legislature comprised of more moderate, consensus-building officials who won election by appealing to broad swath of the electorate.

It is easy to see why the political parties were against the measure. It weakens their power and means that a candidate competing in the general election is not necessarily the choice of the party, but rather was preferred by many of the voters in the primary.

This weekend the California Republican Party (CRP) decided to try and take back some of the influence likely lost under Prop 14. On Saturday night, the party's rule committee approved a plan under which the party will mail ballots to all registered Republicans in California and ask them to indicate their preferred candidates. The CRP convention's general session vote then accepted that endorsement plan. In essence, the CRP has created a mail-in party nominating convention, which will lead to an official Republican Party candidate. It just may be that the "nominee" does not actually make it to the general election.

There is nothing illegal or otherwise impermissible about this plan. The CRP is simply finding a way to alert their members of the party's choice in the election. The question is whether this will discourage more moderate candidates, who have not won favor with the party's base, from running for office. That would work to undermine the primary purpose behind Prop 14.

Will this help the CRP's voter registration problem? Republicans now number about 30% of the registered voters in the state. That number has long been on the decline. Further, while the CRP's base is increasingly getting older and whiter, Latinos and Asians are the fastest growing slice of the state's population.

The endorsement plan will go into effect in 2014. Right now voters should ask themselves a few questions. Is it helpful to know which candidates a majority of the party prefers? Should the Democrats follow suit?

The next test of Prop 14 will come on July 12, when an election is held to fill Representative Jane Harman's seat.

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