What voters need to know about ‘open primary’

Local voters will see some more choices on their primary ballots in June, thanks to a new open primary system.
This year’s primary election will be the first to take place in California under the Top Two Open Primary Act. Voters opted to change the primary system in June 2010 when they passed Proposition 14, which overhauled the state’s primary elections.

Under the new rules, all voters will have a say in which candidates for state and some federal offices end up on November’s general election ballot.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re a Republican, Democrat, have no party, Peace and Freedom Party, … whatever your party. Your ballot from after the president and down will all look alike,” said Deborah Russell, Tuolumne County registrar of voters.

Under the new primary system, the presidential, county central committees and local, non-partisan contests remain the same. The changes come with the state offices, including governor, attorney general, State Senate and Assembly, as well as both houses of the U.S. Congress.

All voters, regardless of party affiliation, can vote for any candidate in those contests. The top two vote recipients in those races, again regardless of party affiliation, will end up on the November general election ballot.

Previously, the top vote-getter from each qualified political party, as well as certain write-in candidates who received a certain percentage of votes, would appear on the general ballot.

The new system will differ slightly from the local, non-partisan contests where if a candidate receives the majority of votes in the primary, he or she wins the seat outright.

Both Russell and Calaveras County elections officer Rebecca Andahl said on Thursday that their offices haven’t fielded many questions so far about the new primary system. Russell said she has been speaking to local organizations to get information out about the changes. And Andahl said there will be instructional information on the primary ballots and information at polling places the day of the vote.

Andahl said a lot of the questions her office receives deal with cross-over voting, where parties like the Democratic and American Independent allow voters who are not affiliated with a party to participate in the primary.

“Usually, in the primary election, I get the questions on how come they don’t get to vote (on all the candidates),” she said, adding she “almost expects” to have less confusion with the top-two open system.

Russell and Andahl said they don’t expect a huge jump in participation this year, compared to other presidential primary elections. Russell said Tuolumne County usually sees primary participation by voters in the upper-60s to 70 percent. Andahl said Calaveras County saw 63 percent voter participation in the 2008 primary, the last presidential election year.

They both also said the new system will still require separate ballots for different parties because of the presidential vote and county central committees.

“I really am not expecting a dramatic change,” Andahl said.

“People are very involved (in Tuolumne County),” Russell said.

The primary election will take place June 5 this year. Those looking to register to vote must do so by May 7 to qualify to vote in the primary and also receive election materials. Those who register by May 21 will be able to vote in the primary, but will not receive election materials.

Mail-in voters have between May 7 and May 29 to apply for a mail-in ballot.