Prop. 14 designed to boost moderate politicians

A priority of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the measure was placed on the ballot last year by the Legislature as a concession to Sen. Abel Maldonado, who agreed to raise taxes in exchange for putting this measure before voters.

Maldonado argues that an open primary system will help ease the partisan gridlock that has stymied on-time budgets in Sacramento for years. The former Santa Maria senator, recently confirmed as lieutenant governor, said voters will be more likely to elect "reasonable, open-minded, pragmatic” lawmakers willing to compromise on tough legislative issues.

"Right now, we go into party caucuses and do what’s right for our party, not what’s right for California. That’s our problem,” Maldonado said. "If you don’t toe the line, you’re done.”

Primary elections often force candidates from both parties to pander to the most extreme elements of their party, with the winning candidates often representing the most liberal or conservative philosophies. Critics of the current system say that creates a recipe for stalemate in the Capitol and leads to an environment in which compromise is difficult.

Whether an open primary will empower voters to change the makeup of the Legislature is doubtful. Proposition 14 is modeled after the election system in Washington state, where just one incumbent state legislator was defeated in the 2008 primary.

"It is sort of speculation,” said Molly Milligan, author of a report that analyzed California voter registration data. "I believe in political reform, but I’m not sure this will be it.”

California’s legislative and congressional districts are heavily gerrymandered, meaning they favor one party or the other. Thus, the winner of the primary who is in the majority party typically coasts to victory in the general election.

In more than a third of California’s districts, voters in the general election would be left choosing between two candidates of the same party under an open primary, according to Milligan’s report, from the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles. In most cases, the race would be between the two Democrats who garnered the most votes in the primary.

Those primary battles also could increase the cost of campaigning. Candidates would have to spend far more money in the early contests so they could reach the broader pool of voters, Milligan said.

Many lawmakers reluctantly put the measure on the ballot over the objections of their parties, which believe it would help moderates but hurt the strongly liberal or conservative candidates often elected under the current primary system. Anti-tax groups fear more moderate candidates would raise taxes.

"It’s morally offensive. Our founders wanted us to have the freedom to choose people,” said Tom Del Beccaro, vice chairman of the California Republican Party. "This is nothing more than (saying) we should elect a certain kind of thinker and nobody else. That’s not what our system is about.”

Currently, candidates compete against each other in their own party primaries, with the winner moving onto the general election. The primaries are closed, meaning a registered Republican cannot vote in a Democratic primary and vice versa.

Decline-to-state voters are allowed to vote in either the Democrat or Republican primaries, although Republicans don’t allow decline-to-state voters to cast a ballot in the presidential primary.

Third parties, such as Libertarians or Greens, also have lined up against the measure because their candidates would have little chance of garnering enough votes to move onto the general election. Write-in candidates also would be prohibited in a general election.

"Even though people from third parties typically don’t get elected to the big offices in California, at least we have a system now that allows these people to be on the ballot, and they represent a wide range of beliefs and political opinion,” said Debra Reiger, north state chair of the Peace and Freedom Party of California.

If Proposition 14 is adopted, candidates would not list their party affiliation on the ballot, but their party registration must be listed on the Secretary of State’s website.

Schwarzenegger, who was elected to the governor’s office in a winner-take-all recall election, has criticized blind partisanship and has given $1.7 million to support the campaign. The California Chamber of Commerce has given $400,000, along with the $1.6 million that has come mostly from other business interests.

By comparison, only one of four committees formed to oppose Proposition 14 has reported any donations — a $50,000 check from state Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced.

California voters have a mixed record on open primaries. In 1996, voters adopted a so-called blanket primary, Proposition 198, that allowed all voters to vote for any candidate. It advanced the top vote-getters of each party in the primary to the general election.

But it was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court four years later because it violated the parties’ First Amendment right of free association.

In 2004, voters rejected an open primary measure similar to Proposition 14 by 46 percent to 54 percent. Instead, they adopted a competing ballot measure that codified California’s current modified-primary system, in which parties can chose to allow decline-to-state voters — now 20 percent of the electorate — to participate.

Proposition 14 would allow all California voters to choose between all candidates on a primary ballot, regardless of party. Supporters say it would give voters more choice and hold elected officials accountable to all their constituents, rather than the dedicated partisan voters who typically turnout for a primary election.

"Once you get elected as an incumbent, you only have to appeal to 15 percent of your district,” said Allan Zaremberg, president of the California Chamber of Commerce, said of the existing rules. "You don’t have to vote in accordance with what the majority of voters want in the district.”