Top Two Primaries Are a Terrible Idea

Jonathan Bernstein: “The whole idea behind it is to destroy the ability of political parties to nominate candidates as they see fit, which is pretty much the basis for party health. Anti-party sentiment in the US has a long history, and the impulse behind it is entirely wrong. Parties are crucial to healthy democracy. For people who just vote and do nothing else, parties simplify the ballot – something always helpful, but especially so given the US long ballot with frequent elections and many offices.”

“For those who want to get more involved, they provide an easy entrance into meaningful political activity, a process which allows new policy topics and ideas to break into the political system. And for everyone, parties anchor representational relationships between politicians and voters by forcing elected officials to interact with rank-and-file party actors.”

“Top two has not, in fact, destroyed the parties when it has been implemented, but it does disrupt them. Parties try to control nominations anyway, and find ways to do so (just as they often learned to do in ‘regular’ primary elections). But it means, essentially, beating a system designed against them, so it has real costs to the parties and therefore to democracy.”