Prop 14 was the brainchild of Abel Maldonado in exchange for his vote on the largest tax increase in State History.
Proposition 14 would eliminate primaries and throw all candidates for partisan office on to the same ballot. The top two then go in to a runoff unless one candidate gets 50% +1 of the vote…
This brilliant system yielded David Duke vs Edwin Edwards in a Louisiana Governor’s election. Duke was a KKK grand wizard and Edwards was locked up for corruption.
It also yielded Jacques Chirac vs Jean Claude LePen in France. Chirac is a Communist and LePen is a Nazi.
Don’t forget that third parties would be eliminated from any relevance under this system as well.
Finally – the amounts of money that it requires to run a campaign would double or triple in many instances.
Take a look at this from the ballot argument against Prop 14:
Propostion 14 will also decrease voter choice and make elections more expensive:
- The general election will not allow write-in candidates.
- Elections will cost more money at a time when necessary services like firefighters, police, and education are being cut. County election officials predict an increased cost of 30 percent.
- Voter choice will be reduced because the top two vote getters advance to the general election regardless of political party.
- This means voters may be forced to choose between two candidates from the same political party. Democrats could be forced to choose between two Republicans, or not vote at all. Republicans could be forced to choose between two Democrats, or not vote at all.
- Independent and smaller political parties like Greens and Libertarians will be forced off the ballot, further reducing choice.