Open primaries and democracy

[MaryMagdaline]

I was stopped by my favorite petition guy outside courthouse. Over the years, I have signed many petitions that have become Florida law. One of the few benefits to living in the Sunshine state. This is direct democracy in action.

So I readily signed the petition for raising minimum wage ... too slow of a process but calls for COL increases once implemented.

I did not sign the one for open primaries. I lived in Georgia as a child and I remember the rat-f’g by Republicans that got us Lester Maddox as governor. The petition guy said it would be like the California system ... 2 candidates with most votes would square off.

I am interested in opinions here. Seems it would
1.allow independents to vote in primaries, thus increasing democratic participation
2.allow for party mischief as in voting for the worst candidate in the opposite party.

Please let me know what you think, especially those familiar with the California system.

[Wounded Bear]

1. Don't like them...

the increase in ratfucking outweighs any perceived benefit of getting independents to vote.

We, too have top two primaries. Not a big fan, even though where I live we had two Dems on the last ticket for House seat.

[MaryMagdaline]

5. Thank you!

[still_one]

2. I am against Open Primaries, and I am from California. However, it should be noted that

presidential primaries are treated differently from other primaries in California.

Only voters indicating a preference for a party may vote for that party's presidential nominee, or those who register as "no party preference", may request a ballot for a presidential primary candidate.

The reality of open primaries, or modified closed primaries, is pushed by those who do NOT want to be associated with the Democratic party.

We have been somewhat lucky so far, but this has the potential to come back and bite us badly

In the midterms we had something like 35 candidates running for Senate. The is confusing, large, and the potential that a trump like candidate can get in is there.

A perfect example of this is how Arnold Schwarzenegger won because too many candidates were running for governor. Schwarzenegger left our state with a lot of financial problems, which Jerry Brown straightened out.

I am really against open primaries. Allowing someone who is not a Democrat to determine who the Democratic nominee is insane. It doesn't take that much effort for someone to register as a Democrat, and the fact that those people do not want to be associated with the Democratic party, but determine who its nominee is, is absurd

[MaryMagdaline]

6. Thank you for this information!

[Merlot]

3. Open primary is not the same as the California Jungle system

I could be wrong on this, but I believe in the primary California still has voting by party. The top two vote getters progress to the general ballot. Since California has a majority of democratic voters it can end up with two democrats on the ballot in the general.

I'm against open primaries because only the people in the party should pick their candidate and what you say is correct - an open primary can cause cross party voting for the weakest candidate.

[MaryMagdaline]

4. Thank you. This would make a great deal of difference to my signing the petition. I will review it

carefully