6.3: Selecting a Party under the Top-Two Primary System

Party Choices

When Californians register to vote, they select a political party or choose "no party preference," which is essentially registering as an independent. Until recently, party registration mattered much more because California had a closed primary held usually in June to select the candidates for the general election in November. A registered party member received a party ballot with only candidates from their party running for each office. The candidates from each party that received the most votes went on to the general election in November. A typical general election race was then a runoff among the winning candidates from each party.

In 2010, Proposition 14 shifted the primary election to become more candidate-centered and eliminated the less popular candidates from the general election ballot. At the time, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger promoted this proposition to reduce partisanship by encouraging primary candidates to shift toward the center of the political spectrum to attract more voters. Under this system, everyone receives the same ballot for most races, regardless of their party registration or whether they expressed "no party preference." The top two candidates from the primary go on to the November runoff. They may be the top Republican and top Democrat. However, there might be a runoff between two people of the same party or perhaps with candidates not identifying themselves with any party.

Two exceptions exist to the top two primary systems: the presidential primary and the selection of political party central committee members for each county. The latter generates little attention. Voters care far more about the presidential race.

The presidential primaries are still a closed or modified closed primary election, depending upon the choice of the party, because the US Supreme Court has ruled that the right to freedom of association guaranteed by the First Amendment gives parties control over who votes in their primary races for president (California Democratic Party v. Jones, 2000). In 2020, the Green, Peace and Freedom, and Republican parties opted for closed primaries, allowing only registered party members to vote. On the other hand, the American Independent, the Democratic, and the Libertarian parties opted for modified closed primaries, allowing "no party preference" registered voters to vote. The parties decide whether to opt for a closed or modified system before each presidential election. With mail-in-ballots, the no party preference voters have to request a new ballot by mail or go to a vote center or polling place to vote. The Secretary of State communicates to voters before the primary elections regarding what they must do.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Steps to Vote in the Presidential Primary in 2020 (public domain; CA Secretary of State). Voters registered as "no party preference" were free to vote in the primaries of the American Independent, Democratic, and Libertarian Parties. They were told that they must reregister as Republicans, Greens, or Peace and Freedom members if they wish to vote in the primaries for these parties. 

In short, party registration has no practical consequence except for the presidential primary. However, given the importance of the presidential race and the need to get the correct ballot in time to vote, it makes sense to register for a preferred party in advance.