The open primary battle continues to generate a tremendous amount of political controversy. Over at The Moderate Voice, Nancy Hanks recently criticized the two major parties, as well as Libertarians and Greens, for opposing the upcoming Top Two Open Primary ballot initiative.
She cited two key sources which offered a defense of the open primary measure. The first came from William P. Myers of the California Democracy blog. He wrote:
I don't buy the fear-driven arguments of the California Democratic, Republican, and Green Parties. What is good for the citizens is not necessarily what is good for the parties. Incumbents tend to have a lock on elections in California, and so small groups of voters, the majority within the dominant party in each district, decide almost all elections in the primaries.
The second originated from Roger Clark, of Fox & Hounds Daily, who wrote:
Early polling shows the Open Primary initiative has the overwhelming support of about two-thirds of registered voters. But the political parties will do everything within their power to defeat the initiative at polls. Why? The answers is as simple as it is frustrating. The Open Primary transfers political power to the ordinary man and woman.
Hanks concludes her blog by stating, "It's a fight Americans have been fighting since 1787 - the fight between the people and the parties".
