Hi Friend,
There are a couple of primary elections to note on the horizon.
Californians, residents of the most populous U.S. state, head to the polls next Tuesday, June 6.
Alaskans, residents of the largest state by land mass, must postmark their ballots by Saturday, June 11, for the state’s all-mail special primary election to replace the late Rep. Don Young.
That’s how different these states are, in some ways: They can’t even get together on the definition of “biggest state.” Starting next year, California will send 52 representatives to the U.S House; Alaska will send one. One state has the lowest point of elevation in the nation, the other has the highest. You say Death Valley, I say Denali / Let’s call the whole thing off.
And one state, of course, is deep blue.
And the other tends to be pretty red.
And YET … let’s hold on just a minute.
Californians and Alaskans have one of the most noteworthy commonalities in politics these days: They’ve both done away with partisan primaries.
California uses a “top-two” system, in which all age-eligible voters select their preferred candidate — Democratic, Republican, or otherwise — and the top two finishers, regardless of party, advance to the general election. It’s the same principle in Alaska, except four candidates advance instead of two. Alaska’s model is the first of its kind in the country, and this June’s election will be the first time it’s used.
What does this mean for each state? Well, California, of course, has a lot of Democratic-dominated congressional districts. In a top-two system, sometimes that means two Democrats facing off against each other in the general election. But given the realities of partisan gerrymandering, in which one of the two major parties is sometimes redistricted practically out of existence, that’s OK. Look — we wish partisan gerrymandering didn’t exist, too. But since it does, the two finalists in a top-two system at least represent the will of all voters in the district, not just those who belong to one party and participate in that party’s primary. And as research from the University of Southern California has found, top-two primaries produce less polarizing lawmakers.
Without speculating too much, it’s easy to foresee a similar effect in Alaska — only with a different party mix. Alaska is one of the country’s most politically diverse states: Official data list more than half of its voters as either “nonpartisan” or “unaffiliated,” and Republicans comprise the largest party registration at just 27.2% of the electorate. Permitting all of these Alaskans (Democrats and others, too, of course) to participate in primary elections is flat-out just. Doing so opens up new possibilities for political competition among candidates, too — possibilities that will inevitably result in general elections that are more representative of all the state’s voters combined.
See, California and Alaska are alike, and in a big way: their shared commitment to putting voters first.
