Calmatters, a prominent website about California government and politics, has this op-ed about the California top-two system. The authors support top-two. At the very first sentence, they make a factual error. They say that California had a closed primary before the voters passed top-two in June 2010. Actually the Democratic and Republican Parties let California independent voters vote in their congressional and state office primaries in all years 2002 through 2010. The Secretary of State’s website verifies this.

Another flaw with the op-ed is that it implies that top-two is the only system that permits independents to vote in partisan primaries. But many states without top-two let independents vote in partisan primaries. Either states can hold a classic open primary, in which any voter is free to choose any party’s primary. Or, they can provide by law that independents can choose any primary ballot. Or, they can do as Louisiana has long done, and still does for state office: abolish the primary entirely, and only have a general election, with a run-off if no one gets 50%.

On September 18, U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk stayed all proceedings in Hunt v State of Texas, n.d., 2:25cv-200, until June 2027. This is the lawsuit in which the Texas Republican Party argues that the Constitution protects its desire for a closed primary. Texas has always had open primaries. The judge made this move on his own volition; neither side had asked for a delay. The judge feels the 2027 session of the legislature might pass a bill letting parties close their primaries. Here is his ruling.

On September 19, a gubernatorial debate was held in Grand Junction, Colorado. The independent candidate, Greg Lopez, was invited into the debate, but none of the four minor party gubernatorial candidates were invited. The sponsor was Club 20, a prominent business and civic group that traditionally sponsors candidate debates. The debate was not televised live but it will be available on youtube.

This article explains the odd logic used by Club 20 when it decided whom to invite. The four minor parties candidates were nominated by the Libertarian, Constitution, Unity and Approval Voting Parties.