The Unite America Institute’s Solutions Series examines the impacts of open, all-candidate primaries in states where the reforms have already been implemented.
The series includes:
Alaska, which implemented a top-four election in 2022, Louisiana, which abolished partisan primaries in the 1970s, and California, which implemented top-two primaries in 2012.
Leading center-right think tank R Street published similar research on Washington’s top-two primaries (implemented in 2004).
Approved by voters in 2020 and used for the first time in 2022, Alaska’s new election system pairs a top-four primary with an instant runoff general election.
In 2010, a bipartisan coalition of reformers championed Proposition 14, a California ballot initiative to adopt the top-two model under use in Washington State. Proposition 14 passed with 54% support from voters and was implemented in 2012.
Louisiana has one of the most unique electoral systems in the country. The state effectively has no primary elections — allowing all candidates to compete in a general election open to all voters. Louisiana eliminated partisan primaries in 1975 and remains the only state in the country that has eliminated primaries altogether:
Stay up-to-date on the latest news and resources from Unite America.
Stay up-to-date on the latest news and resources from Unite America.
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