We, the undersigned, request our state lawmakers pass a law to use Approval Voting in the primaries for state and U.S. Congressional elections.
Currently, California elections use a top-2 primary system. In the primary election, voters are allowed to choose only one candidate they want to support. The two candidates chosen by the most people advance to the general election.
To see how this works, let's imagine a simple example:
- We're picking a movie to watch.
- I like romance + comedy.
- You like action + comedy.
In real life, we’d both just say what we like and we’d go see a comedy because that’s where we agree. But with the current system:
- I can only choose one of romance OR comedy
- You can only choose one of action OR comedy
If we don't both pick comedy, we lose the fact that we actually agree.
In the current primary system we become polarized and the best option can lose. We can each choose only one candidate in the primary and even though we overlap on a candidate, like comedy, they may not make it to the general election. This problem gets even worse the more options there are, like in a gubernatorial race with a lot of candidates.
The upgrade is simple: Everyone can choose ALL the candidates they approve of in the primary. The two candidates with the most approvals go to the general election. Just like in real life, we would find where we overlap and make decisions from there.
This is called Approval Voting.
- It's common sense. We do this all the time to pick movies, meeting times, or whenever we need to see where we agree.
- It's a low cost upgrade. No new machines, no complicated counting, no complicated instructions. Just "Vote for ALL the candidates you approve of"
- It's depolarizing. The candidate we agree on wins. We are happier because more of us voted for the winner.