[EM] California Open Primary Draws US Supreme Court Scrutiny

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California Open Primary Draws US Supreme Court Scrutiny

Washington, Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Supreme Court will review 
California's open primary system, which lets the state's voters cast ballots 
for any candidate, regardless of party affiliation. 

The justices agreed to consider a joint appeal by the state's Republican, 
Democratic, Libertarian, and Peace and Freedom parties. Those groups say open 
primaries violate their constitutional rights of freedom of association. 

The high court case could have implications for states like Alaska, 
Washington and Louisiana, which have similar rules for nominating candidates. 

Political parties in Alaska joined the California appeal, urging the high 
court to step in ``before this system spreads any further.'' 

California, Alaska and Washington use a ``blanket primary'' under which all 
voters -- including independents -- may vote for any candidate on the ballot, 
regardless of party affiliation. For example, a voter could cast a ballot for 
a Democratic candidate for governor and Republican candidate for attorney 
general in the same primary. 

Louisiana uses a variant of that method, while other states let voters 
request the ballot for any party but restrict them to picking from among the 
candidates from that party. 

California adopted its system in a 1996 ballot initiative. Proponents argued 
it would produce public officials who were more moderate and more 
representative of the state's electorate. Two lower courts previously upheld 
the open primary system. 

In 1986 the Supreme Court struck down a Connecticut state law that required a 
closed primary. The high court said that law unconstitutionally limited the 
voters eligible to participate in primaries. 

The justices will hear arguments in April and issue their decision by June. 

The case is California Democratic Party v. Jones, 99-401. 

Jan/21/2000   14:09