A veteran Democratic strategist is trying to blow up California’s top-two or jungle primary, arguing that the state’s wide-open system could actually leave Democrats with no choice on the November ballot in a chaotic governor’s race. His proposal would scrap the current setup and bring back separate party primaries that send one nominee per party to the general election. Supporters say the goal is simple: make sure voters are not staring at a ballot in November without a candidate from their own party.
What Was Filed
Steven Maviglio, a Sacramento consultant and longtime Democratic operative, has submitted the measure to state officials. The California Secretary of State lists it as initiative 26-0004, titled “Undo the Top-Two.” Filing the measure triggers review by the Attorney General, who will craft the official circulating title and summary. That step starts the formal clock for gathering signatures, which will determine the deadlines proponents must hit to qualify the initiative for a statewide ballot.
Why Democrats Are Pushing Back
Supporters of the repeal effort say they were jolted into action by early polling and a crowded 2026 governor’s field that, for a time, showed two Republicans on track to advance out of the June primary. That scenario would have left Democrats, who dominate voter registration in California, without a standard-bearer in the fall.
A Short History Of The Top-Two
California’s nonpartisan blanket primary arrived via Proposition 14 in 2010, after a 2009 legislative deal that put the measure on the ballot in exchange for a crucial budget vote. At the time, advocates promised that allowing all voters to choose from the same primary ballot would reduce partisan gridlock and give independents more clout. Critics now argue that those lofty goals have largely gone unmet.
Reporting that traces the law’s origins and path to the ballot, including the fact that Prop. 14 passed with roughly 54 percent of the vote, notes that the system was very much a product of that budget-era bargain, according to the Los Angeles Times.
How The System Cuts Both Ways
Some political scientists argue that the top-two setup can still shake things up in a good way, especially in districts that are dominated by a single party. When two candidates from the same party make the November ballot, the reasoning goes, the general election can suddenly become competitive again and force incumbents to pay attention to a broader slice of voters.
“The chance of having a competitive general causes members of Congress and legislators to be a little bit more responsive,” Christian Grose of USC’s Democracy and Elections Lab told the San Francisco Chronicle. At the same time, other scholars, including Thad Kousser, say the marquee promise of the reform, reducing political polarization, has mostly failed to materialize.
Legal Consequences For Voters
One practical twist in California’s top-two framework concerns write-in votes. In general elections for voter-nominated offices, those write-ins simply are not counted, which removes the traditional backstop if a would-be nominee drops out, is disqualified, or never makes the ballot in the first place.
Courts have read the statutes that implemented Prop. 14 to bar counting write-in votes in those general elections. The Court of Appeal explained how that prohibition works in practice in Field v. Bowen (Court of Appeal), which lays out the legal reasoning behind treating those races differently from older partisan-primary systems.
Next Steps And Timeline
Once the Attorney General issues the official title and summary, supporters must collect the required number of valid signatures to put the measure before voters. A constitutional amendment currently needs about 874,641 valid signatures, according to The Sacramento Bee.
If backers manage to qualify the proposal for the November 2028 ballot, they say the measure would be written so that any changes take effect later, typically on a timetable that makes it realistic to implement the new rules for the 2030 election cycle. Organizers and political observers are already talking about an unusual cross-partisan coalition, one that includes labor groups and some Republicans, that could turn the repeal campaign into a major statewide fight heading into 2028.
For those who want to dive into the fine print, the California Secretary of State details the formal steps any initiative must take to qualify for the ballot.
