‘California Model’: Unusual Election Reform Divides Democrats in Deep Blue State

Ballot measures allowing same-day voter registration and scrapping party primaries could make it easier for establishment Democrats to keep power in deep-blue Massachusetts.

Voters are considering the two measures this fall. Election integrity experts have long been suspicious of Election Day voter registration as it could flood election clerks with new registrants they can’t possibly verify at the last minute.

“The reason the left wants it is because it fits their turnout model, just as they don’t want rules on ballot harvesting, to get-out-the-vote, and win,” Jason Snead, executive director of the Honest Elections Project, told the Daily Signal.

“This would just invite massive cheating,” Ken Cuccinelli, chairman of the Election Transparency Initiative, told the Daily Signal.

In the state, the more controversial of the two measures is the nonpartisan primary. Only a handful of states—most notably California—have nonpartisan primaries, often called “jungle primaries,” where the top two vote-getters advance to the general election.

“It’s the California model. A top-two in a blue state is tailor-made to ensure you have two left-leaning candidates in the general election,” Snead said.

Support for the measure, interestingly, doesn’t break down along party lines. Former Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and former Democrat Gov. Deval Patrick support the nonpartisan primary proposal, as does the NAACP New England Area Conference.

“All-party primaries will give voters more choice and our elected officials will have to reach across the aisle to voters from other parties if they want to be successful,” Baker said, according to WBUR.

However, Democrat Sen. Edward Markey and Squad member Rep. Ayanna Pressley oppose the measure. So do both the state’s Republican and Democratic parties, along with the American Federation of Teachers of Massachusetts.

“Under this system, liberal Democrats, like AOC or the Squad, would not do well even in a blue state,” Cuccinelli, a former Virginia attorney general, said. “If two Democrats advanced to a general, Republicans would vote for the less radical. The establishment Democrats will love it. It’s an interesting dynamic.”

Democrat State Committee members Martina Jackson and Ann Roosevelt filed a lawsuit in March to stop the measure, arguing, “restricting general election ballots to only two candidates, the petition dilutes the ‘diversity and competition in the marketplace of ideas,’” the Commonwealth Beacon reported.

A University of Massachusetts poll released Monday showed 49% of voters supported the measure and 39% were opposed, with 9% undecided.

What’s less close is the money race, as supporters of nonpartisan primaries raised $6.5 million, while the opposition raised $184,325, according to Ballotpedia.

Washington was the first to adopt the top-two primary system in 2004. California moved to the system in 2010—with U.S. Senate races in 2016 and 2018 featuring two Democrats in the general election. In Nebraska, the top-two primary system is used only for state legislative races. Louisiana has a similar system, but there, if no candidate for office wins a majority vote in a first round, it goes to a runoff.

The same poll found the Election Day registration ballot measure has 67% support.

Question 4 would allow Massachusetts to join 21 mostly blue states that allow Election Day voter registration. Battleground states such as Wisconsin, Nevada, and Michigan also allow it, as do very red states such as Idaho and Utah.

“Election Day registration has long been a part of the liberal voting agenda. It was in HR 1,” Snead said, a reference to a bill pushed by congressional Democrats in 2021 to nationalize election administration and create universal mail-in voting.

Currently, Massachusetts voters have to register 10 days before an election. Early voting starts 17 days before an election, so some voters can effectively already register and vote the same day.

On Question 4, the Massachusetts Democratic and Republican parties are in the familiar spots of opposing each other.

But there is no organized opposition, as supporters raised $264,415. That includes tens of thousands from unions and the American Civil Liberties Union, and no organized fundraising from the opposition, according to Ballotpedia.

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