From a great article by the Voter Choice Massachusetts Policy director, Greg Dennis, published at CommonWealth Magazine:

The recurring threat of vote-splitting led the California Democratic Party to take the unseemly step of pressuring candidates not to run at all. Not only does top-two aggravate major parties with its “too many candidates” problem, it also undermines minor parties and independent candidates by excluding them from the general election entirely. Unlike ranked choice voting, which welcomes new voices and choices into our elections by eliminating the “spoiler” effect, top-two deprives voters of options in the final, decisive race, limiting the range of political discourse right when voter interest is at its peak.

Top-two has managed to anger just about everybody, and not just in California. As we at Voter Choice criss-cross the state, giving hundreds of talks from the Cape to the Berkshires, virtually everyone who brings up top-two is already dead-set against it: Democrats and Republicans, third-parties and independents, average voters and legislators. It has no political future here, even if it were good policy (which it isn’t).

Read full article here.