A move towards a system of Virginia top-two voting follows a national trend in election method experimentation. Ballot Access News has a new post on the latest:
Virginia Delegate Sam Rasoul (D-Roanoke) has filed a 2017 bill to convert all partisan elections (except presidential elections) to a top-two system. It is HB 541 and is a proposed constitutional amendment. See this story. The story is incorrect when it says that Nebraska and Louisiana have top-two systems. Louisiana has abolished primaries (except presidential primaries) and only has a general election. In the few cases when no one gets a majority, there is a run-off. Louisiana does not vote for Congress until November. Nebraska has semi-closed primaries for all partisan office. Because Nebraska has non-partisan elections for the State Senate, proponents of top-two frequently claim Nebraska has a top-two primary, but that claim is incorrect.
Currently Virginia has open primaries. The voter registration form in Virginia does not ask the applicant to choose a party or independent status. So on primary day, any voter can choose any party’s primary ballot. If the United States had a top-two system for president, the only candidates who would be allowed to run in the general election this year would be Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
More from the Roanoke Times:
The constitutional amendment is nearly identical to a house bill Rasoul introduced last year. That bill, HB 1040, didn’t advance beyond the Privileges and Elections Committee. In Virginia, constitutional amendments require majority votes in two successive sessions of the General Assembly to advance to the public ballot.
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