Governor, Democratic Party support independent votes in primary

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Gray Davis and California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres lined up Tuesday behind a bill to let independent voters vote for partisan candidates in primary elections.

The move comes a day after the United States Supreme Court struck down California's blanket primary law on the grounds it violates political parties' right of association.

Sen. Steve Peace, D-El Cajon, said he expects his bill to pass this year. The bill would allow, but not require, political parties to accept ballots cast by voters who decline to say which party they support.

Torres said he is recommending his party accept those independent votes in time for the March 2002 primary.

That is a reversal from the party's opposition to the blanket primary. In a letter to Davis, Torres noted the party's executive board rejected including independent voters more than a decade ago, ''but I think the time has come to revisit the idea.''

Davis said he believes California should consider adopting some sort of open primary system that has been successful in other states. Even without the blanket primary, independents can vote on ballot measures and for non-partisan offices in the primary.

Davis is the first governor to be nominated under California's blanket primary law, defeating two better-financed opponents in the 1998 Democratic primary for governor. He said the blanket primary helped draw voters who have felt disenfranchised, leading to an upsurge in voter turnout for the first time in 20 years.

Although the court did not ban open primaries of the sort used in other states and now eyed by California officials, dissenting justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg said they fear Monday's ruling endangers those systems as well because they can be viewed as undermining political parties.

Republican Party officials on Monday agreed with the nation's high court that allowing outsiders to vote in primary elections undermines parties' ability to select their best nominees. On Tuesday, GOP executive director Jon Fleischman said he hadn't seen Peace's bill and couldn't comment.

However, Secretary of State Bill Jones, the state's chief elections official and top GOP officeholder, said he is encouraging party officials to change their minds. Jones said Republican leaders in the Legislature told him Tuesday they are willing to welcome independent voters into the party.

Davis and Peace called Peace's bill a first step to reinstating the sort of open primary system struck down by the court.

In the long run, California could completely bar voter registration by party, Peace suggested. Or it could make statewide and legislative offices nonpartisan. Another option would allow candidates nominated by independent voters to appear on the general election ballots alongside candidates selected by the political parties, he said.

Peace criticized the high court's decision as a last-gasp attempt to prop up political parties in an age when voters no longer need parties to focus and amplify their views, and where younger voters in particular often reject party affiliations.

''The 19th Century creature that this court is protecting will not translate to the modern American culture. They are dramatically of synch,'' Peace said. ''The largest-growing political party in California are those who choose not to affiliate with a political party. They are being totally excluded from the political party. As a result, we produce nominees in a closed system that are not representative of the public.''