So this just happened.
Thanks to Washington's top-two primary, a pair of Republicans will advance to the November general election, meaning no voter will be able to cast a ballot for a Democrat—this in a state that hasn't voted for a Republican for president since the Reagan landslide of 1984 … In fact, Washington hasn't elevated a Republican to the treasurer's office since 1952.
Supporters of this ballot amendment claimed that this top-two system would get people to “vote for the person—not the party," it would "increase participation,” and it would “return control of the primary to the voters.” Of course, none of that has happened. What it means that Washington voters will be deprived of a real choice this November. Same in California, where Republicans won’t have any one to vote for in the state’s Senate race (even though in California, no Republican was ever going to win that seat anyway).
The top-2 system has certainly not increased voter participation, as I noted back in 2014 when Chuck Schumer was flirting with the idea (something he stopped doing, to his credit). Furthermore, if anyone hoped that this system would end legislative polarization, an argument made in California, well then, that didn’t happen either. It made it worse.
Really, none of the supposed benefits ever accrued in Washington or California, but now we have a situation where voters are being deprived of a real choice. It was an experiment, nothing wrong with that. But it failed. It’s time to revert to a system that gives general election voters a real choice.