Aug. 18, 2026 5 AM PT
To the editor: Reforms often produce unintended results (“California backtracks on good-government policies in divided Trump era,” Aug. 17). Term limits, as anticipated by critics, have led to more control by special interests, as legislators aren’t around long enough to really learn. The top-two primary doesn’t address the fact that primaries suffer from low turnout and a voter bloc that doesn’t look like that of the general election, and of course that any plurality system risks a lousy result when multiple candidates appeal to the same voters.
Reforms that would help:
Eliminate primaries and allow all candidates from all parties to run in the general election, with preferential voting to eliminate wasted votes and guarantee that the winner is preferred by most people. This saves money, gives us better results and discourages attack ads as candidates want to be the second choice of other voters.Eliminate term limits. They’re anti-democratic and give us less effective officials.A national law requiring that all redistricting be done by independent committees and not for partisan advantage.Double the number of members of Congress; smaller districts reduce cost to run and increase the likelihood that voters know the candidates.
Randall Gellens, San Diego
..
To the editor: In this article on California’s review of our voting system, ranked-choice voting is mistakenly overlooked. The ranked-choice method gives voters the ability to rank candidates in order of preference, rather than choosing only one. If a voter’s first choice is eliminated, their vote transfers to their next choice. This reduces the “spoiler” problem and allows voters to support their preferred candidate without feeling forced to vote strategically.
Supporters argue that ranked-choice produces winners with broader support, encourages candidates to appeal to voters beyond their core base and can reduce negative campaigning. It can also replace costly runoff elections with a single election, potentially saving money and avoiding the lower turnout that often occurs in later runoff elections. Additionally, there seems to be a thirst for third-party candidates, which ranked-choice voting helps support.
For these reasons, ranked-choice voting is often presented as a way to give voters more meaningful choices while encouraging broader, more representative electoral outcomes. I say let’s see a petition to support this option.
Timothy Gravatt, Torrance
..
To the editor: Doing away with the “top-two” primary would not be backtracking as much as it would correct a reform gone bad. The top-two system was meant to provide voters with the two best candidates who likely would be moderates because of the large numbers of people running in each election. After several elections, two facts are clear: There hasn’t been a rush to successful moderate candidates and in many instances, one of the two major parties have failed to qualify for the general election, virtually disenfranchising millions of voters.
Looking at the last three congressional elections, Democrats ran against each other in three races in 2024, six races in 2022 and seven races in 2020. In other state legislative elections, Republicans have also run against each other. The current policy does a disservice to representation, which is why it should be discontinued.
Larry N. Gerston, San Marcos