"For post-shutdown reform ideas, many look to California"

[applegrove]

For post-shutdown reform ideas, many look to California

By Evan Halper at the LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-shutdown-reform-20131019,0,2567559,full.story

"SNIP..............................



California made two big changes in its election system. The 2008 ballot initiative aimed to end the kind of political deal-making that protected almost every congressional and legislative incumbent. It created a nonpartisan commission to draw the lines. Supporters argued that a nonpartisan system would create more competitive districts that would encourage candidates to seek a middle ground.

Then the state went further.

At the behest of then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, California also scrapped partisan primaries. They were replaced with an open system in which voters of any political affiliation can participate. The top two candidates, regardless of their party, advance to the general election.



.............................SNIP"