Two autumns ago, we wrote a report and op-ed documenting the state of representation and democracy in Montana. To no Montanan’s surprise, we found our beloved Treasure State to be in poor political health, suffering in recent years from ever higher rates of uncontested elections, partisan vitriol and ideological extremism. One of the key contributing factors to these political maladies is the partisan primary system our state currently uses to determine which candidates appear on the general election ballot each fall. When we heard tell of a bill in this year’s legislature seeking to replace partisan primaries, we were initially excited and hopeful. However, a closer inspection of the bill reveals that it’s nothing more than partisan mischief masquerading as reform.
Senate Bill 566, a bill sponsored by Senator Greg Hertz (R-Polson), would abolish the partisan primary and replace it with what’s known as a “Top Two” jungle primary for one race, and one race only: the 2024 U.S. Senate race in Montana. In a Top Two primary, all declared candidates from all parties run on the same ballot and the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes (i.e., the top two), regardless of party, advance to the November general election.
Theoretically, there are advantages of a Top Two system. In districts dominated by a single party, it gives all voters, not just those voting in the dominant party’s primary, a say in who represents them. Top Two primaries also guarantee that whoever wins the November general election will have received a majority of the vote. Finally, Top Two primaries are also more likely to produce non-ideologically extreme candidates and less divisive campaigning. These benefits would likely restore some of the faith and pride in our political system that many of us have lost. For these reasons, we concluded in our report that a Top Two primary might be preferable to Montana’s current partisan primary system, if applied to all levels of elections like state legislative races.
