National Parties Team Up to Fight Blanket Primary

In an unusual example of bipartisan collaboration, the Republican and Democratic national committees joined forces Tuesday to challenge the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 198, under which all candidates in both parties will appear on a single primary ballot.

Republican National Chairman Jim Nicholson and Democratic General Chairman Roy Romer said in a joint news release that the blanket primary proposition, approved by voters in 1996, would violate the rules of both national parties in California’s presidential primary in 2000. Both national committees limit participation in presidential primaries to voters registered in each party.

In a friend of the court brief filed with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, the committees underscored the national significance of the legal challenge mounted by their state siblings. The Republican and Democratic parties of California filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the proposition soon after it was adopted. When a federal District Court in Sacramento upheld the proposition last year, they appealed to the 9th Circuit.

In their brief, the national committees argue that “each party will be strengthened and will function most effectively if the selection of the party’s nominees for elected office is limited to voters who identify themselves with each party.”