Six years after voters passed Proposition 14, creating a top-two primary system, Californians are increasingly being asked to choose between two members of the same party for legislative seats.
There are 23 state legislative and congressional races this year that pit Democrats against Democrats or Republicans against Republicans -- 13 of them in the state Assembly.
And in a state where Democrats have an 18-point voter advantage over Republicans, the vast majority of these races are between Democrats. Additionally, voters for the first time in state history are being asked to decide between two members of the same party in the race to fill U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer's seat -- leading some likely voters to tell pollsters they plan to sit out that race entirely.
Proposition 14 was billed by its authors and supporters as a way to bring more moderate, pragmatic lawmakers to Sacramento and end some of the partisan bickering that had stalled many budget deals and other key legislation throughout the 2000s. Its full effects may still not yet be known, but it doesn't appear to have worked exactly the way its architects intended.