Comparing Calif. Top Two and STAR Voting
Two round Runoff Voting has been used for hundreds of years, all around the world. It’s used in California, Louisiana, and Washington as a replacement for the partisan primary / general election system statewide, and in many other states for local elections.
In the Calif. Open Primary, Top Two Runoff System, all candidates, from all parties, compete in an open first round. Voters can choose only one, single favorite candidate of any party. The two highest vote-getters advance to a second runoff election; where, all the voters get to choose between two finalists. No scoring, no ranking at all in either round.
In the more-common partisan primaries, each party has its own primary. In states where the Democrats hold a “trifecta,” a one party domination, the Top Two Primary system is a step forward. “A nonpartisan primary, top-two primary,[1] or jungle primary[2] is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of political party.” — Wikipedia. In the first round, voters have one vote for one candidate, No scoring, no ranking at all.
This first round of voting is a primary held before Election Day. Even if the winner of the first round gets more than 50%” [as happened with Mamdani in NYC 2025], the “second round” is not optional. In the second round, voters have one vote for one candidate; no scoring, no ranking at all.
Why STAR voting is much more democratic than the Calif. Top Two Primary system
The Ca. Top Two Primary system has significant downsides. “Empirical research on Top Two primary system has found no increase on candidate moderation[6] or turnout among independent voters.[4][7]” — Wikipedia
To see more, the first and second stages of Top Two have to be viewed separately.
In Top Two’s second stage, the runoff vote is always equal. If there are only two candidates in the race, vote-splitting is impossible. Yet what about the first stage?
In the first stage, Top Two puts all candidates from every party together into one big “basket.” In the first stage, each voter is limited to just one, single choice of many candidates. This actually MAGNIFIES the vote-splitting and spoiler effects. This is why Wikipedia repeats the slang for this system, “jungle primary.” Why? Because it’s equally competitive and cut throat to third parties when compared with plurality voting. The more candidates you have in the race, the more distortions occur to the main goal, to determine, “the center of the majority’s preference for change” — Forward Party.
We also note, Top Two vote-splitting and spoiler effects are MAGNIFIED even compared to closed, party-segregated, primary voting systems. The more candidates you have in a race, Choose One elections are less and less accurate to determine, “the center of the majority’s preference for change.”
“As a result, instead of a closed primary, Californians, who now use Top Two, experience directly the pernicious effects of increased vote-splitting: outside Dark Money donors increase. In some cases two candidates advance, neither of whom represent “the majority’s preference for change.” Fundamentally, California’s Top Two elections push the inequality of the spoiler effect into the primary vote.” — https://www.equal.vote/star-vs-top-two
Wikipedia ~ “A first round with only two winners is also susceptible to vote-splitting: the more candidates from the same party running in the primary, the more likely that party’s base vote will be split among candidates and therefore for that party to lose.[3][8][9]”
STAR Voting solves the above problem
As with horse-race voting (plurality), in Top Two primaries, here again, STAR voting again offers superior ability to reduce vote-splitting. How? It invites voters to score candidates (two or more candidates can have the same score) rather than rank candidates (only one candidate allowed for each rank).
Q: How does the second phase of Top Two compare with the second phase of Star voting?
A: In CA’s current Top Two Primary system, in round two, whichever of two candidates gets more votes wins — even if their total is under 51%. In the second round, a candidate getting only 30% of the votes can be the winner (see illustration).
Dg-30% lo-res screen shot
In STAR Voting instant-run-off (no second election needed) the winner is determined by who received more stars, from everyone who gave them any stars at all.
References
Compare Top Two and STAR Voting — https://www.equal.vote/star-vs-top-two
Nonpartisan primary [Ca Top Two Primary] — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonpartisan_primary
