So-called ‘open primary’ has been a hotly discussed topic in Korea recent years. Though politicians in both sides have been talked about the open primary, there has never been serious concern of its possible conflict with the political party’s right for the self-determination and self-regulation which is guaranteed by the Constitution. This article analyzes the origin and development of primary election system of the United States with special emphasis on the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Primary replaced the caucus as a mechanism to select parties’ candidate during late 1890’s and early 1900’s. Most states adopted ‘closed primary’, and later many states adopted ‘open primary’. Some states, notably the State of Washington adopted ‘blanket primary’ which allows people to vote for any body in any party. As blanket primary permits so-called ‘split vote’ and ‘cross-voting, it raised controversies. Political parties argued the blanket primary violates their rights of association guaranteed by the First Amendment of U.S. Constitution. The State of California later adopted the blanket primary only to be declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000.
After the U.S. Supreme Court decision, the State of Washington changed its primary system to ‘top two primary’ which has been first invented by the State of Lousiana. The U.S. Supreme Court decided the new kind of non-partisan primary as constitutional in 2008. Then the State of California adopted the top two primary in 2010 which will be used from the election of 2012. The State of Louisina also decided to use this system again in 2010. This is a very interesting phenomenon in the U.S. primary system.
The articles concludes that ‘top two primary’ is very ideal for Korea as the system is non-partisan and run by the government. It is especially meaningful as a tool to curtail the parties’ bosses’ undue influence which is a major problem in Korean politics.