Mark your calendars, voters: there are primary elections today in Alabama, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Dakota, and the biggest — and naturally, the weirdest — in California.

California’s Primary System is Bizarre. Big Surprise

California has a bizarre primary system. Instead of each party picking a candidate, the votes are all counted together, and the top two vote-getters make it to the ballot.

Like so many ideas that come out of California, it was meant to promote “fairness,” but in practice, it just gums up the works and makes things less fair. In many areas, both top candidates are from the same party, so the other party has no representation. So instead of focusing on winning their own party’s support, candidates end up trying to influence the other party’s voters as well.

For instance, Democratic gubernatorial front-runner Gavin Newsom ran attack ads on his chief Democratic rivals, former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and state Treasurer John Chiang. This angered Democratic Party officials because the ads could help Republican John Cox come in second. (Polling out Monday shows Cox has surged into a solid 2nd place, almost guaranteeing him a spot in the general election against Newsom.)

With a Republican actually on the top of the ballot, Republicans who have been as dispirited as castaways on the last island of sanity would have a reason to turn out. That might thwart the expected “blue wave” in local races, which could help keep the US House in GOP hands.

Analysts compare all these complicated, inter-related ramifications to 3-D chess, but it’s more like trying to play pool while blindfolded. No matter how good you are at it, there’s no way to predict whether you’re going to sink the ball or rip the table.Wh

Why California’s Republicans Have to Vote

I’ll dispense with all the arcane insider hot air and just give California Republicans a direct reason to turn out and vote: because your state depends on it. I know it’s tempting to throw up your hands and give up. But if the lunatics are going to take over the asylum, you don’t have to make it easier by handing them the keys. They think they own California, but there are a lot of Republicans and Independents who are fed up with having leftist “social justice” lunacy shoved down their throats.

Democratic turnout in California is often lower than predicted and Republican turnout is depressed by GOP voters being … well, too depressed to bother to vote. The cure for that: Show up at the polls!

Consider how many Californians have managed to muster the energy to move to some other state that doesn’t punish people for being productive or holding a non-George Clooney-approved opinion. Now, consider that it’s already assumed the next governor will be Gavin Newsom, the “progressive” former mayor of San Francisco, for gosh sakes. Do you really want to stand idly by and let the entire state be run like San Francisco? Not even the people in San Francisco want to live like that anymore!

The Bay Area Blues

A new poll of registered voters in the Bay Area by the Bay Area Council and EMC Research found that nearly half (46%) want to move out within the next few years. While the high cost of living was the #1 reason (liberals would say that shows how successful they are; others would say that tech industry money is distorting the real estate market and making it unaffordable for anyone else), there were many other reasons cited. They include the cost of living, high taxes, income inequality, homelessness, the sanctuary policy for illegal immigrants, crime and diminishing quality of life.

Two other findings are even more telling: 55% think the Bay Area is on the wrong track compared to only 25% who think it’s on the right track. And when those who say they want to move out were asked where they’d move, only 24% said they would move somewhere else in California (so much for it just being a Bay Area problem.) Most want to go to Texas, Nevada, the Midwest, the Southeast, Florida, even Europe … just about anywhere but California.

California’s far-left Democrats have actually managed to set off a new Gold Rush, only in reverse. The cry is now, “Go East, young Californian! That is, if you want to keep any of your gold!”

Ruin the Buzz

To Republicans in all of tomorrow’s primary states, I urge you to keep ruining the buzz of all those “blue wave” narrative pushers. But I especially urge California Republicans to turn out and vote. You have more power than you might imagine, if you just wield it. Trust me, even in California, electing some Republicans would be easier than moving to Texas. (Have you seen what U-Haul is charging for a moving truck from California to Texas? Talk about a seller’s market!)

Originally published at www.mikehuckabee.com