Cali court upholds primary system

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal court in California tossed all claims against the state brought by a trio of smaller political parties, who say the state’s “top-two” primary system is unlawful and makes it needlessly difficult for third parties to get on the ballot. Prior rulings in several other courts upheld the legality of primary systems similar to the kind employed by California, given that any challenges faced by smaller parties in this system are more to do with the parties’ smaller sizes and do not represent a “fatal flaw of the statutory scheme.”