The spotlight on California’s undemocratic election recount rules may actually lead to a fix for a money-in-politics mess

Last week saw California in the midst of an electoral recount, requested by the former Speaker of the House of the California State Assembly, John A. Pérez, who narrowly lost the second place spot in the June ‘top-two’ open primary for the state controller’s office to fellow Democrat, Betty Yee. Kim L. Nalder writes that while Pérez has since called off the recount, the way in which it was pursued illustrates the absurdity of the system, which gives a clear advantage to the superior fund raiser, rather than the candidate with the most votes. She argues that the state’s primary system is ripe for reform, and that California should follow the other twenty states which have adopted state-funded automatic recount systems.