Green and Libertarian candidates and voters have asked to join California’s Top Two Primary lawsuit, because party primaries could be restored for the looming 2012 statewide election.

Charles Richardson and David Steinman, who respectively belong to the Libertarian and Green Parties, will run for Congress in the 2012 statewide election.  Randi Clausen and Andrew Arnold, who respectively belong to the Green and Libertarian Parties, intend to vote for them in the 2012 statewide election.

Steinman, Richardson, Arnold, and Clausen seek to immediately join the Top Two Primary lawsuit, because it could restore their right to participate in their respective party’s primary.

Previously, California elected its federal and state leaders through a party-primary system.  During the June primary election, parties like the Libertarian and Green Parties had the constitutional right to nominate candidates for the November general election.

On January 1, 2011, Proposition 14 and Senate Bill 6 eliminated California’s party-primary system.  Under the new Top Two Primary system, all federal and state candidates would square off against one another in the June 5, 2012 primary election.  The top two votegetters, regardless of party, would then advance to the November 6, 2012 general election.

If the Court rules that Proposition 14 is unenforceable, California’s former party-primary system will likely be restored.  That is, parties like the Green Party and the Libertarian Party will regain the right to nominate candidates for the 2012 general election.

Click here for a copy of the Motion to Intervene filed by Richardson, Steinman, Clausen and Arnold.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is expected to rule on this matter shortly.