You won’t find too many political people as smart as Steve Peace, but what really makes him interesting is his life as a grandfather (an Uber driver to his grandchildren is how he describes it), husband, and father. A former California legislator, Peace blazed a trail from San Diego to Sacramento that may never be surpassed. He also found success in the movie making business. He wrote and produced Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, a parody cult classic.

Peace seems most inspired by independent voters, governing in the middle, and voter reform. Peace authored California’s Top Two Candidates Open Primary, which took effect in 2012 much to the dismay of both political parties.

Peace felt then, as he does today, that elections and important decisions should be made when the most people vote.

“Our principal goal and focus was to create a more competitive environment in which the voters would still have a choice in November when the most people voted,” Peace told Dear San Diego hosts Tony Manolatos and Juan Hernandez in this episode.

Politicians and their consultants figured out how to game the top two primary system, with some using primary campaigns to promote their preferred General Election candidate to voters. If they’re successful, it means they get to face the candidate they want to run against in the general, regardless of party affiliation, instead of facing a candidate they would lose to or have a tough time defeating.

It’s why Peace wants to reform his reform. As a founder of the Independent Voter Project, Peace wants California to move to a system that would ask voters to rank 4 or 5 candidates instead of voting for just one. Alaska and Maine have adopted a similar Rank Choice Voting system.

It helps eliminate gamesmanship, negative campaigning, polarizing politics, and it brings more people to the polls because they do not feel like they’ ae voting for the lesser of two evils. More voters means more votes for down-ballot items, and that’s good for everyone. The real winner, Peace will tell you, is democracy. Instead of focusing campaigns on opponents or the fringes, candidates running for elections in rank choice top 4 or 5 systems talk about themselves, and they talk to everyone not just their base.

“Democracy is nothing more than a system by which we agree to compromise and live with things that aren't exactly what we want as opposed to killing each other,” Peace says.

Peace looks through the national political lens and the local one too to discuss voter reform and more on this simulcast episode of Dear San Diego.

‍