The real CA Senate vote happened during the June primaries, which decided the candidates that would appear on the November general ballot. It's actually not a

The real CA Senate vote happened during the June primaries, which decided the candidates that would appear on the November general ballot. It's actually not a terrible system. A lot of folks are typically reluctant to vote for a third-party candidate because it feels like throwing your vote away. Instead, CA's new "top two" system gives you a chance to freely vote for a third-party candidate (in the primaries), and if that candidate loses, you get to re-cast your vote for one of the more popular candidates during a second round. It's just different than what we're used to. It's not perfect (I'd prefer to see something like approval voting, or instant-runoff voting), but I think it's an improvement.