BILL ANALYSIS �
ACA 9
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 15, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
ACA 9 (Gorell) - As Introduced: February 21, 2013
Policy Committee: ElectionsVote:5-1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This measure proposes to amend the State Constitution to
prohibit a write-in candidate at a primary election who is one
of the two candidates who received the highest number of votes
cast for that office from having his or her name appear on the
ballot at the general election, unless the candidate received
votes equal in number to at least one percent of all votes cast
for that office at the last preceding general election at which
the office was filled. This measure applies to statewide
offices, congressional offices, and legislative offices.
FISCAL EFFECT
One-time GF cost of about $220,000 to include an analysis of
this measure, and arguments for and against the measure, in the
state voter information guide.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the author, "In 2010, public approval of
Proposition 14 changed the way Californians choose their
candidates for elected office. The new 'Top Two' general
election format was designed so that the two candidates who
received the most votes in the state's primary election would
face each other in a November general election, regardless of
their own party registration. The language necessary to
maintain a minimum threshold for write-in votes was not
included in Prop 14, unintentionally abandoning the
longstanding requirement that write-in candidates must receive
at least 1% of all votes cast to advance to a general
election. ACA 9 corrects this oversight by reestablishing
that 1% minimum."
ACA 9
Page 2
2)2012 Elections and Write-In Candidates : The 2012 elections
marked the first time that the top two primary election system
was used at a regularly scheduled election in California. In
the June 2012 primary, six write-in candidates finished as one
of the top two candidates in the primary election for the
offices that they sought, and accordingly moved on to the
general election ballot. In each case, the write-in
candidates who moved on to the general election were running
for an office where only one candidate was listed on the
ballot at the primary election. Those write-in candidates, all
of whom received less than two percent of the vote in the
primary election, received between 13% and 36% of the vote at
the ensuing general election.
None of those six candidates received a number of write-in votes
equal to at least one percent of all the votes cast for the
office at the last preceding general election at which the
office was filled. As such, had this measure been in effect
for the 2012 primary elections (and assuming that the number
of votes for each of these write-in candidates did not
change), none of these six write in candidates would have
moved on to the general election ballot.
3)Companion Bill : AB 141 (Gorell), also on today's committee
agenda, is a companion bill to this measure making the
necessary statutory changes to prohibit a write-in candidate
at the primary election for a voter-nominated office from
appearing on the general election ballot unless that candidate
received a specified number of votes.
4)Related Legislation : SCA 12 (Lara) and SB 712 (Lara), pending
in the Senate Elections, are companion measures that are
substantially similar to this measure and AB 141.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081