BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2351
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2351 (Gordon)
As Introduced February 21, 2014
Majority vote
ELECTIONS 6-0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Ayes:|Fong, Donnelly, Bonta, | | |
| |Hall, Perea, Rodriguez | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY : Revises conditions under which a political party is
considered qualified to participate in a primary or presidential
general election. Specifically, this bill :
1)Provides that a political party is qualified to participate in
a primary or presidential general election if, at the last
preceding gubernatorial primary election, the sum of the votes
cast for all of the candidates for an office voted on
throughout the state who disclosed a preference for that party
on the ballot was at least 2% of the entire vote of the state,
instead of the last preceding gubernatorial general election
in which there was polled for any one of its candidates for
any office voted on through the state, at least 2% of the
entire vote of the state.
2)Permits a party to inform the Secretary of State (SOS) that it
declines to have the votes cast for any candidate who has
disclosed that party as his or her party preference on the
ballot counted toward the 2% qualification threshold.
Requires a party, if a party wishes to have votes for any
candidate not counted in support of its qualification, to
notify the SOS in writing of that candidate's name by the
seventh day prior to the gubernatorial primary election.
3)Provides that a political party is qualified to participate in
a primary election if, on or before the 135th day before a
primary election, it appears to the SOS, as a result of
examining and totaling the statement of voters and their
declared political preferences transmitted to the SOS by
county elections officials, that voters equal in number to at
least 0.33 % of the total number of voters registered on the
AB 2351
Page 2
154th day before the primary election have declared their
preference for that party, instead of at least 1% of the
entire vote of the state at the last preceding gubernatorial
election have declared their intention to affiliate with that
party.
4)Provides that a political party is qualified to participate in
a presidential general election if, on or before the 102nd day
before a presidential general election, it appears to the SOS,
as a result of examining and totaling the statement of voters
and their declared political preferences transmitted to the
SOS by county elections officials, that voters equal in number
to at least 0.33% of the total number of voters registered on
the 123rd day before the presidential general election have
declared their preference for that party, instead of at least
1% of the entire vote of the state at the last preceding
gubernatorial election have declared their intention to
affiliate with that party.
5)Makes other corresponding changes.
FISCAL EFFECT : None. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "Proposition 14, passed by
the voters in June of 2010, will eliminate a major way the
smaller political parties remain qualified and therefore
maintain ballot status. In response, AB 2351 would make two
distinct changes to the party qualification statutes to remedy
this situation and continue to provide smaller parties with a
means to retain their qualified party status."
In February 2009, the Legislature approved SCA 4 (Maldonado),
Resolution Chapter 2, Statutes of 2009, which was enacted by the
voters as Proposition 14 on the June 2010 statewide primary
election ballot. Proposition 14 implemented a top two primary
election system in California for most elective state and
federal offices. At primary elections, voters are able to vote
for any candidate, regardless of party, and the two candidates
who receive the most votes, regardless of party, advance to the
general election.
The implementation of the top two primary system has had a
significant impact on third parties. Only the top two
AB 2351
Page 3
candidates for most elective state and federal offices advance
to the general election. Under this new process, it is
challenging for a third party candidate for statewide office to
advance to the general election ballot. Consequently, it has
become impractical for third parties to maintain their status as
qualified political parties based on the number of votes cast
for their candidates for statewide office at the general
election since their candidates typically will not appear on the
general election ballot. In addition, as that method to
maintain party qualification status goes away, parties will
likely have to meet the registration test in order to maintain
their qualification status.
According to the author's office, in an effort to address this
problem this bill allows a political party to maintain its
status if at the last preceding gubernatorial primary election,
instead of the last preceding gubernatorial general election,
the sum of the votes cast for all of the party's candidates for
a statewide office total at least 2% of the votes for that
office. In other words, this bill moves the timing of when the
2% test occurs, from the preceding gubernatorial general
election to the preceding gubernatorial primary election as well
as allowing the 2% threshold to be calculated based on the votes
for all of the party's candidates in a particular race, not just
one candidate.
Additionally, this bill changes the registration threshold for
party qualification from 1% of all votes cast in the
gubernatorial general election to 0.33% of all registered voters
that have declared their preference for that party, regardless
of the gubernatorial voter turnout. The combination of these
changes will help alleviate the challenges smaller parties face
when trying to maintain their political party qualification
status.
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
on this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916)
319-2094
FN: 0003381
AB 2351
Page 4