BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Alex Padilla, Chair
BILL NO: AB 2351 HEARING DATE: 6/17/14
AUTHOR: GORDON ANALYSIS BY: Darren Chesin
AMENDED: AS INTRODUCED
FISCAL: NO
SUBJECT
Political party qualification
DESCRIPTION
Existing law provides that a political party is qualified to
participate in a primary election under any of the following
conditions:
If, at the last preceding gubernatorial election, there was
polled for any one of its candidates for any office voted on
through the state, at least two percent of the entire vote of
the state.
If, on or before the 135th day before any primary election, it
appears to the Secretary of State (SOS), as a result of
examining and totaling the statement of voters and their
political affiliations transmitted to the SOS by county
elections officials, that voters equal in number to at least
one percent of the entire vote of the state at the last
preceding gubernatorial election have declared their intention
to affiliate with that party.
If, on or before the 135th day before any primary election,
there is filed with the SOS a petition signed by voters equal
in number to 10 percent of the entire vote of the state at the
last preceding gubernatorial election, declaring that they
represent a proposed party, the name of which shall be stated
in the petition, which proposed party those voters desire to
have participate in that primary election.
Existing law provides that a political party is qualified to
participate in a presidential general election under any of the
following conditions:
The party is qualified to participate and participated in the
presidential primary election preceding the presidential
general election pursuant to existing law.
If, at the last preceding gubernatorial election, there was
polled for any one of its candidates for any office voted on
through the state, at least two percent of the entire vote of
the state.
If, on or before the 135th day before any primary election, it
appears to the SOS, as a result of examining and totaling the
statement of voters and their political affiliations
transmitted to the SOS by county elections officials, that
voters equal in number to at least one percent of the entire
vote of the state at the last preceding gubernatorial election
have declared their intention to affiliate with that party.
If, on or before the 135th day before any primary election,
there is filed with the SOS a petition signed by voters equal
in number to 10 percent of the entire vote of the state at the
last preceding gubernatorial election, declaring that they
represent a proposed party, the name of which shall be stated
in the petition, which proposed party those voters desire to
have participate in that primary election.
Existing law requires each political party to have its
qualifications reviewed by the SOS upon the occurrence of the
gubernatorial election. A party that does not meet the
standards for qualification, as described above, shall be
prohibited from participating in any primary or presidential
general election. Existing Law requires a party that loses
qualification, but seeks to regain that qualification, to file a
notice with the SOS indicating that it intends to regain
qualification.
This bill revises conditions under which a political party is
considered qualified to participate in a primary or presidential
general election. Specifically, this bill :
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
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on the ballot was at least two percent 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
two percent of the entire vote of the state.
Permits a party to inform the 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
two percent 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.
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 percent of the total number of voters registered on
the 154th day before the primary election have declared their
preference for that party, instead of at least one percent of
the entire vote of the state at the last preceding
gubernatorial election have declared their intention to
affiliate with that party.
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 percent 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 one percent of the entire vote of the
state at the last preceding gubernatorial election have
declared their intention to affiliate with that party.
Makes other corresponding changes.
BACKGROUND
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How to Qualify as a Political Party : Current law permits a
political body to use one of two methods to qualify as a
political party. The first method is the voter registration
method. In order to qualify a new political party by the
voter registration method, current law requires that a number
of voters equal to one percent of the votes cast at the last
gubernatorial election complete an affidavit of registration,
on which they have disclosed a preference for the political
body intending to qualify as a political party, by writing in
the name of the political body. A political body which sought
to qualify via the voter registration method for the June 2014
Primary Election must have had 103,004 voters registered as
disclosing a preference for that political body.
The second method used to qualify as a new political party is
by petition. In order to qualify as a new political party by
petition, current law requires the SOS, no later than 135 days
prior to the primary election, to determine if a political
body intending to qualify has collected petition signatures of
registered voters that equal in number to 10 percent of the
votes cast at the last gubernatorial election. In order for a
political party to qualify for the June 2014 Primary Election,
it must have collected 1,030,040 valid petition signatures of
registered voters.
Maintaining Qualified Political Party Status : Once a
political party has qualified, current law permits the party
to maintain its qualified status by retaining registrants
representing at least 1/15 of one percent of the total state
registrations and either having one of its statewide
candidates receive at least two percent of the entire vote of
the state for that office at the preceding gubernatorial
election or retaining statewide registrations equaling at
least one percent of the total votes cast at the preceding
gubernatorial election.
This bill makes changes to the methods a political party uses
to maintain its qualified political party status. First, this
bill makes changes to the party qualification test that allows
party qualification as a result of votes for the party's
candidate for a statewide office. Specifically, this bill
moves the vote threshold test from the preceding gubernatorial
general election to the preceding gubernatorial primary
AB 2351 (GORDON)
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election. Additionally, this bill allows the two percent
threshold to be calculated based on the sum of the votes cast
for all the party's candidates for a single statewide office
instead of basing the two percent threshold on having one of
its statewide candidates receive at least two percent of the
entire vote of the state for that office. Due to the "top
two" primary election system, smaller party candidates are no
longer guaranteed a spot on the general election ballot for
the statewide partisan offices. As a result, the smaller
parties will be unable to use this method to maintain their
qualified political party status. The changes in this bill
will ensure smaller parties can continue to use this method to
maintain their qualified status.
Second, this bill makes changes to the test that allows party
qualification as a result of registration numbers relative to
votes cast for Governor in the November general election.
Specifically, this bill changes the registration threshold for
party qualification from one percent of all votes cast in the
gubernatorial general election to 0.33 percent of all
registered voters that have declared their preference for that
party, regardless of the gubernatorial voter turnout.
Proponents of this bill argue that basing the registration
threshold on voter turnout is challenging because voter
turnout is unpredictable and subject to large fluctuations and
as a result it is difficult for a party to know how many
voters a party needs to maintain their qualification status.
Because smaller parties may be unable to utilize the statewide
office test to maintain their qualification status they will
need to either meet the registration test option or file a
petition with the SOS signed by an even larger number of
voters. This bill could provide greater predictability as to
how many voters a party would need to maintain by basing on
registration rather than unpredictable elections turnout.
"Top Two" Primary : In February 2009, the Legislature approved
SCA 4 (Maldonado), Ch. 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.
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The implementation of the top two primary system has had a
significant impact on third parties. Only the top two
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 may 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.
COMMENTS
1.According to the Author : Proposition 14, passed by the voters
in June of 2010, will eliminate one of the primary avenues
used by the smaller political parties to 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 reasonable opportunity to retain their
qualified party status.
Under existing law, a party is qualified to participate in a
primary election if it meets one of the following tests:
(a) At the preceding gubernatorial general election one of
the party's candidates for statewide office received at
least 2 percent of the vote (Elections Code 5100 (a));
(b) If the number of registered voters stating a preference
for the party is equal to at least 1 percent of the total
number of votes cast in the preceding gubernatorial general
election (Elections Code 5100 (b)); or
(c) If a petition is filed with the Secretary of State that
has a number of signatures equal to 10 percent of the total
number of votes cast in the preceding gubernatorial
election (Elections Code 5100 (c)).
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At least some of the smaller parties have relied on the first
test to remain qualified.
However, under the Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act
(Proposition 14, June 2010), smaller party candidates are no
longer guaranteed a spot on the general election ballot for
the statewide partisan offices. Instead, under Proposition
14, the two candidates with the highest number of votes in the
Primary Election, regardless of their party preference, move
on to the general election.
All the qualified smaller parties that had statewide
candidates on the November 2010 Ballot are qualified to
participate in the June 2014 Statewide Primary Election
(American Independent, Green, Libertarian, and Peace &
Freedom). However, assuming that all top two candidates for
the statewide office contests in November 2014 are either
Democrats or Republicans, the option to qualify under
subdivision (a) of Section 5100 requiring 2% of the vote for a
party's candidate in the gubernatorial general election goes
away.
Therefore, after the November 2014 Gubernatorial Election
becomes the baseline for the thresholds in the law, some of
the parties may lose their status as a qualified political
party, unless they significantly increase voter registration.
Going forward, for the June 2016 Primary, a party that was
unable to qualify based on the November 2014 vote would need
to meet the registration test under subdivision (b) of Section
5100, which may not be achievable depending on the November
turnout, or file a petition signed by an even larger number
pursuant to subdivision (c).
Accordingly, a change in law is needed to provide these
parties with a reasonable opportunity to maintain their
qualified party status.
AB 2351 would make two updates to the law to provide smaller
political parties a reasonable opportunity to maintain their
qualified party status.
The bill would amend the first of the three tests that allows
party qualification as a result of votes for the party's
candidate for a statewide office. Specifically, it would
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allow a party to retain their qualified party status if the
sum of the votes cast for all the party's candidates for a
statewide office total 2 percent of the vote for that office
in the preceding statewide gubernatorial primary election
rather than a statewide gubernatorial general election.
Parties would be allowed to disavow any candidate from
counting toward its total.
Additionally, the bill would amend the second of three tests
that allows party qualification as a result of registration
numbers relative to votes cast for Governor in November.
Specifically, the bill would change the test to 0.33 percent
of registered voters, regardless of the gubernatorial voter
turnout. This change would provide greater predictability as
to how many voters a party would need to maintain by basing it
off of registration rather than unpredictable elections
turnout.
PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee: 6-0
Assembly Floor: 77-0
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: California Alliance for Retired Americans
Californians for Electoral Reform
Coalition for Free and Open Elections
Green Party of California
Libertarian Party of California
Peace & Freedom Party of California
Secretary of State
Oppose: None received
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