BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2351| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- CONSENT Bill No: AB 2351 Author: Gordon (D) Amended: As introduced Vote: 21 SENATE ELECTIONS & CONST. AMEND. COMM. : 4-0, 6/17/14 AYES: Padilla, Hancock, Jackson, Pavley NO VOTE RECORDED: Anderson ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 5/15/14 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Political party qualification SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill revises conditions under which a political party is considered qualified to participate in a primary or presidential general election. ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1.Provides that a political party is qualified to participate in a primary election under any of the following conditions: A. 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 2% of the entire vote of the state. CONTINUED AB 2351 Page 2 B. 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 1% of the entire vote of the state at the last preceding gubernatorial election have declared their intention to affiliate with that party. C. 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% 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. 1.Provides that a political party is qualified to participate in a presidential general election under any of the following conditions: A. The party is qualified to participate and participated in the presidential primary election preceding the presidential general election pursuant to existing law. B. 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 2% of the entire vote of the state. C. 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 1% of the entire vote of the state at the last preceding gubernatorial election have declared their intention to affiliate with that party. D. 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% of the entire vote of the CONTINUED AB 2351 Page 3 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. 1.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. 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: 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 SOS that it declines to have the votes cast for any candidate who has disclosed that party as his/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 7th 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 CONTINUED AB 2351 Page 4 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. Background In February 2009, the Legislature approved SCA 4 (Maldonado, 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 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 CONTINUED AB 2351 Page 5 status. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 6/18/14) Secretary of State 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 ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : California Alliance for Retired Americans states that this bill "moves the vote test for parties to maintain their ballot status from the general election to the primary and takes the sum of all of the party's candidates for a statewide office to meet this test. This move was necessary because it is now highly unlikely that smaller alternative party candidates will qualify for future general elections as a result of the new Top Two elections laws. In addition, if passed, this bill will reduce the registration test to .33% of the total registration. This is over half of the current registration test requirements. However, as the total number of registrations increase, the number of registrations needed by the parties to maintain ballot status will increase as well. Ballot access for all viable parties is fundamental to a multi-party electoral system. Historically, alternative parties have promoted many reforms, such as social security, that are now part of our social fabric." ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 5/15/14 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A. Pérez, V. CONTINUED AB 2351 Page 6 Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins NO VOTE RECORDED: Mansoor, Ridley-Thomas, Vacancy RM:e 6/19/14 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED