BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1335
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Date of Hearing: April 21, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 1335 (Lieu) - As Introduced: February 27, 2009
SUBJECT : Elections: write-in candidates.
SUMMARY : Requires write-in candidates for the office of
superior court judge to include on their statements of write-in
candidacy a statement that they satisfy the eligibility
requirements for a judge.
EXISTING LAW
1) Prohibits a person from becoming a judge of a court of record
unless for 10 years immediately preceding selection, the
person has been a member of the State Bar or served as a
judge of a court of record in the State of California.
2) Provides that in any county in which only the incumbent has
filed nomination papers for the office of superior court
judge, his or her name shall not appear on the ballot unless
there is filed with the elections official, within 10 days
after the final date for filing nomination papers for the
office, a petition indicating that a write-in campaign will
be conducted for the office and signed by 100 registered
voters qualified to vote with respect to the office.
Provides that if a petition indicating that a write-in
campaign will be conducted for the office at the general
election, signed by 100 registered voters qualified to vote
with respect to the office, is filed with the elections
official not less than 83 days before the general election,
the name of the incumbent shall be placed on the general
election ballot if it has not appeared on the direct primary
election ballot.
3) Requires every person who desires to be a write-in candidate
and have his or her name as written on the ballot of an
election counted for a particular office to file a statement
of write-in candidacy that contains the following
information:
a) Candidate's name;
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b) Residence address;
c) A declaration stating that he or she is a write-in
candidate;
d) The title of the office for which he or she is
running;
e) The party nomination which he or she seeks, if
running in a primary election; and,
f) The date of the election.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. State-mandated local program; contains
reimbursement direction.
COMMENTS :
1) Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
AB 1335 deals with write-in candidates for judicial
elections. Under present law, the names of incumbent
Superior Court judges running for re-election do not appear
on the ballot unless either a qualified challenger files to
run against them, in which case the name of the judge and
the challenger will appear on the ballot, or unless a
petition is filed pursuant to Elections Code Section 8203.
Under this section, if a petition signed by at least 100
voters in the appropriate county is filed during the
requisite timeframe, the judge's name will appear on the
ballot. Additionally, write-in candidates may qualify to
challenge the judge by submitting nomination papers, during
the period running from 57 days prior to the election until
14 days prior.
The sponsor of AB 1335, the California Judges Association,
believes that the Section 8203 petition procedure has been
abused by groups intent on harassing judges based upon race
and ethnicity. During the 2008 June primary, a known white
supremacist used this procedure to focus on six incumbent
judges in Los Angeles with Spanish surnames. The person
spearheading this effort published a book in 1989 calling
for disenfranchisement and deportation of non-whites, and
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was endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan in a 1989 special election
race for Congress in Wyoming. The protagonist and his
colleagues acknowledged that the judges were selected
because of their names.
The six Latino judges were shocked when they learned that
they were targeted, but under the law they did not know
whether they would actually have write-in campaigns run
against them, or by whom. They were left uncertain as to
whether they needed to raise campaign money, hire
consultants, and carry out a campaign.
The Judges Association believes that more than 100
signatures should be required to force the county to
include judge's names on the ballot, particularly in light
of the potential for harassment on improper grounds. The
sponsor is currently evaluating the petition procedure, and
is working with the Judicial Council's Commission on
Impartial Justice to evaluate this and other issues.
Recommendations are to be finalized in the next few months.
We anticipate using AB 1335 as a vehicle for any
appropriate Elections Code changes relating to judicial
elections.
In the meantime, AB 1335 merely proposes a technical and
clarifying change that any write-in candidate for Superior
Court office must file a statement that he or she meets the
state constitutional requirements to serve as a judge.
Article VI, Section 15 provides that a person is ineligible
to serve as a judge unless he or she has been a member of
the State Bar for 10 years immediately preceding the
election, or has served as a judge of a court of record in
this state.
2) Not on the Ballot : Unlike candidates for Legislature,
incumbent superior court judges do not appear on the ballot
if nobody files to run against them unless a petition is
filed within a specified time period indicating that a
write-in campaign will be conducted. In fact, candidates for
superior court judge typically do not appear on the ballot,
because it is fairly common for an incumbent judge to be
unopposed in a re-election bid.
As a result, write-in candidates for superior court judge must
organize a write-in candidacy much earlier than a write-in
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candidate for other offices. While the deadline for
submitting a declaration of write-in candidacy for judge is
the same as the deadline for submitting a write-in candidacy
for any other office (14 days before the election), a
candidate who plans to run as a write-in candidate for judge
against an unopposed incumbent will have to file a petition
weeks earlier to ensure that the judge's name is on the
ballot, and that a write-in candidacy is an option.
3) Spot Bill ? The author of this proposal has indicated that
the bill may be amended at some point in the future, possibly
to increase the number of signatures needed to trigger the
requirement that an unopposed incumbent judge's name be
printed on the ballot at an election in anticipation of a
potential write-in candidate running against the incumbent.
While such a proposal may help protect against abuse, it may
also make it much more difficult to organize legitimate
write-in candidacies against incumbent judges.
To the extent that this bill is amended significantly after
leaving this committee, it should be re-referred to this
committee for a full policy hearing on the merits of the
amended proposal.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Judges Association (sponsor)
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Lori Barber / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094