On April 11, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla endorsed SB 568, which moves the primary in presidential years, for all office, from June to the third Tuesday in March. The author of SB 568 is Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens). The bill says the Governor would have the power to move the primary to an even earlier date.

The bill is similar to AB 84, by Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Kevin Mullin (D-South San Francisco). AB 84 sets the primary in the first week of March, for all office, in presidential years.

SB 568 has a hearing in the Senate Elections & Constitutional Amendments Committee on April 18, Tuesday, at 1:30 p.m. AB 84 has a hearing in the Assembly Elections Committee on April 26, Wednesday, at 9 a.m.

If either of these bills pass, there would be no means for a candidate for Congress, or partisan state office, to get on any ballot, in the year of the election itself. The filing deadline for candidates who want to be on a ballot would be in December of the year before the election. Because California has a top-two system, there is no method for candidates to get on the November ballot (except for president) other than through the primary process. No other state has ever had an election system with the characteristic that all routes to the ballot are closed off in the election year itself. It is likely that such a system would violate the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court has on three occasions said that there must be some means onto the general election ballot that is later than early spring of the election year. The cases were Anderson v Celebrezze (1983), Lendall v Jernigan (1977), and Salera v Tucker (1976). The latter two were summary affirmances and related to congressional and state legislative elections.