Pete Peterson, the Republican running for California Secretary of State, has now again said that he wants to restore write-in space to the general election ballot for Congress and partisan state office (California still has write-in space for all other offices). See this column by Peterson in Fox & Hounds. Peterson had said this earlier in a Secretary of State PPIC candidate forum in Sacramento on September 11.
Unfortunately, no newspaper in California has yet informed its readers of Peterson’s stand on this issue, or the fact that so far at least, his Democratic opponent, State Senator Alex Padilla, does not favor restoring write-in space. California and Louisiana are the only two states that ever had write-in space and then abolished it.
There will be a Secretary of State candidates’ debate in Berkeley, on Thursday, October 9, at 2299 Piedmont, Berkeley, adjacent to the U.C. Berkeley campus. The event is in International House, in the Chevron Auditorium, at 6:30 p.m. The event is free but registration in advance is required; use this link. Individuals who live in the San Francisco Bay Area may wish to attend. If members of the audience are allowed to ask questions, perhaps Senator Padilla can also be pressed on the write-in issue. If California were to restore write-ins, minor party members could continue campaigning during the general election season, by appealing for write-in votes.
The Peterson column weakly defends the top-two system, but Peterson kindly linked to two columns by Joe Mathews that make strong criticisms of California’s top-two system.
California voters defeated a top-two initiative in 2004, Proposition 62. Proposition 62 permitted write-ins, including write-ins for candidates who had run in the primary and failed to place first or second.