Ballot Access News

The California Secretary of State has posted the official results of the July 12 special election for U.S. House, 36th district. They show: Democrat Janice Hahn 47,000; Republican Craig Huey 38,624. No other choices were allowed on the ballot, and all write-in votes were discarded, in accordance with “top-two” rules. The Secretary of State’s web page shows this election attracted a 25.00% turnout.

The only other top-two election in California so far that had a second round was the special election for Assembly, district four, earlier this year. That election’s second round had a turnout of 25.68%, according to the Secretary of State’s web page.

By contrast, the last special election second round held before top-two went into effect, the special election for State Senate district one (in January 2011) had a turnout of 25.98%. Voters in that special election were free to vote for either a Democrat, or a Republican, or a declared write-in candidate. The previous special election before that, for State Senate, district 15 race August, 2010, had a turnout of 39.43%. That race had four candidates on the ballot, a Democrat, a Republican, a Libertarian, and an independent.

Proponents of the top-two system insisted during the Proposition 14 campaign that if top-two were implemented, turnout would increase. They paid no attention to the data from Louisiana and Washington, the other two states that have used top-two. Turnout in those two states did not increase after top-two began either. Elections with only two choices are intrinsically less interesting than elections with multiple choices.

The Peace & Freedom Party holds a meeting in Oakland, California, on July 30, which includes not only a State Central Committee meeting of the California party, but a meeting open to like-minded people from across the United States, to discuss the 2012 election. See www.noc2012.org for more detail. The meeting notice says “The National Organizing Committee is sponsoring this event with the intent to kick-start our work in forging a coalition of people wanting to build Left presidential and congressional candidacies for the upcoming election.” Thanks to Casey Peters for the link.

The North Carolina ballot access reform bill, HB 32, which has already passed the House, is set for a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee in the next week, which means it will then receive a vote on the Senate floor if it passes Committee. It is believed that the Committee will support the bill, because otherwise it would not have been set for a hearing. The exact date of the hearing is not yet determined. The bill lowers the number of signatures for minor parties and statewide independent candidates from 2% of the last gubernatorial vote, to one-fourth of 1% of the number of registered voters. Thanks to Brian Irving for this news.

One-fourth of 1% of the number of registered voters currently is 15,327 valid signatures. However, the tally that will be used for the calculation, should this bill be signed into law, will be in the spring of 2012, so the number by then would probably be slightly higher, as voter registration continues to increase. A good guess is 16,000 signatures. UPDATE: the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing is set for 9 a.m. on Thursday, July 28.