Here is a link to California election returns. Proposition 14, the top-two ballot measure, has 59.5% “Yes”. Proposition 15, to repeal the state law that bans public funding, is losing with 43.3%.

California now has the most restrictive general election ballot access in the nation. Even Georgia always has three candidates on the November ballot for statewide office. Even Oklahoma typically has three candidates on the November ballot for Congress, as does North Carolina.

Even Washington state will sometimes count write-ins. California now has a general election ballot (for partisan office other than President) that compares with Ohio’s general election ballot between 1949 and 1967…no one on the November ballot but Democrats and Republicans, no write-ins counted. We know top-two works this way because that is how it worked in Washington state in 2008. I will not be voting in midterm general elections in California any longer, if Proposition 14 is upheld, and I suspect thousands of other Californians feel the same way.

The Sacramento Bee has this article, in which California Secretary of State Debra Bowen expresses some fears that if Proposition 14 passes and is implemented, the state’s vote-counting equipment may have trouble with the long lists of candidates that would be on a unitary June ballot.

For example, this year, there are 23 candidates for Governor in the six party primaries. No one party primary ballot has a lengthy list of candidates for Governor, but under a top-two system, all 23 candidates would be on a single ballot. There are 7 Democrats, 8 Republicans, 2 American Independent, 2 Green, 1 Libertarian, and 3 Peace & Freedom Party members running for Governor.

On June 8, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocked Arizona from paying full public funding for candidates for state office. See this story. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.