California Legislature Leaves Door Open for a Bill to Reinstate Write-in Space on General Election Ballots for Top-Two Offices

Posted on by February 23, 2026
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On February 20, California Assemblymember Gregg Hart (D-Santa Barbara) introduced AB 2681, a one-sentence bill that changes the punctuation in the part of the Election Code that deals with write-in voting, but does not actually change anything. This type of bill is referred to as a “spot bill.” The deadline for bills to be introduced was February 20. Frequently California legislators who are thinking of introducing a bill on a particular subject, but who haven’t made up their minds by the bill introduction deadline, introduce “spot bills.” It seems likely that Hart is thinking about introducing a bill to restore write-in space on general election ballots for top-two offices. Write-ins for those offices were eliminated in 2012 with AB 1413. Bringing them back would possibly be useful to Democratic chances for retaining the governorship, just in case two Republicans place first and second on June 2.

Spot bills must be amended by late March to include the actual substance of the proposed bill. AB 2681 will not be heard in the Assembly Elections Committee until after the real contents of the bill have been revealed in late March. Of course the bill cold be amended sooner than late March if the bill’s author desires.

California Democratic Party Convention Doesn’t Endorse Anyone for Governor

Posted on by February 23, 2026
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The California Democratic Party held its state convention in San Francisco on February 23-25. No gubernatorial candidate received enough support from delegates to gain the party’s endorsement, which takes 60%. Eric Swalwell received 24%; Betty Yee received 17.3%; Xavier Beccera received 14%; Tom Steyer received 8.5%, according to this article. The other five cndidates’ totals aren’t mentioned in the article.

Rhodes Cook, Author of America Votes Election Databooks 1996 Through 2020, DIes

Posted on by February 22, 2026
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On February 20, Rhodes Cook died at the age of 78. He was the author of America Votes for the volumes that appeared every two years, starting in 1996, all the way through 2020. He also had his own monthly newsletter, the Rhodes Cook Letter, which contained election returns data and analysis. See this description of himself, written while he was still alive.

Sadly, the America Votes series of books has died out. The last volume, 35, which covered the 2022 election, was authored by J. Miles Coleman. After it was published, the publisher, Sage Reference, decided to discontinue the series.