Elections.

Existing provisions of the California Constitution require a "voter-nominated primary election" for each state elective office and congressional office in California, in which a voter may vote at the primary election for any candidate for congressional or state elective office without regard to the political party preference disclosed by either the candidate or the voter. The candidates receiving the 2 highest vote totals for each office at the primary election, regardless of party preference, compete for the office at the general election. Existing provisions of the Elections Code implement the "voter-nominated primary election" of the California Constitution. This bill would make technical revisions to provisions of the Elections Code to reflect the "voter-nominated primary election" process. The bill would conform the procedures applicable in case of a tie in the primary election for voter-nominated offices to the existing provisions applicable to specified partisan offices. The bill would impose requirements for forms relating to declaration of candidacy for voter-nominated offices, state ballot pamphlets, and ballots. Existing law requires every person who desires to be a write-in candidate and have his or her name as written on the ballot of an election counted for a particular office to file a statement of write-in candidacy that contains specified information. This bill would require that a statement of write-in candidacy for a voter-nominated office also include a certification of the candidate's complete voter registration and party affiliation or preference history for the preceding 10 years, or for as long as he or she has been eligible to vote in the state if less than 10 years. This bill would also provide that a person may not be a write-in candidate at the general election for a voter-nominated office. Existing law states that a vacancy exists on a general election ballot whenever a candidate for nomination for a nonpartisan or voter-nominated office at a primary election dies on or before the day of the election, and a sufficient number of ballots are marked as being voted for him or her to entitle him or her to nomination if he or she had lived until after the election. This bill would instead require the name of the candidate for nomination for a voter-nominated office at a primary election to appear on the general election ballot under those circumstances. Existing law prohibits a vacancy on the general election ballot to be filled except if the elections official ascertained the candidate's death at least 68 days before the date of the ensuing general election. This bill would prohibit a vacancy on the general election ballot for a voter-nominated office to be filled without exception. This bill would require the name of a candidate who dies but is otherwise entitled to appear on the general election ballot to appear on the ballot and would require the votes cast for the deceased candidate to be counted in determining the results of the election for that office. The Political Reform Act of 1974 defines and regulates campaign contributions and expenditures, including payments made by a political party for communications with its members. This bill would make conforming changes to those provisions to reflect the voter-nominated primary election process. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.