Political Parties Attempt to Undermine Top Two Election Reform in California

CALIFORNIA TOP TWO

• Dan Walters: Fun, games mark California Legislature's final week (By Dan Walters, Sac Bee) • There's an 11th-hour flurry of efforts to alter election rules, including a still-unwritten bill sought by Democrats and unions to make all initiative measures go on the November ballot, and a newly written bill that would effectively end write-in votes for state offices, thus settling a legal issue over the impact of Proposition 14, the new "top-two" primary election system.
• California State Senate to Vote on Abolishing Write-in Space on General Election Ballots on Wednesday, September 7 (Ballot Access News) The California Senate will vote on Wednesday, September 7, on AB 1413. The bill abolishes write-in space on California general election ballots for Congress and state office.
• Political parties attempt to undermine open primary election reform in California (by Chad Peace, CAIVN) In an attempt to blunt the upcoming top-two open primary's ability to limit political party control over elections in California, the state Assembly is trying to change the way a candidate's political party appears on the ballot. Proposition 14, passed by the voters in 2010, changed the primary system to consolidate all of the candidates onto one ballot, with the top two vote getters advancing to the general election. Candidates are only required to list their party preference, allowing Independents to run with the ballot designation "no party preference." AB 1413 aims to undermine the reforms by changing "party preference" to "party affiliation," interjecting political party influence back into open primaries.