On-Line Petition to Restore Write-in Space on California General Election Ballots for Congress and State Office

Greg Jan of the California Green Party has initiated this on-line petition, asking Secretary of State Debra Bowen to speak out in favor of restoring write-in space to the California general election ballot. The California legislature earlier this year passed AB 1413, which removes write-in space from the November ballot for Congress and partisan state office. California and Louisiana are the only states that ever had write-ins and which later removed write-in space from the ballot. Both states did so in conjunction with switching to a top-two open primary system.

Washington state still has write-ins, however; there is nothing inherent in top-two systems to require that write-ins be abolished. California supporters of top-two have said virtually nothing about why they don’t want write-in space on ballots. Steve Peace, one of the most important backers of the California top-two system, has said that he favors bringing back write-in space. Other supporters of the California top-two system, including IndependentVoice, simply never mention the issue.


Comments

On-Line Petition to Restore Write-in Space on California General Election Ballots for Congress and State Office — 1 Comment

  1. Washington law has a sore loser provision, which prevents a candidate who finished 3rd or worse as either an on-ballot or declared write-in candidate in the primary from being a declared write-in candidate in the general election.

    California could do the same, and then add a requirement for a significant plurality support for election in the general election (let’s say 40%). If the winning candidate failed to achieve 40% support, then a runoff would be held.

    Restoring the primary to August would also help.

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