Election Results

Article IV, Section 2 of the California Constitution provides the main requirements for California legislative elections. As most are aware, the 80 members of the Assembly are elected to 2-year terms, while the 40 members of the Senate are elected to 4-year terms.

Election Day

Legislative elections occur on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in even-numbered years.

Who May Run

In order to be eligible to run for a seat in the Legislature, the person must be registered to vote and be a resident of the legislative district for one year, as well as a citizen of the U.S. and a resident of California for 3 years immediately preceding the election.

When Terms Begin

Once elected, the terms of Senators and Assembly Members commence on the first Monday in December.

See also Convening a New Session.

Term Limits

After the electorate's enactment of Prop. 28 in June 2012, legislators can serve 12 years in the Legislature during their lifetime. It can be twelve years in the Assembly, Senate, or a combination of both. The 12-year term limit affects those elected to the Legislature after June 2012.

Vacancies

Lastly, when a vacancy occurs in the Legislature, the Governor is required to immediately call an election to fill the vacancy.

Candidate Statements and Spending Limits

According to the Secretary of State, California law allows candidates running for a state office to have a candidate statement included in the state Voter Information Guide, on the Secretary of State website or, in certain cases, in the county Voter Information Guide.

In addition, some candidates must accept campaign finance spending limits in order to purchase space for a candidate statement. Specifically, State Senate and Assembly candidates, who choose to keep their campaign spending under specified dollar limits, may purchase space in the county Voter Information Guide for a 250-word candidate statement pursuant to Government Code section 85601(c).

To accept the spending limits, candidates running for state Senate or state Assembly must file a Candidate Statement of Intention (Form 501) with the Secretary of State's Political Reform Division indicating whether they intend to abide by the spending limits prior to submitting a candidate statement. (SOS Regulation 18545)

The Secretary of State's Election Guide

Finally, the Secretary of State publishes for those running for office its "California Election Guide," which includes general information, such as candidate qualifications and information; nomination requirements, ballot designation, campaign filings and responsibilities; candidate filing information, filing fees, dates, and deadlines; a candidate checklist; and, calendars.

See also California's Top-Two Primary System.

California's Constitution, in Article II, Section 6(a), states that all judicial, school, county, and city offices, including the Superintendent of Public Instruction, are to be nonpartisan.

Which Offices Are Nonpartisan

As a result of this provision, individuals running to be a superior court judge in California, as well as justices facing a retention election every 12 years, run without a party designation, regardless of whether they are actually registered to vote with a particular political party.

Similarly, those individuals running for election to local office, including county board of supervisor, county clerk, county recorder, county sheriff, city council, city mayor, city attorney, etc., all run without political party designation. And, all those running for local school boards, and even statewide for Superintendent of Public Instruction (a constitutional office), do not run as partisans.

No Party Nomination or Label

In addition, Section 6(b) prohibits a political party or a party central committee from nominating a candidate for nonpartisan office. And, a candidate for a nonpartisan office cannot include his or her political party preference on the ballot for that nonpartisan office. So, even if the candidate for mayor, for example, wanted to include that they were a Democrat or Republican, that designation could not be included on the ballot.

How the Secretary of State Puts It

As the Secretary of State's website provides:

Under the California Constitution, political parties are not entitled to nominate candidates for nonpartisan offices at the primary election, and a candidate nominated for a nonpartisan office at the primary election is not the official nominee of any party for the office in question at the ensuing general election. A candidate for nomination or election to a nonpartisan office may not designate his or her party preference, or lack of party preference, on the primary and general election ballot. The top two vote getters at the primary election advance to the general election for the nonpartisan office.

California Secretary of State

See also California's Top-Two Primary System.

California's electorate adopted its "top-two" primary system at the June 2010 statewide election by passing Prop. 14. It became operative on January 1, 2011 and amended Section 5 of Article II of the California Constitution.

The Voter-Nominated Primary

Prior constitutional law provided a voter-nomination primary election and required it to be conducted to select the candidates for congressional and state elective offices in California. All voters may vote at a voter-nominated primary election for any candidate for congressional and state elective office without regard to the political party preference disclosed by the candidate or the voter.

What Prop. 14 Changed

Prop. 14 added to Section 5(a) that "the candidates who are the top two vote-getters at a voter-nominated primary election for a congressional or state elective office shall, regardless of party preference, compete in the ensuing general election."

While Section 5(b) prohibits a political party or party central committee from nominating a candidate for any congressional or state elective office at the voter-nominated primary, a political party or party central committee is not prohibited from endorsing, supporting, or opposing any candidate for a congressional or state elective office.

Note as well that Section 5(b) specifies that "a political party or party central committee shall not have the right to have its preferred candidate participate in the general election for a voter-nominated office other than a candidate who is one of the two highest vote-getters at the primary election, as provided in subdivision (a)."

How the Secretary of State Puts It

As the Secretary of State's website provides:

The Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act, which took effect January 1, 2011, requires that all candidates for a voter-nominated office be listed on the same ballot. Previously known as partisan offices, voter-nominated offices are state legislative offices, U.S. congressional offices, and state constitutional offices. Only the two candidates receiving the most votes, regardless of party preference, move on to the general election regardless of vote totals.

California Secretary of State

Write-in candidates for voter-nominated offices can only run in the primary election. However, a write-in candidate can only move on to the general election if the candidate is one of the top two vote-getters in the primary election.

California Secretary of State

Additionally, there is no independent nomination process for a general election. California's new open primary system does not apply to candidates running for U.S. President, county central committee, or local offices.

California Secretary of State

See also Non-Partisan Races.

The California Legislature may place measures before the electorate at statewide elections. Division 9, Chapter 1, Article 4 of the Elections Code deals with Measures Proposed by the Legislature. Section 9040 requires every constitutional amendment, bond measure, or other legislative measure submitted to the People by the Legislature to appear on the ballot of the first statewide election occurring at least 131 days after the adoption of the proposal by the Legislature.

The Argument For

Section 9041 provides that, whenever the Legislature submits any measure to the voters of the state, the author of the legislative measure and no more than two persons appointed by the author may draft an argument for the adoption of the measure. As an alternative, the author of the measure may appoint no more than three persons to draft the argument. In no case are more than three persons permitted to write the argument and the argument cannot exceed 500 words in length.

The Argument Against

Section 9042 specifies that, if a measure submitted to the voters by the Legislature was not adopted unanimously, one Member of the Senate who voted against the measure is to be appointed by the President pro Tempore of the Senate and one Member of the Assembly who voted against the measure is to be appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly for the purpose of writing an argument against the measure. The argument against cannot exceed 500 words.

Filing the Arguments

Section 9043 provides that arguments prepared by legislators and their appointees must be submitted to the Secretary of State no later than a date to be designated by the Secretary of State and the arguments may not be amended or changed after they have been submitted.

When No Legislator Files

Section 9044 states that, if an argument for or an argument against a measure submitted to the voters by the Legislature has not been filed by a Member of the Legislature, then any voter may request the Secretary of State's permission to prepare and file an argument for either side.

The Secretary of State is required to grant permission unless two or more voters request permission to submit arguments on the same side of a measure, in which case the Secretary of State must designate one of the voters to write the argument. And, any argument prepared must be submitted to the Secretary of State by a date sufficient to meet ballot printing deadlines.

See also Types of Legislative Measures and Initiative Process Overview.

Proposing statutes and constitutional amendments is done by presenting a petition to the Secretary of State. That written petition must include the text of the proposed statute or constitutional amendment. Before circulation of an initiative petition for signatures, a copy must be submitted to the Attorney General who then prepares a title and summary of the measure as provided by law.

Title and Summary

If the Attorney General determines a fiscal analysis is necessary, the measure is sent to the Department of Finance and Joint Legislative Budget Committee for that fiscal analysis. When Title and Summary has been completed (usually 15-45 days from date of submission) this becomes the "Official Summary Date".

Qualifying for the Ballot

The Secretary of State certifies the petition based upon the signatures collected (5% for statutes and 8% for constitutional amendments based upon all votes for governor at the last gubernatorial election). Proponents have 180 days for signatures to be obtained. Only registered voters can sign in their county of registration. The measure is placed on the ballot of the next statewide general election at least 131 days after the measure qualifies.

Taking Effect

An initiative statute approved by most voters takes effect on the fifth day after the Secretary of State files the statement of the vote for the election at which the measure is voted on. Nonetheless, the measure may provide that it becomes operative after its effective date. If the provisions of two or more measures approved at the same election conflict, the provisions of the measure receiving the highest number of affirmative votes prevails.

What an Initiative Cannot Do

An initiative that names any individual to hold any office, or names or identifies any private corporation to perform any function or to have any power or duty, may not be submitted to the electors or have any effect.

See also Referendum Process Overview and Ballot Measures Proposed by the Legislature.

In California, the people also have the power to approve or reject statutes or parts of statutes. Historically, most referendum efforts have either failed to qualify or have been rejected by the voters. An important note is that the filing of a valid referendum challenging a statute stays implementation of the statute until after a vote by the electorate.

What Can Be Challenged

Proposing a referendum can be done to approve or reject (but reject is almost every instance when it is used) either entire statutes or parts of statutes. There are four types of bills that are not subject to referendum: urgency statutes, statutes calling elections, and statutes providing for tax levies or appropriations for usual current expenses of the State.

See also Urgency Clause Measures.

Filing

Just like an initiative, a referendum is done by presenting the referendum to the Secretary of State within 90 days after the enactment date of the statute. Before circulation of a referendum petition for signatures, a copy must be submitted to the Attorney General who then prepares a title and summary of the measure as provided by law.

Qualifying for the Ballot

Referenda can qualify for the statewide ballot up to 31 days before an election (unlike initiatives which must qualify 131 days before). Since July 2011, referendum measures only appear on general election ballots.

Once petitions are filed, county elections officials have 8 working days to determine a raw count of the signatures submitted and report their findings to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State certifies the petition based upon the signatures collected (5% based upon the votes for all candidates for Governor at the last gubernatorial election).

The Vote

Once on the ballot, the law is repealed if voters cast more NO votes than YES votes on the referendum in question.

A referendum approved by a majority of voters takes effect on the fifth day after the Secretary of State files the statement of the vote for the election at which the measure is voted on. If a referendum petition is filed against a part of a statute, the remainder of the statute is not delayed from going into effect.

See also Initiative Process Overview.

The state's electors have the power to remove an elective officer which is initiated by delivering to the Secretary of State a petition alleging a reason for the recall. However, the sufficiency of the reason for the recall is not reviewable.

Signatures

Thereafter, proponents have 160 days to file the signed petitions. A petition to recall a statewide officer must be signed by electors equal in number to 12 percent of the last vote for the office, with signatures from each of 5 counties equal in number to 1 percent of the last vote for the office in the county.

Signatures to recall Senators, members of the Assembly, members of the Board of Equalization, and judges of courts of appeal and trial courts must equal in number 20 percent of the last vote for the office.

The Election

An election to determine whether to recall an officer and, if appropriate, to elect a successor must be called by the Governor and held not less than 60 days nor more than 80 days from the date of certification of sufficient signatures.

A recall election may be conducted within 180 days from the date of certification of sufficient signatures in order that the election may be consolidated with the next regularly scheduled election occurring wholly or partially within the same jurisdiction in which the recall election is held. This is allowed if the number of voters eligible to vote at that next regularly scheduled election equal at least 50 percent of all the voters eligible to vote at the recall election.

The Result

Thereafter, if the majority votes to recall the state officer, then the officer is removed and, if there is a candidate, the candidate who receives a plurality is the successor to that office. The officer may not be a candidate. A state officer who is not recalled must be reimbursed by the State for the officer's recall election expenses legally and personally incurred. In addition, another recall may not be initiated against the officer until six months after the election.

Recalls in California Since 1913

The California Secretary of State prepared the following information on recalls in California. Since 1913, there have been 164 recall attempts of state elected officials in this state. Ten recall efforts collected enough signatures to qualify for the ballot and, of those, the elected official was recalled in six instances.

See also Elections to the California Legislature.