Prop. 60 - About This Measure

Proposition 60 - Equal Party Representation

Election History 

California holds two state elections (primary and general) to elect a state official to public office. A public office in which a candidate is affiliated with a political party (such as Governor, Attorney General, and members of the Legislature), the candidate receiving the most votes among a party's candidates is the party's nominee. The nominee of each party is then placed on the ballot of the general election. This measure allows for all parties and any independent candidates to be chosen by voters in the general election and prevents more than one person from any single to be represented on the ballot of the general election.

Proposition Measure

Proposition 60 amends into the California Constitution that all political parties that participate in a primary election can advance their leading vote-receiving candidate to the general election. This requirement is completed by the current election process (as stated above).

Proponents - No contributions or Expenditures made (1/1/04-6/30/04)

Dan Stanford
Former Chairman, Fair Political Practices Commission

Barbara O'Connor, Ph.D.
Director, Institute for the Study of Politics & Media
California State University, Sacramento

George Zenovich
Appellate Court Justice, Retired

Committee to Preserve Voter Choice
1127 11th Street, Suite 950, Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 443-5900

Opponents- Total Contributions : $2,067,788.72 (1/1/04-6/30/04)

Corporate, Insurance, and Financial Institutions (e.g. Countrywide Home loans)

Proposition 60 – Long Term (“Macro”)

In 1996 California voters passed proposition 198, which allowed a “ blanket ” primary system. Meaning all registered voters, regardless of partisan affiliation could vote for any candidate in a primary election and the top vote-getting candidate of each party would appear on the general election. This voting system was used in the 1998 and 2000 elections before the United States Supreme Court found the proposition initiative to be unconstitutional. The result was a return to closed primary elections, and the top vote-recipient of each political party in a primary election is represented on the general election ticket.

To keep the existing closed primary intact, the legislature is attempting to balance out the playing field by placing proposition 60 on the ballot which insures closed primaries (current system) and would cancel out proposition 62 (open primaries, top 2 candidates advance to general election).

Persons of strong party affiliation (i.e. Democrats and Republicans) fear swing voters (moderates) having an open primary through proposition 62 because swing voters could cause to great of a compromise in chosen candidates. The majority of swing voters won't vote for a third party but a moderate candidate of the Democratic or Republican Party. Therefore, the top two vote-getting candidates of the general election may not hold the primary ideology of its party's base constituency, but rather serves as a compromise in partisan candidacy.

Moreover, if the top two vote getters in the primary election are of the same party affiliation (democrat vs. democrat) as proposition 62 permits in the rules of the general election, then the two politicians would be forced to loose some of their “hardcore” partisanship and have to try and appeal to all voters of the state. And despite how much the two politicians (if affiliated under the same party) tried to reach out to the people in the general election, one of the two major parties (Democrat or Republican) wouldn't be left off the ticket. Thus, the general consensus would be that Californian's have lost their ability to vote for a candidate that represents them.

Proposition 60 Current (“Micro”)

Field Poll conducted Courtesy of Sacramento Bee Discovered the voter preferences among Californian's regarding proposition 60

Findings are based on a random sample of 1,034 California registered voters (conducted July 30-August 8 th with a 4.5% margin of error).

Proposition 60 is leading by a 39% to 15% percent margin, with 46% percent of voters undecided

http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/ca/story/10407446p- 11327143c.html

Prop 60 Election Analysis

The support for proposition 60-even amongst partisan voters (Republican and Democrat) is relatively high. Traditionally people with strong partisan identification (i.e. Republican or Democratic Party) tend to adhere to the two party system and seek to shut out third party candidates. If voters pass the proposition 62 referendum, only the top two vote-recipients will appear on the general election ballot, thus effectively shutting out third party candidates from public state office.

But do California voters want to keep third party candidates off the general election ballot? California is the state of complete contrast and constant change. This is shown primarily in the diverse racial make-up of California. There is no majority ethnic or racial group in California and the Latino population now constitutes roughly 33% of California, and is continually on the rise.

Currently, issues that Californian's deems of value and importance are decided through ballot initiatives, rather than through the state legislature or governor. Meaning, Californian's generally like the ability to choose! However political parties do not (generally) want to compromise with a politician that they deem heavily moderate. With Proposition 62 (open primary) would allow for any person to vote for any candidate, rather they are registered under that party or not. This will cause a great “political shake-up” amongst parties because the party's primary base will have no option but to lean toward the moderate candidate because of the swing voter's influence.

Currently, why do the polls show greater support for proposition 62? Republicans and Democrats both seek to obtain complete control of their district by being the only two candidates of the same partisanship (e.g. Democrat vs. Democrat) on the general election ballot. Thus effectively shutting out any partisan opposition. However, in reality the support for proposition 62 amongst Republicans and Democrats is only very minimally higher than their support for proposition 60. If you take the margin of error into account their almost dead even. Both Proposition 60 and 62 initiatives are getting support from a high number of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents despite being contrasting initiatives. The split in support and the high percentage of voters who are currently undecided (nearly 50%) on the issue is not because voters within their own party are so torn between the issue of open/closed primary and general elections but primarily because the voters are confused with the two initiatives. The placing of both initiatives on the ballot has perplexed voters understanding of the intent and unintended consequences of each measure.