Bill Text: CA AB2161 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Gubernatorial recall elections.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Independent 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-04-27 - In committee: Set, first hearing. Testimony taken. [AB2161 Detail]
Download: California-2021-AB2161-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 2161
| Introduced by Assembly Member Mayes |
February 15, 2022 |
An act to amend Sections 11381 and 11385 of, and to add Division 22 (commencing with Section 24000) to, the Elections Code, relating to elections.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2161, as introduced, Mayes.
Gubernatorial recall elections.
The California Constitution reserves to the electors the power to remove an elective officer by recall election. If a majority of voters in the recall election vote to recall an officer, the officer is removed and the successor candidate who receives a plurality of votes is the successor. Existing law specifies procedures for conducting recall elections, and provides that nominations of candidates to succeed a recalled officer shall be made in the manner prescribed for nominating a candidate to that office in a regular election, except as specified. Those nomination procedures include paying a filing fee for filing a declaration of candidacy, or, alternatively, submitting an in-lieu-filing-fee petition containing a specified number of signatures of registered voters.
This bill would instead require, for recall of the
Governor, a candidate to succeed the Governor to submit an in-lieu-filing-fee petition, as specified, and would remove the option of paying a filing fee. The bill would require an in-lieu-filing-fee petition to be made available, and would authorize a candidate to begin securing signatures for the petition, when the Secretary of State determines that 50% of the signatures required to qualify the recall petition for an election have been submitted. The bill would require gubernatorial recall elections to instead elect a successor candidate using consensus ranked choice voting, as specified. The bill would specify that the ranked choice voting requirement would become operative only if a specified constitutional amendment is approved by the voters and takes effect. By increasing the duties of local elections officials relative to conducting and tabulating gubernatorial recall elections, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The
California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YESBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 11381 of the Elections Code is amended to read:11381.
Nominations of candidates to succeed the recalled officer shall be made in the manner prescribed for nominating a candidate to that office in a regular election insofar as that procedure is consistent with this article. The following exceptions shall be made to that procedure:(a) For recalls of state officers, the nomination papers and the declaration of candidacy shall, in each case, be filed no less than 59 days prior to the date of the election and not before the day the order of the election is issued. The Secretary of State shall certify the names of the candidates to be placed on the ballot by the 55th day prior to the election.
(b) For recalls of local officers, the
nomination papers and the declaration of candidacy shall, in each case, be filed not less than 75 days prior to the date of the election and not before the day the order of the election is issued. If the elections official is required to certify to the governing board the names of the candidates to be placed on the ballot, that shall be done by the 71st day prior to the election.
(c) No person whose recall is being sought may be a candidate to succeed himself or herself at a recall election nor to succeed any other member of the same governing board whose recall is being sought at the same election.
(d) (1) For recall of the Governor, a candidate to succeed the Governor shall not pay a filing fee for filing the declaration of candidacy and shall instead submit an
in-lieu-filing-fee petition in the manner required by Section 8106.
(2) Notwithstanding subdivision (b) of Section 8106, forms for securing signatures pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be made available, and a candidate may begin securing signatures, when the Secretary of State determines that 50 percent of the signatures required to qualify the recall petition for an election have been submitted.
SEC. 2.
Section 11385 of the Elections Code is amended to read:11385.
(a) If at a recall election an officer is recalled, the candidate receiving the highest number of votes for the office shall be declared elected for the unexpired term of the recalled officer.(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), if the Governor is recalled, a successor shall be elected pursuant to the ranked choice voting method described in Division 22 (commencing with Section 24000). A voter may assign a ranking to no more than 10 candidates who are eligible to be elected.
SEC. 3.
Division 22 (commencing with Section 24000) is added to the Elections Code, to read:DIVISION 22. Consensus Ranked Choice Voting
CHAPTER 1. General Provisions
24000.
This division establishes procedures to be used in consensus ranked choice voting elections for elections in which only one candidate can be designated as elected in the contest.24001.
The Legislature finds and declares that consensus ranked choice voting is a type of ranked choice voting that allows voters to rank candidates for elective office in order of preference. Consensus ranked choice voting elects the consensus candidate, who is the candidate preferred on a majority of ballots to any other single candidate. If there is no consensus candidate, instant runoff voting, in which votes are tabulated by rounds with a successively smaller number of candidates continuing in each round, is used to choose the winner.24002.
For purposes of this division, the following terms have the following meanings:(a) “Active ballot” means a ballot that contains a continuing candidate and has not reached an overvote pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 24103.
(b) “Batch elimination” means the simultaneous defeat of two or more continuing candidates because it is mathematically impossible for those candidates to receive enough votes to become elected.
(c) “Comparison” means an evaluation of two candidates for the purpose of determining which candidate is preferred to the other on a majority of ballots.
(d) “Consensus candidate” means a candidate who is preferred on a majority of ballots in any comparison with any other candidate.
(e) “Continuing candidate” means a candidate who has not yet been designated as elected or defeated.
(f) “Elimination batch” means a group of two or more candidates who can be simultaneously designated as defeated because it is mathematically impossible for those candidates to be elected.
(g) “Highest-ranked continuing candidate” means the ranking on a voter’s ballot with the lowest numerical value for a continuing candidate.
(h) “Overvote” means an instance in which a voter has given more than one candidate the same ranking.
(i) “Preference vote” means a vote awarded by a voter to the candidate in a comparison who on the voter’s ballot has the higher ranking.
(j) “Preferred candidate” means the candidate in each comparison who receives the higher number of preference votes.
(k) “Ranking” means the number assigned to a candidate that establishes the voter’s order of preference among candidates. The candidate with the highest ranking is the one to which the voter assigns the lowest numerical value. Candidates with higher numerical values receive progressively lower rankings.
24003.
The Secretary of State may adopt regulations to implement this division.CHAPTER 2. Vote Counting
24101.
A ballot shall allow voters to assign a different ranking to all candidates, including write-in candidates, unless assigning rankings to a lesser number of all candidates is specified by law.24102.
In an election conducted by consensus ranked choice voting, the elections official shall provide ballot instructions that make clear the proper voting procedures for voting in a consensus ranked choice voting election. The Secretary of State may establish the required language for elections conducted pursuant to this division.24103.
In a single-seat election conducted by consensus ranked choice voting, tabulation of votes proceeds as follows:(a) A comparison shall be made between each candidate and every other candidate.
(b) The following apply to each comparison of a candidate with another candidate:
(1) A preference vote for each ballot cast by a voter shall be awarded to the candidate who is ranked higher on that ballot. A candidate for whom a voter assigned no ranking shall be given a lower ranking than a candidate for whom a voter assigned a ranking. If the ballot contains an overvote, the ballot shall be treated as though the voter did not assign a ranking
to any of the candidates ranked equal to or lower than the ranking of the overvote.
(2) For each comparison, the candidate receiving the greater number of preference votes is the candidate preferred by the voters in that comparison.
(c) The candidate who is the candidate preferred by the voters in comparisons with each of the other candidates is the consensus candidate and shall be the winner of the election.
24104.
(a) If, after the tabulation of ballots pursuant to Section 24103, no candidate is the consensus candidate, tabulation of ballots shall proceed in rounds as follows:(1) The number of votes cast for each candidate are counted as follows:
(A) Each active ballot shall count as one vote for the highest-ranked continuing candidate on that ballot.
(B) If any continuing candidate has more than 50 percent of votes cast on active ballots, that candidate is declared the winner of the election. If no candidate has more than fifty percent of the votes cast on active ballots, tabulation proceeds as described in subdivision
(b).
(2) If batch elimination is used and any continuing candidates qualify for an elimination batch, those candidates are defeated. Otherwise, the candidate with the fewest votes is defeated.
(3) Once a candidate is defeated, or under batch elimination more than one candidate is defeated, a new round starts again pursuant to paragraph (1).
(b) If two or more candidates are tied with the fewest number of votes and cannot be defeated through batch elimination, the one candidate to be defeated shall be the candidate whose name appears last on a list of all candidates sorted according to the randomized alphabet used for the election pursuant to Section 13112.
(c) A ballot that does not contain a continuing candidate shall not count as an active
ballot.
24105.
(a) Jurisdictions using ranked choice voting may determine that multiple candidates have been defeated through batch elimination. If batch elimination is used, candidates shall be defeated in batches as described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 24104.(b) A continuing candidate is in the elimination batch if it is mathematically impossible for that candidate to be elected for any of the following reasons:
(1) The candidate has the fewest votes of any continuing candidate.
(2) The candidate’s current vote total plus the sum of current votes for continuing candidates with fewer votes would not be
enough to equal or surpass the continuing candidate with the next highest current vote total.
(3) The candidate has a lower current vote total than a continuing candidate described in paragraph (2).
