Proposition 14 is a California ballot proposition that appeared on the ballot during the June 2010 state elections. It was a constitutional amendment that effectively transformed California's non-Presidential elections from first-past-the-post to a nonpartisan blanket primary. This had the unforeseen consequence of effectively eliminating third party candidates from the final ballots. The proposition was legislatively referred to voters by the State Legislature and approved by 54% of the voters. It consolidated all primary elections for a particular office into an election with one ballot that would be identical to all voters, regardless of their party preferences. The two candidates with the most votes in the primary election would then be the only candidates who would run in the general election, regardless of their party affiliation.
The passage of Proposition 14 changed the way that elections are conducted for all statewide offices in California, as well as for United States Senators and members of the United States House of Representatives. Proposition 14 does not affect the election of President and Vice-President of the United States, local offices, or non-partisan offices such as judges and the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Instead of allowing each political party to hold a primary election open to just its members to determine its candidate for the general election, Proposition 14 proposed to create a single primary ballot that would be identical for all voters. All candidates running in the primary election, regardless of their political party preference, would appear on that ballot. The two candidates with the most votes would then qualify for the general election, regardless of which party they identify with. Proposition 14 specifically prohibits write-in candidates in the second round.
Results
Court challenge and controversial ruling
The constitutionality of the measure was challenged in Field et al. v. Bowen et al. The plaintiffs represented a broad spectrum of the body politic in California:
Jeff Mackler, a 2006 write-in senatorial candidate for Socialist Action
Rodney Martin.
On September 19, 2011, an appellate court ruled that the "Top Two" system was constitutional. The case then returned to the Superior Court of San Francisco County. On August 1, 2012, Judge Curtis Karnow awarded $243,279 in legal fees not to the nominal defendants in the case, which were officials of the State of California represented by the Attorney General, but to independent attorneys supporting Prop 14. The original plaintiffs then asked for reconsideration of this award. On Friday afternoon, September 14, 2012, the date for the reconsideration hearing was advanced to September 17, before the same judge who had awarded the $243,279. Plaintiff Winger called the award and the acceleration of the reconsideration hearing "outrageous" and "punitive." Election-law expert Richard L. Hasen, although an opponent of the suit, agreed, writing that the award was " absolutely outrageous." This award has been called a SLAPP action, "intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition." The Motion for Reconsideration was reassigned to Judge Harold E. Kahn, and continued to September 25, then October 3, then 22, and then 24, 2012. The case was reassigned to Judge Karnow who ruled against the motion for reconsideration in October 2012.
