California U.S. Citizenship Required to Vote Initiative (2020)
| California U.S. Citizenship Required to Vote Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 3, 2020 | |
| Topic Suffrage | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type State statute | Origin Citizens |
The California U.S. Citizenship Required to Vote Initiative (#18-0005) was not on the ballot in California as an initiated state statute on November 3, 2020.
The ballot initiative would have required individuals to be U.S. citizens in order to vote in California's federal, state, and local elections.[1]
Former U.S. Rep. Doug Ose (R-3) proposed the ballot initiative. He said the proposal had a simple premise—“I don’t think noncitizens should be voting."[2]
As of 2018, federal law required citizenship to vote in federal elections (President, U.S. House, and U.S. Senate) and the California Constitution required citizenship to vote in state elections. In California, there is debate regarding whether the state constitutional provision and election codes requiring citizenship for an individual to vote include local elections, such as school board elections. In November 2016, voters in San Francisco passed Proposition N, which amended the city's charter to allow non-citizen parents and legal guardians of a child living in the San Francisco Unified School District to vote in the school board's elections. Ose's ballot initiative would preempt San Francisco Proposition N and block local governments from enacting similar ordinances in the future.[1]
Text of measure
Full text
The ballot initiative would have added a Section 2001(a) to the state Election Code:[1]
2001(a). Notwithstanding any other provision of law, only persons who are United States citizens may register to vote and vote in an election held within the territory within which he or she resides and the election is held. This section applies to elections held by the state and every subdivision of the state, including cities, counties, charter cities, charter counties, charter city and counties, and districts. |
Path to the ballot
Process in California
In California, the number of signatures required for an initiated constitutional amendment is equal to 8 percent of the votes cast in the preceding gubernatorial election. Petitions are allowed to circulate for 180 days from the date the attorney general prepares the petition language. Signatures need to be certified at least 131 days before the general election. As the verification process can take multiple months, the secretary of state provides suggested deadlines for ballot initiatives.
The requirements to get a combined initiated constitutional amendment and state statute, filed before the 2018 general election, certified for the 2020 ballot:
- Signatures: 365,880 valid signatures were required.
- Deadline: The deadline for signature verification will be in late June 2020.
Signatures are first filed with local election officials, who determine the total number of signatures submitted. If the total number is equal to at least 100 percent of the required signatures, then local election officials perform a random check of signatures submitted in their counties. If the random sample estimates that more than 110 percent of the required number of signatures are valid, the initiative is eligible for the ballot. If the random sample estimates that between 95 and 110 percent of the required number of signatures are valid, a full check of signatures is done to determine the total number of valid signatures. If less than 95 percent are estimated to be valid, the initiative does not make the ballot.
Initiative 18-0005
On July 25, 2018, former U.S. Rep. Doug Ose (R-7) filed the ballot initiative with the attorney general's office. Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) was expected to release ballot language for the initiative on September 28, 2018, allowing proponents to begin a signature drive. However, the initiative was withdrawn.[3]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 California Attorney General, "Initiative 18-0005," accessed July 26, 2018
- ↑ Los Angeles Times, "Former GOP congressman wants an official ban on 'noncitizens' voting in California," July 25, 2018
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "Initiative and Referendum Qualification Status," accessed July 26, 2018
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