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AP19:082

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 24, 2019
CONTACT:
SOS Press Office
(916) 653-6575

Proposed Initiative Enters Circulation

Requires Ranked-Choice Voting System for Federal and State Elections. Restructures State Senate to Multi-Member Districts. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.

SACRAMENTO, CA - Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced that the proponent of a new initiative was cleared to begin collecting petition signatures today.

The Attorney General prepares the legal title and summary that is required to appear on initiative petitions. When the official language is complete, the Attorney General forwards it to the proponent and to the Secretary of State, and the initiative may be circulated for signatures. The Secretary of State then provides calendar deadlines to the proponent and to county elections officials. The Attorney General’s official title and summary for the measure is as follows:

REQUIRES RANKED-CHOICE VOTING SYSTEM FOR FEDERAL AND STATE ELECTIONS. RESTRUCTURES STATE SENATE TO MULTI-MEMBER DISTRICTS. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Allows voters to rank all candidates inorder of preference in Congressional, State Officer, and Presidential elections. If voter’s highest-rankedcandidate is eliminated, then the vote (or a portion of it, in some instances) is transferred to the next continuing candidate, as specified. Repeats rounds of counting, elimination, and reallocation until winners are determined. Changes composition of state Senate from forty single-member districts to eight five-member districts. Changes petition procedures and requires ranked-choice voting for recall elections. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: Increased state elections costs potentially totaling millions of dollars for every two-year election cycle. Increased local elections costs potentially totaling tens of millions of dollars for every two-year election cycle. (19-0013.)

The Secretary of State’s tracking number for this measure is 1875 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 19-0013.

The proponent of the measure, Scott Mathog, must collect signatures of 997,139 registered voters (eight percent of the total votes cast for Governor in the November 2018 general election) in order to qualify it for the ballot. The proponent has 180 days to circulate petitions for the measure, meaning the signatures must be submitted to county elections officials no later than April 21, 2020. The proponent can be reached at (626) 734-5251 and at P.O. Box 661316, Arcadia, CA 91006.

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