Garner

Plaintiffs Silicon Valley Taxpayers’ Association, Omar D. Chatty, and Greg Coladonato appeal from a judgment of the superior court denying their petition for writ of mandate challenging the placement of Measure A (10-year one-eighth of a cent sales tax increase) on the November 2012 general election ballot by County of Santa Clara. They contend that the placement ran afoul of article XIII C, section 2, subdivision (b), of the California Constitution (Proposition 218), which requires that local tax increase measures be placed on the ballot with a regularly scheduled general election for members of the local government’s governing body. According to plaintiffs, the voters should not have been allowed to vote on Measure A because no members of the local government’s governing body were actually on the ballot. We disagree and affirm the judgment.

•BACKGROUND

Three seats on County’s Board of Supervisors were up for election in the June 2012 statewide primary election. Two seats had uncontested candidates who received 100 percent of the vote. The third seat had an election where one candidate received 58 percent of the vote. Thus, no seat required a runoff election at the…