Chatterton

I respectfully dissent for the reasons expressed in my dissenting opinion in Stanton v. Panish, ante, page 107, at page 116 [ 167 Cal.Rptr. 584 , 615 P.2d 1381 ]. I would deny issuance of the writ of mandate.

Petitioner seeks a writ of mandate to compel respondent March Fong Eu, the Secretary of State of California, to certify Office No. 11 of the Orange County Superior Court and the run-off candidates therefor for inclusion on the November 4, 1980, general election ballot, and to compel respondent A. E. Olson, the Orange County Registrar of Voters to include that office on the ballot. We held in Stanton v. Panish, ante, page 107 [ 167 Cal.Rptr. 584 , 615 P.2d 1381 ], that whenever the elective process has commenced in the *125 last year of an incumbent’s term by the qualification of one or more candidates for a superior court office the election must proceed notwithstanding the subsequent accrual of a vacancy in that office. Petitioner is, therefore, entitled to the relief sought and we direct issuance of the writ.

On November 5, 1979, Judge H. Walter Steiner, the incumbent of Office No. 11, whose six-year term was to expire at the end of 1980, announced that he would not be a candidate for a new term. Petitioner and three other persons subsequently qualified as candidates for the office and were included on the ballot at the June 3, 1980, primary election. Petitioner…

I dissent for the reasons expressed in my dissenting opinion in Stanton v. Panish, ante, page 107, at page 120 [ 167 Cal.Rptr. 584 , 615 P.2d 1381 ]. I would deny the requested writ.