Field

A group of voters and aspiring congressional candidates challenge the constitutionality of the open primary law, Proposition 14, approved by the voters in June 2010. Plaintiffs contest two aspects of Senate Bill No. 6, the legislation adopted to implement the proposition. (Sen. Bill No. 6 (2009-2010 Reg. Sess.); hereafter Senate Bill 6; see Legis. Counsel’s Dig., Sen. Bill No. 6 (2009-2010 Reg. Sess.).) At issue are Elections Code section 13105, which precludes candidates from stating on the ballot a preference for a nonqualified political party, and Elections Code section 8606, which prohibits the counting of write-in votes at the general election for offices covered by Proposition 14.

Our review of relevant case law leads us to conclude both statutes are constitutional. The objection to the party labeling restriction on the ballot is essentially the same as the one rejected in Libertarian Party v. Eu (1980) 28 Cal.3d 535 [ 170 Cal.Rptr. 25 , 620 P.2d 612 ] (Libertarian Party). The challenge to the write-in vote counting ban rests on the erroneous premise that Senate Bill 6 allows votes that cannot be counted to be lawfully cast. We therefore affirm the order denying…