Latinos Still Unsure of Impact Calif. Prop.14 Will Have on Primary Elections

By Brendan Cavanagh


The Hispanic community remains undecided regarding California’s Proposition 14, which will change the state primaries to a ‘top-two’ system in 2012. All candidates, regardless of party affiliation or lack thereof, will compete in a single free-for-all, with the top two continuing on to the November election.


Proposition 14 passed June 8 by 53.6%- 46.4%, or 2,570,439 to 2,229,181 votes.


The reform was championed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado. More than $2 million was contributed by the California’s Dream Team, a group with close ties to the governor himself. Maldonado was appointed lieutenant governor by Schwarzenegger in November. His appointment was not approved by the Senate until April 26.


Proposition 14 was intended as a means of countering a challenge facing the Californian Republican Party, namely that its candidates tended to push so far right while competing against one another in the primaries, that they rendered themselves virtually unelectable in the November vote.


“I have been saying this since I have come into office, that we must reform the system in order to make our political leaders and politicians servants to the people and not servants to the parties,” Schwarzenegger said in a speech June 9. “We have a system here that gets…rewarded for getting stuck in our ideological corners and get punished

for compromise.”


The new system is based on that of Washington State, where it came into practice for the first time in 2008.


So far, reaction by Hispanic leadership has been limited. The Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund declined to comment. National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials spokesperson Patricia Guadalupe told Weekly Report that NALEO has not yet taken a position.


“On paper [Proposition 14] has absolutely no impact on racial representation,” said Matt Barreto, acting director of the University of Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity and Race. However, he said, “There exists the opportunity for Republicans to vote against the Hispanic candidate.”


California Hispanics tend to vote Democratic, according to the Public Policy Institute of California: Among Latino likely voters, 63% are Democrats, 19% Republicans, and 16% independents. Neither the Democratic nor Republican Party has endorsed the reform. Both could face increased competition from traditionally minor political groups.


California Democratic Party chairman John Burton stated prior to June 8, “Proposition 14 will actually increase the costs of political campaigns in California, already the most expensive in the nation, which will give more power to the very same special interests and big contributors who want [Californians] to vote for Proposition 14.”


Sean Haugh, executive director of The Free and Equal Elections Foundation, expressed his opposition to the proposition: “Not only will the two candidates with the most name recognition and money to start with be more successful, leaving others off the general election ballot. Just as significant is that there will be no voice for people to organize… [and be] heard by those who can be elected” explained Haugh.


“I think we expect lawsuits being filed” mentioned Schwarzenegger in his June 9th speech, “...because, as much as there are special interests like the parties and so on, they want to hold onto the status quo. As much as we are interested in creating change and making the system work, they want to hold on and make it so that it doesn’t work.”