Dec 6, 2007 4:35 pm US/Pacific
GOP Electoral Measure Won't Make June Ballot
LOS ANGELES (AP) ―
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GOP activists ran out of time and money to qualify the measure for June, California's second primary election next year.
CBS
A California ballot measure that could give Republicans an edge in next year's presidential campaign by changing the way the state awards its electoral college votes won't make the June primary ballot and is now headed for November, backers said Thursday.
GOP activists ran out of time and money to qualify the measure for June, California's second primary election next year. They were operating under tremendous pressure, having taken up the cause after a previous group gave up on it.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, opposes the idea because he says it would change the rules in the middle of the game. That made it harder to raise money for the initiative.
Democrats, who have won California in each of the past four presidential races, mobilized a fierce opposition campaign to portray the measure as a power grab. GOP supporters say it is a way to give the state's minority Republicans a voice in the presidential election.
California gives its largest-in-the-nation cache of 55 electoral votes to whoever wins statewide. Under the proposed measure, just two votes would be given to the statewide winner, with the rest allocated to the winner of each congressional district. The ballot measure could carve out at least 20 electoral votes for the Republican nominee in GOP-leaning districts.
If the measure qualified for the November ballot, it is still unclear whether it would apply to the presidential election vote to be held on the same day. One expert said it could, as long as proponents word their measure so it clearly states its effect on the 2008 race.
"I don't see any constitutional problem to that application," said Vik Amar, an expert on election law at the University of California, Davis. "Electors don't cast their ballots until December. It's always after the November election."
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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