‘None of the Above’ Ballot Option. Initiative Statute.
	Analysis by the Legislative Analyst

Background

Under current law, California voters who cast an election ballot for federal, state, or local offices select from a list of candidates seeking that elective position. In addition, voters may cast a write-in vote for a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot. However, voters do not have the option of casting a ballot for "none of the above" instead of choosing a candidate.

Proposal

This measure would require that all election ballots for federal and state offices shown in Figure 1 provide voters with the option of voting for "none of the above." A voter could cast a ballot for "none of the above" in a general, special, primary, or recall election for those offices. Elections for judges and local offices would not include the option of voting for "none of the above."

Under this measure, only votes cast for candidates whose names appear on the ballot or for write-in candidates would be counted when determining the nomination or election of candidates for those state and federal offices. The number of voters selecting "none of the above" would be reported in official election returns but would not affect the outcome of the election.

Fiscal Effect

This measure would generally result in minor costs for the state and for county governments to modify their vote-counting and election-reporting procedures as a result of adding the choice of "none of the above" to candidate election ballots.

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