Editing Write-in candidate (section)

===California's Proposition 14 impact on write-in candidates===
In 2010, California voters passed [[California Proposition 14 (2010)|Proposition 14]] which set up a new election system for the [[United States Senate]], [[United States House of Representatives]], all statewide offices ([[Governor of California|governor]], [[Lieutenant Governor of California|lieutenant governor]], [[Secretary of State of California|secretary of state]], [[California State Treasurer|state treasurer]], [[California State Controller|state controller]], [[California Attorney General|attorney general]], [[California Insurance Commissioner|insurance commissioner]], and [[California State Superintendent of Public Instruction|superintendent of public instruction]]), [[California Board of Equalization]], and for the [[California State Legislature]]. In the system set up by Proposition 14, there are two rounds of voting, and the top two vote-getters for each race in the first round (the primary{{efn|Prior to 2020, the primary was held in June. Since 2020, the primary has been alternating between March and June, with March being the month held in years divisible by 4, and June in years not divisble by 4.}}) advance to a second round (the general election, held in November). Proposition 14 specifically prohibits write-in candidates in the second round, and this prohibition was upheld in a court challenge.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://blogs.findlaw.com/california_case_law/2011/09/court-upholds-prop-14-bans-on-write-in-votes-unqualified-parties.html|title=Court Upholds Prop 14 Bans on Write-In Votes, Unqualified Parties|first=Robyn|last=Hagan Cain|date=September 21, 2011 |website=FindLaw |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210731103639/https://blogs.findlaw.com/california_case_law/2011/09/court-upholds-prop-14-bans-on-write-in-votes-unqualified-parties.html |archive-date= Jul 31, 2021 }}</ref> Another court challenge to the prohibition on write-in candidates in the second round was filed in July 2014.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/30/6594480/lawsuit-challenges-write-in-rules.html|title=Lawsuit challenges write-in rules under California's top-two system|date=July 30, 2014|first=Christopher|last=Cadelago|publisher=[[Sacramento Bee]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812165038/http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/30/6594480/lawsuit-challenges-write-in-rules.html |archive-date= Aug 12, 2014 }}</ref>

Although Proposition 14 prohibits write-in candidates in the second round of voting, it has created conditions that can  make it easier for write-in candidates in the first round to advance to the second round. This generally happens in elections where only one candidate is listed on the ballot. Since in each race the top two vote-getters from the first round are guaranteed to advance to the second round, if only one candidate is listed on the ballot, a write-in candidate can easily advance to the second round, as the write-in candidate would only have to compete with other write-in candidates for the second spot, not with any listed candidates. In some [[jungle primary]] systems, if the winner in the first round wins by more than 50% of the vote, then the second (runoff) round gets cancelled, but in the system set up by Proposition 14, a second (runoff) round is required regardless of the percent of the vote that the winner of the first round received. Proposition 14 therefore guarantees that if only one candidate is listed on the ballot in the first round, a write-in candidate running against the one listed candidate can earn a spot for the second round with as little as one vote.{{efn|In the [[2012 California State Senate election#District 33|June 2012 election]], write-in candidate Lee H. Chauser running in the [[California's 33rd State Senate district|33rd Senate District]] won a spot in the runoff race with as few as 3 votes.<ref>[https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2012-primary/pdf/2012-complete-sov.pdf Official election results for the 2012 California primary]</ref>}}

The first election in which Proposition 14 went into effect was the [[June 2012 California elections|2012 elections]].
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" style="margin:1em auto;"
!colspan="9"|California elections in which primary election write-in candidates advanced to the general election
|-
!rowspan="2"|Year
!rowspan="2"|Number of write-in candidates who successfully made it to the November general election
!rowspan="2"|Offices for which write-in candidates successfully made it to the November general election
!colspan="4"|General election results for candidates who qualified as write-in candidates in the primaries
!colspan="2"|Links to election results
|-
! Wins
! Max
! Average
! Min
! Primary (March/June)
! General (November)
|-
|[[June 2012 California elections|2012]]
|align=center|5
| [[California's 3rd State Senate district|SD3]], [[California's 9th State Senate district|SD9]], [[California's 33rd State Senate district|SD33]], [[California's 15th State Assembly district|AD15]], [[California's 31st State Assembly district|AD31]]
|align=center|0
|align=center|36.0%
|align=center|23.4%
|align=center|13.2%
|align=center|<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/prior-elections/statewide-election-results/presidential-primary-election-june-5-2012/statement-vote/|title=Presidential Primary Election – Statement of Vote, June 5, 2012 |website=California Secretary of State}}</ref>
|align=center|<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/prior-elections/statewide-election-results/general-election-november-6-2012/statement-vote/|title=General Election – Statement of Vote, November 6, 2012 |website=California Secretary of State}}</ref>
|-
|[[2014 California elections|2014]]
|align=center|16<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-write-in-candidates-20140722-story.html|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=July 22, 2014|first=Jean|last=Merl|title=Some June write-in candidates made it to the November ballot}}</ref>
| [[California's 23rd congressional district|CD23]], [[California's 44th congressional district|CD44]], [[California Board of Equalization#Third district|BOE3]], [[California's 16th State Senate district|SD16]], [[California's 22nd State Senate district|SD22]], [[California's 36th State Senate district|SD36]], [[California's 5th State Assembly district|AD5]], [[California's 14th State Assembly district|AD14]], [[California's 21st State Assembly district|AD21]], [[California's 31st State Assembly district|AD31]], [[California's 41st State Assembly district|AD41]], [[California's 51st State Assembly district|AD51]], [[California's 60th State Assembly district|AD60]], [[California's 67th State Assembly district|AD67]], [[California's 75th State Assembly district|AD75]], [[California's 76th State Assembly district|AD76]]
|align=center|0
|align=center|46.6%
|align=center|31.3%
|align=center|13.3%
|align=center|<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/prior-elections/statewide-election-results/statewide-direct-primary-election-june-3-2014/statement-vote/|title=Statewide Direct Primary Election – Statement of Vote, June 3, 2014 |website=California Secretary of State}}</ref>
|align=center|<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/prior-elections/statewide-election-results/general-election-november-4-2014/statement-vote/|title=General Election – Statement of Vote – November 4, 2014 |website=California Secretary of State}}</ref>
|-
|[[June 2016 California elections|2016]]
|align=center|15{{efn|In [[California's 62nd State Assembly district|AD62]], two write-in candidates received an equal number of votes (32), and tied for second place against the first-place finisher, incumbent [[Autumn Burke]]. Therefore, the two write-in candidates advanced to the general election within one race <ref>{{cite news|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date= July 11, 2016|url= https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-write-in-legislative-candidates-win-a-1467920806-htmlstory.html|title= Write-in legislative candidates win spots on the November ballot, in some cases with only a handful of votes|first=John|last= Myers}}</ref>}}
| [[California's 14th congressional district|CD14]], [[California's 33rd State Senate district|SD33]], [[California's 1st State Assembly district|AD1]], [[California's 2nd State Assembly district|AD2]], [[California's 7th State Assembly district|AD7]], [[California's 32nd State Assembly district|AD32]], [[California's 46th State Assembly district|AD46]], [[California's 49th State Assembly district|AD49]], [[California's 51st State Assembly district|AD51]], [[California's 58th State Assembly district|AD58]], [[California's 62nd State Assembly district|AD62]], [[California's 70th State Assembly district|AD70]], [[California's 73rd State Assembly district|AD73]], [[California's 76th State Assembly district|AD76]]
|align=center|0
|align=center|43.9%
|align=center|28.5%<br />{{efn|name="AD 62 note"|Data is for the 14 distinct races in which the results for the two write-in candidates who advanced in AD62, one of whom received 17.2% and the other received 5.6%, are summed up to 22.8%. When treating the two candidates in AD62 as distinct candidates and averaging over 15 candidates, the average goes down to 26.6% and the min (obviously) drops to 5.6%}}
|align=center|13.9%<br />{{efn|name="AD 62 note"}}
|align=center|<ref>[http://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2016-primary/2016-complete-sov.pdf California Secretary of State, "Statement of Vote June 7, 2016 Presidential Primary Election"].</ref>
|align=center|<ref>{{cite web|url=http://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2016-general/sov/2016-complete-sov.pdf|title=Statement of Vote November 8, 2016 General Election |website=California Secretary of State }}</ref>
|-
|[[2018 California elections|2018]]
|align=center|12
| [[California's 13th congressional district|CD13]], [[California's 19th congressional district|CD19]], [[California's 32nd congressional district|CD32]], [[California's 4th State Assembly district|AD4]], [[California's 7th State Assembly district|AD7]], [[California's 20th State Assembly district|AD20]], [[California's 21st State Assembly district|AD21]], [[California's 27th State Assembly district|AD27]], [[California's 51st State Assembly district|AD51]], [[California's 61st State Assembly district|AD61]], [[California's 64th State Assembly district|AD64]], [[California's 69th State Assembly district|AD69]]
|align=center|0
|align=center|32.6%
|align=center|23.6%
|align=center|11.6%
|align=center|<ref>[http://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2018-primary/sov/2018-complete-sov.pdf California Secretary of State, "Statement of Vote June 5, 2018 | Statewide Direct Primary Election"].</ref>
|align=center|<ref>[https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2018-general/sov/2018-complete-sov.pdf California Secretary of State results for the November 2018 general statewide elections]</ref>
|-
|[[2020 California elections|2020]]
|align=center|11
| [[California's 3rd State Senate district|SD3]], [[California's 9th State Senate district|SD9]], [[California's 25th State Senate district|SD25]], [[California's 31st State Senate district|SD31]], [[California's 33rd State Senate district|SD33]], [[California's 39th State Senate district|SD39]], [[California's 7th State Assembly district|AD7]], [[California's 11th State Assembly district|AD11]], [[California's 17th State Assembly district|AD17]], [[California's 21st State Assembly district|AD21]], [[California's 45th State Assembly district|AD45]]
|align=center|0
|align=center|41.0%
|align=center|30.8%
|align=center|11.1%
|align=center|<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2020-primary/complete-sov.pdf |title=California Secretary of State results for the March 2020 primary statewide elections |access-date=May 7, 2020 |archive-date=May 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200517221055/https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2020-primary/complete-sov.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
|align=center|<ref>[https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2020-general/sov/complete-sov.pdf California Secretary of State results for the November 2020 general statewide elections]</ref>
|-
|[[2022 California elections|2022]]
|align=center|11
| [[California's 24th State Senate district|SD24]], [[California's 26th State Senate district|SD26]], [[California's 8th State Assembly district|AD8]], [[California's 9th State Assembly district|AD9]], [[California's 14th State Assembly district|AD14]], [[California's 18th State Assembly district|AD18]], [[California's 41st State Assembly district|AD41]], [[California's 43rd State Assembly district|AD43]], [[California's 48th State Assembly district|AD48]], [[California's 54th State Assembly district|AD54]], [[California's 59th State Assembly district|AD59]]
|align=center|0
|align=center|40.0%
|align=center|25.8%
|align=center|10.1%
|align=center|<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2022-primary/sov/complete.pdf|title=California Secretary of State results for the June 2022 primary statewide elections |access-date=July 16, 2022}}</ref>
|align=center|<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2022-general/sov/complete.pdf|title=California Secretary of State results for the November 2022 general statewide elections |access-date=December 18, 2022}}</ref>
|-
|[[2024 California elections|2024]]
|align=center|5
| [[California's 4th State Assembly district|AD4]], [[California's 20th State Assembly district|AD20]], [[California's 32nd State Assembly district|AD32]], [[California's 45th State Assembly district|AD45]], [[California's 65th State Assembly district|AD65]]
|align=center|0
|align=center|40.9%{{efn|In [[California's 32nd State Assembly district|AD32]], [[Bakersfield]] City Councilman Ken Weir received only 40.9% of the vote in the general election (as a candidate listed on the ballot after winning the primary as a write-in candidate), losing to Congressman [[Vince Fong]] who had dropped out of the race, but was unable to remove his name from the ballot.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sjvsun.com/news/politics/fong-won-two-elections-on-tuesday-who-might-take-over-his-old-assembly-seat/|title=Fong won two elections on Tuesday. Who might take over his old Assembly seat?|last=Gligich|first=Daniel|date=November 6, 2024|access-date=November 10, 2024|website=San Joaquin Valley Sun}}</ref> Since Fong did not take the seat although he won the election (as Fong also won an election for Congress held on the same day), [[2025 California's 32nd State Assembly district special election|a special election was called to fill the vacancy]]. Weir did not run in the special election.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.kget.com/news/politics/your-local-elections/4-candidates-file-to-run-in-special-election-for-vacant-assembly-seat/|title=4 candidates file to run in special election for vacant Assembly seat|date=January 2, 2025|publisher=[[KGET-TV]]|first=Jenny|last=Huh}}</ref>}}
|align=center|33.4%
|align=center|27.1%
|align=center|<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2024-primary/sov/complete-sov-updated.pdf|title=California Secretary of State results for the March 2024 primary statewide elections |access-date=January 5, 2025}}</ref>
|align=center|<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2024-general/sov/complete-sov.pdf|title=California Secretary of State results for the November 2024 general statewide elections |access-date=January 5, 2025}}</ref>
|}