Ballot Proposal on Vote Funds Fails to Qualify

An initiative to place limits on campaign contributions and expenditures in state elections has failed to qualify for the ballot, Secretary of State March Fong Eu announced Friday.

Eu had announced in June on the basis of a random check of signatures that the measure could not qualify for the November ballot. Backers of the measure had hoped that subsequent analysis of all signatures would qualify it for a later ballot.

However, Eu announced Friday that the complete analysis showed that there were fewer than the 393,835 valid signatures needed to qualify the initiative.

The measure, which would provide some public campaign financing and place a limit of $375,000 on campaigns for the state Assembly, received only 387,040 valid signatures, a little more than 98% of the signatures needed to qualify, state officials said.

Backers of the initiative, who gathered more than 631,000 signatures in support of the measure, have filed suit against the state, challenging the manner in which county registrars examine signatures to determine whether they are valid.

The suit cites an analysis of how signatures were checked for an earlier proposed ballot measure. The analysis, the lawsuit says, showed that the signatures of many qualified registered voters were thrown out because they did not compare precisely with signatures or addresses on the registration affidavits.

Common Cause of California and Californians to Limit Campaign Spending, the initiative’s backers, said they will pursue the lawsuit, but will not attempt to win a court order in time to place the initiative on the November ballot.