Citations
- 114 Cal. App. 4th 1237
Full opinion text
Opinion
SCOTLAND, P. J.
The Peace and Freedom Party (PFP) sought, by a petition for writ of mandate, to compel the Secretary of State to include voters listed in the inactive file of registered voters in calculating whether PFP qualified to participate in the March 2002 primary election pursuant to Elections Code section 5100, subdivision (b). (Further section references are to the Elections Code unless otherwise specified.) Finding the Legislature has explicitly excluded such voters from the calculation (§ 2226, subd. (a)(2)), the superior court rejected PFP’s claims that so interpreting the statutory scheme violates federal constitutional and statutory law.
PFP appeals from the judgment denying its writ petition. Although the March 2002 primary election is long passed, the issue PFP raises is likely to recur in future elections and is a matter of continuing public interest and importance. Thus, we exercise our discretion to decide the issue on the merits, even though it is technically moot. (Burch v. George (1994) 7 Cal.4th 246, 253, fn. 4 [27 Cal.Rptr.2d 165, 866 P.2d 92]; Lundquist v. Reusser (1994) 7 Cal.4th 1193, 1202, fn. 8 [31 Cal.Rptr.2d 776, 875 P.2d 1279]; Libertarian Party v. Eu (1980) 28 Cal.3d 535, 539-540 [170 Cal.Rptr. 25, 620 P.2d 612].)
We shall affirm the judgment. As we will explain, the Legislature’s decision to exclude voters on the inactive file of registered voters from the calculation to determine whether a political party qualifies to participate in a primary election pursuant to section 5100, subdivision (b), passes constitutional muster. Because information in the inactive file is unreliable and often duplicative of information in the file of active voters, the exclusion is a reasonable, nondiscriminatory restriction that furthers the state’s compelling interest in protecting the integrity and stability of the electoral process in California. For the same reason, the exclusion is consistent with the intent and provisions of the National Voter Registration Act (42 U.S.C. § 1973gg et seq.).
BACKGROUND
PFP sought to qualify to participate in the March 2002 primary election pursuant to section 5100, which states in pertinent part: “A party is qualified to participate in any primary election ... [][].. . [][] (b) If on or before the 135th day before any primary election, it appears to the Secretary of State, as a result of examining and totaling the statement of voters and their political affiliations transmitted to him or her by the county elections officials, that voters equal in number to at least 1 percent of the entire vote of the state at the last preceding gubernatorial election have declared their intention to affiliate with that party.”
The requisite number of voters equivalent to one percent of the entire vote at the then last preceding gubernatorial election was 86,212 voters. According to PFP, the Secretary of State reported that 70,832 registered voters were affiliated with PFP and, hence, PFP did not qualify to participate in the March 2002 primary election. In determining whether PFP had met the criteria set forth in section 5100, subdivision (b), the Secretary of State did not include voters whose names had been placed on the inactive file of registered voters. PFP’s petition for writ of mandate claimed that if voters listed on the inactive file were included in the calculation, then PFP and its candidates would qualify to participate in the primary election.
The Secretary of State’s decision to exclude voters listed on the inactive file in the calculation apparently was premised on section 2226, subdivision (a), which states: “Based on change-of-address information received pursuant to Sections 2220 to 2225, inclusive, or change-of-address information provided directly by the voter, the county elections official shall take the following actions as appropriate: [f] (1) If the information indicates the voter has moved to a new address within the same county, the county elections official shall update and correct the voter’s registration. [