Elections were held in California on November 6, 2012. On the ballot were eleven propositions, various parties' nominees for the United States presidency, the Class I Senator to the United States Senate, all of California's seats to the House of Representatives, all of the seats of the State Assembly, and all odd-numbered seats of the State Senate.
This was the first general election with California's newly implemented nonpartisan blanket primary in effect, pursuant to Proposition 14, which passed with 53% voter approval in June 2010. Additionally, in November 2010, voters approved Proposition 20, which authorized a California Citizens Redistricting Commission to re-draw congressional district lines, in addition to its current job of drawing state senate district lines and state assembly district lines, taking away that job from the California state legislature. This was the first general election whose winners represent districts drawn by the Citizens Redistricting Commission.
After the election, California's congressional delegation gained four new Democrats, including the first gay Asian American elected to Congress. Dianne Feinstein won her re-election bid for the U.S. Senate, and the Democrats gained a 2/3 supermajority in both of the state's legislative chambers. California voters also voted to re-elect incumbent president Barack Obama, giving him the state's fifty-five electoral votes. Among the propositions on the ballot, voters chose to increases taxes in order to fund education and other state programs, voted to keep the death penalty and the power of labor unions to use payroll deduction to fund political campaigns, and opted to reform the state's three-strikes law.
Presidential
Congressional
State legislature
Propositions 11 propositions have been qualified for the ballot. +November 2012 California ballot propositionsNameDescriptionVotesTypeYes%No%Proposition 30Increases income tax on incomes over $250,000 for seven years and raises the statewide sales tax by 0.25% for four years. 7,014,114 55.375,653,63644.63 Citizen-initiated constitutional amendmentProposition 31Makes several changes to the state budget process.4,642,08839.48 7,115,164 60.52 Combined initiated constitutional amendment and state statuteProposition 32Bans unions and corporations from contributing payroll-deducted funds to state and local candidates; bans government contractors from contributing to candidates that may award government contracts.5,400,21843.40 7,043,915 56.60 Citizen-initiated state statuteProposition 33Allows insurers to set prices based on whether the driver previously carried insurance coverage with any insurance company over the last five years.5,510,28144.99 6,737,570 55.01Proposition 34Repeals Proposition 17 (1972), thus abolishing the death penalty in California.5,974,24348.05 6,460,262 51.95Proposition 35Expands the definition of human trafficking and increases the penalties for participating in the activity. 10,078,476 81.352,310,61018.65Proposition 36Punishes habitual offenders by establishing sentence escalation for crimes that were classified as "strikes" and requires a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 to life for a "third-strike offense". 8,575,619 69.303,798,21630.70Proposition 37Requires labeling for foods that are genetically modified and prohibits labeling such foods as "natural".6,088,71348.59 6,442,370 51.41Proposition 38Raises income taxes on all incomes over $7,316 for a period of twelve years, directing the revenues to education and state debt payments for the first four years, and then to education for the last eight years.3,541,19928.72 8,789,890 71.28Proposition 39Changes the way California businesses determine their state tax liabilities, and earmarks up to $550 million of the anticipated additional revenue to alternative energy projects. 7,384,416 61.104,701,56238.90Proposition 40Upholds or rejects the state senate districts drawn by the Citizens Redistricting Commission, which were certified by the commission on August 15, 2011, and that took effect on June 5, 2012. 8,354,156 71.943,258,74028.06 Veto ReferendumSource: California Secretary of State
Postponed Proposition 18 (Water bond) This is a legislatively referred statute that would authorize an $11.1 billion bond to upgrade California's water system. On August 9, 2010, the California Legislature postponed the vote on the proposition until 2012. This measure was again delayed to the November 2014 general election.
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References
External links November 2012 Statewide Election Results from the California Secretary of State California at Ballotpedia California judicial elections, 2012 at Judgepedia California 2012 campaign finance data from OpenSecrets California Congressional Races in 2012 campaign finance data from OpenSecrets Outside spending at the Sunlight Foundation Elections 2012 at the Los Angeles Times Elections 2012 at the San Francisco Chronicle Elections 2012 at the San Jose Mercury News League of Women Voters of California Education Fund (nonpartisan, unbiased) 2012 California Election SmartVoter.org 2012 California Election Easy Voter Guide PDF 2012 California Election