Binns v. Hite

GIBSON, C. J.

Defendant Benjamin S. Hite, as Registrar of Voters of Los Angeles County, appeals from a judgment declaring that section 25304 of the Elections Code, added in 1963, is unconstitutional and should not be applied by defendant.

1

The judgment was rendered in an action for declaratory relief instituted by plaintiffs, who are duly elected or appointed judges of the Municipal Court for the Los Angeles Judicial District and who are candidates to succeed themselves as such judges at the primary election to be held on June 2, 1964. The action was tried prior to the last day for the filing of a declaration of intention to become a candidate, and after this appeal was taken it appeared that candidates have filed in opposition to only two of the 26 plaintiffs.

Section 25304 provides, in brief, that in any judicial district containing a population of 2,000,000 or more in which only the incumbent has filed nomination papers for the office of municipal court judge his name shall not appear on the ballot at either the primary or the general election unless, within certain designated times, a petition signed by 100 registered voters has been filed indicating that a write-in campaign will be conducted for the office and that if, in con

[110]

formity with this section, the name of the incumbent does not appear on either the primary or the general election ballot, the county clerk or registrar, on the day of the general election shall declare the incumbent reelected.

2

By almost identical language a 1962 amendment to section 6 of article VI of the Constitution provided for a similar procedure with respect to superior court judges in counties containing a population of 5,000,000 or more. In

Barrett

v.

Hite, ante,

p. 103 [37 Cal.Rptr. 320, 389 P.2d 944], we held that the amendment to the Constitution is applicable to incumbent judges who have been appointed to office as well as to judges who have been elected, and a similar construction must, of course, be given to section 25304.