The Facts About Proposition 60

Proposition 60 protects your right to choice in elections. Full, free and open debate is important in a democracy. That's why a century ago, ordinary citizens of California fought for their right to select political party nominees for office in direct primary elections. Proposition 60 protects that important right.

Proposition 60 reaffirms California's century-old direct primary election system.

	One of the most important political reforms of the 20th Century was the ability of ordinary citizens to select political party nominees for public office.
	The importance of the direct primary, which has been in effect for nearly 100 years, was that it took the selection of party nominees out of smoked-filled back rooms controlled by political bosses.

Proposition 60 protects voter choice by guaranteeing that every political party has the right to nominate candidates for partisan office in a primary election and compete in a general election.

	Proposition 60 would protect the direct primary election system by adding a section to the California Constitution to guarantee that every political party has the right to nominate candidates for partisan office in a primary election and compete in a general election.
	Full, free and open debate is important in a democracy. Proposition 60 protects that important right.
	Proposition 60 preserves choice and accountability in California's elections.
	Proposition 60 guarantees that candidates from the Green Party, the Libertarian Party and other smaller parties, as well as candidates from the Republican and Democratic Parties have the right to appear on the November General Election ballot.

Proposition 60 is a direct alternative to Proposition 62, the radical scheme to eliminate our direct primary election.
Proposition 62 disenfranchises voters. Under Proposition 62, only the two top vote getters in the first round of voting would proceed to the general election. Proposition 62 effectively excludes California's five minor parties and independents from the general election. In many districts, your only choices would be two members of the same political party.

Proposition 62 would:

o	disenfranchise voters
o	stifle political debate and diverse political points of view
o	limit voter choice
o	elevate the importance of money and fame, and make campaign finance reform meaningless by allowing the two most wealthy candidates to buy victory in the first round of voting
o	depress voter turnout
o	decrease opportunities for minority office-holders

Proposition 62 is sponsored by insurance companies, financial institutions and wealthy failed politicians who spent $2 million to put their scheme on the ballot.

Proposition 62 is modeled after the two-stage election system in the State of Louisiana where voters' choice in a recent runoff election was a former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and a corrupt governor who later went to prison.

If Proposition 62's special interest scheme had been in place in 2002, six million California votes would not have been counted, and 50 different general election races would have been limited to candidates from the same party.