The dust is still settling on the results of Proposition 29, as the race has been very close. That being said, many are already calling the race by indicating it has narrowly been defeated. Election officials are in the process of going through thousands of uncounted ballots and official results may not be available for some time when it comes to declaring a decisive winner. You’ll recall that this measure would increase the state's cigarette tax by $1 per pack in order to fund cancer research. Both sides of the campaign say they are waiting for more precise figures.

As more results poured in, signs are pointing to the fact that the anti-Prop 29 side may be victorious due to anti-tax sentiment and the $47 million that the tobacco industry threw at the campaign. No on 29 spokeswoman Beth Miller commented to the Bee for a Thursday article that “We're very encouraged with a 63,000-vote lead, but there are obviously ballots still outstanding to be counted. We are waiting to get a better assessment of how many ballots are still outstanding and evaluate whether that will have an impact."

Term limits are getting a makeover after voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 28 during the June primary. Under the provisions of this initiative, lawmakers will see the amount of time they can serve in the Legislature reduced from 14 years to 12 years. That being said, the measure also stipulates that lawmakers can serve all 12 of those years in one house, either the Senate or Assembly. The state Democratic Party, as well as labor, business and good-government groups, were all supporters of the measure.

This measure changes an initiative that voters passed in 1990 that states lawmakers were only allowed to serve no more than six years in the Assembly and eight years in the state Senate. Those days are now over, as legislators will simple be able to serve longer in one house.

The Bee reports that “Proponents said the measure would result in more experienced lawmakers and legislative leaders, which they contended was a necessary counterbalance to lobbyists who have become increasingly powerful since voters passed the current term limits law in 1990.”

As a counter point, Jon Fleischman, a spokesman for the small No on 28 campaign, commented that “The public is being fooled into thinking this measure strengthens term limits when it does the exact opposite.” The fact that legislators overall will see the amount of time they can serve reduced is probably a big factor in the initiative’s support at the polls.

It looks like the Legislature won’t be part-time at any point in the near future after a controversial initiative campaign threw in the towel. Without sufficient funds, proponents of an initiative to convert the Legislature to part-time status have announced that the signature-gathering effort has been shut down, which means that the July 2nd deadline will pass without enough petitions being submitted. Major backers of the effort included Ted Costa of People’s Advocate and Republican Assemblywoman Shannon Grove of Bakersfield.

The initiative also would have significantly reduced the pay of legislators; instead of an annual salary of $95,000, officials would have received $1,500 a month.  Grove argued all along that the Legislature needed to be part-time because the legislative body had steadily deteriorated and been infiltrated by professional politicians. In order to qualify, 807,615 valid voter signatures had to be collected, but the campaign fell far short of that amount due to money running low.

Proponents have said they may re-file the initiative with the state at some point in the future with the aim of qualifying for the November ballot. See more here.

Now that June’s election has come and gone, one key point from the primary that is bound to get plenty of attention was the anemic voter turnout. By some early estimates the overall rate was pegged at 24%, which could be an all-time low. In some counties, the turnout rate was far lower. So if you did vote on the 5th, you were one of the few in the state who cast a ballot, as turnout fell short of the 30% rate that was predicted for the primary. So how does the turnout rate for this June’s election compare to the state’s highest rate for a primary election? In 1976, over 76% of voters cast their ballots in a presidential primary.

Prior to this month’s election, the Secretary of State released some interesting voter stats, which give us a better idea of just how many Californians are registered to vote. Overall the state has
17,153,699 registered voters. Some of the key stats include the fact that the percentage of voters registered with a qualified political party decreased from 79.9 percent to 77.7 percent. The percentage of voters with no political party preference (known before 2011 as decline-to-state voters) continues to tick up, increasing from 19.4 percent four years ago to 21.3 percent now.

There were 7.7 million Vote-by-mail ballots issued for this June’s election and there are 7 qualified political parties in the state of California. Another neat factoid is that there have been 116 statewide initiatives approved by voters in the 100 years since direct democracy was established in California.

You can read the Secretary of State’s full report on registration stats here.

Here are the latest updates from the Secretary of State:

1578. (12-0009) Temporary Taxes to Fund Education. Guaranteed Local Public Safety Funding. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.
Initiative Pending Signature Verification.

1529. (11-0058) Reinstates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.
Initiative Failed to Qualify

1528. (11-0056) Concealed Firearms. Initiative Statute.
Initiative Failed to Qualify

1527. (11-0051) State Bank. Tax on California Oil and Gas. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.
Initiative Failed to Qualify

1541. (11-0070) Approval of Healthcare Insurance Rate Changes. Initiative Statute.
Initiative Pending Signature Verification.

1531. (11-0054) Regulation of Corporations. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.
Initiative Failed to Qualify

1584. (12-0012) Eliminates Property Tax Exemptions for Religious Use. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.
New Initiative Cleared for Circulation.