State and County Central Committees are the governing body of the Peace and
Freedom Party. Members of the Central Committees are elected in each county
in the primary elections in even-numbered years. The number of central
committee members elected in each county, whether they are elected at-large
or by district, and how many valid signatures of Peace and Freedom Party
registrants are needed for nomination depends on the P&F registration
figures statewide, in the county and district. This is supposed to be
calculated by election officials in early February 2008, based on the
registration figures available at the time, and announced by February 9,
2008.
This page
calculates the number of seats and signatures needed based on the P&F
registration figures as of January 22, 2008, the same ones the election
officials should be using.
In the past, P&F Central Committees seats were often won by write-in
candidates, when fewer candidates qualified for the ballot than there were
seats in the appropriate jurisdiction. In 1999, during the time we were off
the ballot, the Legislature changed the law to require county elections
officials to cancel uncontested elections for Peace and Freedom Party
Central Committees, unless they receive a petition signed by 25 P&F
registrants "indicating that a write-in campaign will be conducted
for the office". If no such petition is received by 20 days after
the deadline for filing nomination papers (for the June 3, 2008, primary
election, March 27th), then the election for Central Committees will be
canceled and no one will have the opportunity to run as a write-in.
The Elections Code doesn't specify the form of such a petition, and
we don't know of any counties that have their own forms for this
petition. So, if you want to allow write-in candidates to run for Peace
and Freedom Party Central Committees in June, you need to create your
own petition and collect 25 valid signatures on it by March 27th.
For the 2004 and 2006 elections, P&F activists in several counties
downloaded and used petition forms similar to those in this list: