Primary elections: county officers: top two candidates.

Assembly Member Carrillo's electoral reform measure modifies how California counties conduct nonpartisan office elections, replacing the current majority-vote primary system with a top-two advancement format. Under the new framework, the two candidates receiving the most votes in county nonpartisan primary elections would proceed to the general election, regardless of whether any candidate secures a majority. The change applies to charter counties but excludes charter cities and counties that have adopted different election systems through their charters.

The legislation aligns election timing for various county positions with state and presidential election cycles. District attorney and sheriff elections would coincide with presidential primaries, while other county officer elections would generally occur during gubernatorial primary elections. County boards of supervisors retain authority to schedule certain county officer elections during presidential primaries through local ordinance, except for county superintendent of schools positions. When only one or two candidates qualify for a county nonpartisan office, the primary election would be bypassed, with those candidates appearing directly on the general election ballot.

The measure responds to documented disparities in primary versus general election participation rates. State records from 2016-2022 show primary election turnout averaging 32.09% compared to 55.39% in general elections. Data from the 2022 and 2024 elections indicate particularly pronounced differences in Latino voter participation between primary and general elections, with increases of 44.1% and 67.95% respectively. The Sacramento State University California Elections Data Archive found that in 2022, over 90% of county-level contests were decided during primary elections.