Section 5100 Of Chapter 2. Parties Qualified To Participate In The Primary Election From California Elections Code >> Division 5. >> Chapter 2.
5100
. A party is qualified to participate in a primary election
under any of the following conditions:
(a) (1) At the last preceding gubernatorial primary election, the
sum of the votes cast for all of the candidates for an office voted
on throughout the state who disclosed a preference for that party on
the ballot was at least 2 percent of the entire vote of the state for
that office.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), a party may inform the
Secretary of State that it declines to have the votes cast for any
candidate who has disclosed that party as his or her party preference
on the ballot counted toward the 2-percent qualification threshold.
If the party wishes to have votes for any candidate not counted in
support of its qualification under paragraph (1), the party shall
notify the secretary in writing of that candidate's name by the
seventh day prior to the gubernatorial primary election.
(b) On or before the 135th day before a primary election, it
appears to the Secretary of State, as a result of examining and
totaling the statement of voters and their declared political
preference transmitted to him or her by the county elections
officials, that voters equal in number to at least 0.33 percent of
the total number of voters registered on the 154th day before the
primary election have declared their preference for that party.
(c) On or before the 135th day before a primary election, there is
filed with the Secretary of State a petition signed by voters, equal
in number to at least 10 percent of the entire vote of the state at
the last preceding gubernatorial election, declaring that they
represent a proposed party, the name of which shall be stated in the
petition, which proposed party those voters desire to have
participate in that primary election. This petition shall be
circulated, signed, and verified, and the signatures of the voters on
it shall be certified to and transmitted to the Secretary of State
by the county elections officials substantially as provided for
initiative petitions. Each page of the petition shall bear a caption
in 18-point boldface type, which caption shall be the name of the
proposed party followed by the words "Petition to participate in the
primary election."