California: Proposition 11

California primary elections may help elect Republicans and Democrats, but they're not all that democratic.

That's the estimation of former state Sen. Steve Peace (D-San Diego), who is pushing for an open primary system through a ballot measure voters could decide on in 2010.

The measure was filed with the state in September, then withdrawn in October after receiving public comments. Peace said that he and other members of the California Independent Voter Project will study the comments and make small changes to the measure before submitting it again.

SACRAMENTO - Republicans face a tough future in California, based on results from last Tuesday's election, according to two of the state's most respected pollsters.

Speaking at a press luncheon, Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute of California and Mark DiCamillo of the Field Poll said both polling and Election Day results show a GOP that's disconnected from the three fastest-growing groups of voters: Latinos, decline-to-states and youth.

Though supporters have already claimed victory, Proposition 11 is still considered too close to call a definite winner, according to the California Secretary of State's Web site.

The "Yes" vote on the redistricting reform measure had 5,084,628 votes as of Tuesday afternoon, compared to 4,948,935 votes against.

By percentages, that translated into 50.7 percent in favor and 49.3 percent against.

Redistricting reform measure Proposition 11 teetered between pass and fail early Wednesday, with 50.9 percent in favor and 49.1 percent opposed, with 78.1 percent of the precincts counted.

Paul Hefner, a spokesman for the anti-11 group Citizens for Accountability, said he was encouraged that early returns showed the measure passing 55-45, then the numbers slowly moved toward more opposition as the night went on.

"I think we just have to watch and see how it turns out," he said.