California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will decide when voters in the 50th congressional district get a chance to choose a replacement for Randy Cunningham. The congressman's resignation becomes effective once he's notified the Speaker of the House in writing. Once that happens, the governor has 14 days to set the dates of the open primary and special runoff election. San Diego County Registrar of Voters Mickel Haas says it looks like the primary will be in April and the runoff will probably be consolidated with the state's primary in June.
Haas: "If there's an election scheduled within 180 days, a regular statewide election. Rather than have a special election held a week or two before the regular statewide primary you can consolidate it."
The June ballot will likely have two races for the 50th district, a runoff for Cunningham's unexpired term and the primary for the two year term that begins in 2007.
