California voters cast their votes on nearly a dozen propositions ranging from a motion seeking replacement of the death penalty with life imprisonment, to the move providing for performers to wear condoms while shooting adult films as the polling wrapped up Wednesday overnight.

Proposition 34, which attempts to abolish the capital punishment by retroactively replacing it with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, was shot down by a majority of voters from across the state.

With votes from 78.5 percent of California's precincts partially or fully counted by early Wednesday, 53.4 percent of vote-by-mail ballots rejected the proposal, according to statistics released by the Secretary of State's Office.

Under the proposal, prisoners who are condemned to death will have to work during imprisonment. The wages they earn will be used as any restitution for the victim or orders against them, creating the savings of millions of dollars each year for the state.

California is home to the largest death row. Right now 727 prisoners are waiting to be executed.

The most populous state in the United States suspended the death penalty in 1972 when the Supreme Court in the state ruled this practice was unconstitutional. Five years later, California reinstated it, and further amended it in 1978. Thirteen people have been put to death, the most recent in 2006.

The proposition have turned out to be one of the most hotly contested issue in the wake of Tuesday's polling. If passed, the proposal could have a knock-on effect in some of the 32 other U.S. states where capital punishment is law.

Voters in the Los Angeles County also favored "Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act", a measure requiring actors to wear condoms on the sets of porn shoots in the county. Nearly 1.2 million people, 55.8 percent, voted for it, latest statistics show.

"This is a major referendum on the subject of safer sex," said Michael Weinstein, president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation which spearheaded the motion.

The proposal, known as Measure B, requires adult film producers to apply for a permit from the county Department of Public Health to shoot sex scenes. Violations would be subject to civil fines and criminal misdemeanor charges. California, along with New Hampshire, are the only two states in the United States where adult film production is legal.

Opponents insisted the ordinance would infringe on individual rights and create unnecessary government bureaucracy.

Thousands of actors contract sexually transmitted diseases including gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes, hepatitis and HIV every year in the state as condoms were seldom used when actors shoot adult films, according to the foundation.

In January, the Los Angeles City Council voted to require the use of condoms on the sets of porn shoots.

Proposition 39, a measure which allows most multi-state businesses to pick one of two methods to determine the amount of their income associated with California and taxable by the state, garnered 59.8 percent vote and passed.

The passage "will help everybody from small business owners and home-grown companies to schools and those who rely on state services," campaign co-chairman Tom Steyer said.

Once goes into effect, the initiative will generate 500 million dollars in the 2012-2013 fiscal year and 1 billion dollars in each fiscal year beginning in the 2013-2014 fiscal year, the Legislative Analyst's Office and Director of Finance Ana J. Matosantos estimate.

In El Monte, residents voted down a proposed one-cent-per-ounce tax on sugary drinks sold in the city. Opponents contended that the tax carried by Measure H would have raised the cost of beverages such as sodas, some juices and chocolate milk. Mayor Andre Quintero, who sponsored the proposal, insisted it would improve the health of the city's residents while raising money for the city's coffers.

The authorities had estimated that the levy would generate between 3.5 million and 7 million dollars a year for the cash- strapped southern California city.