Posted on 10/25/2006 2:52:32 PM PDT by calcowgirl
NEWS RELEASE
CALIFORNIA SECRETARY OF STATE Bruce McPherson
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
SACRAMENTO, CA - Secretary of State Bruce McPherson announced today that his office and Latino organizations sent an official election information letter to all of the recipients of the voter intimidation letter sent to 14,000 voters last week. The official election information letter, in English and Spanish, was mailed by the Secretary of State’s Office in collaboration with the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO).
“Voter intimidation in any form is completely unacceptable,” said Secretary McPherson. “Voters who received the intimidation letter should ignore it and cast their ballot on Election Day. As Chief Elections Officer, it is my job to ensure our elections are conducted with the utmost honesty and integrity, and to reach out to new voters and encourage every eligible Californian to participate in our democratic process.”
To determine voter eligibility, a voter must be: 18 years of age on or before election day, a resident of California, a United States citizen (including a naturalized citizen), not in prison or on parole for conviction of a felony and not judicially determined to be mentally incompetent. First time voters may be required to show identification when they vote. There are a number of acceptable forms of identification, ranging from a driver’s license to a utility bill.
“Anyone interested in the health of our democracy should stand against voter intimidation tactics of any kind, no matter the ethnicity, background, or affiliation of the voters being targeted,” said Janet Murguia, President and CEO of the National Council of La Raza, adding, “We stand with our Latino community, and urge all Latinos and all other eligible voters to cast their vote this November 7 without hesitation.”
John Trasvina, MALDEF Interim President and General Counsel, “We applaud the Secretary of State’s action to inform voters they should not be intimidated to give up their precious right to vote.”
Arturo Vargas, Executive Director of the NALEO Educational Fund said, “Our core mission at the NALEO Educational Fund is to empower Latinos to be full participants in the American political process. This collaboration will help ensure that all eligible voters in Orange County have the opportunity to participate in this November’s elections,” added Vargas. “As diversity has helped this country move forward we must continue to strengthen our democratic process by protecting everyone’s right to vote,” concluded Vargas.
Last week, Secretary of State McPherson held a press conference with NCLR, MALDEF and NALEO to announce his efforts to communicate to affected voters his efforts to ensure the integrity of the vote.
Secretary McPherson has partnered with NALEO and La Opinion to insert more than 350,000 registration cards into issues of La Opinion. He has also partnered with thousands of organizations all over California to encourage every eligible voter to register and vote.
Attached is a copy of the official election information letter (the letter was sent in both English and Spanish to all 14,000 recipients of the previous letter). For more information please call the Secretary of State’s Press Office at 916-653-6575.
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Dear Sir/Madam:
You may have recently received a letter with false and misleading information about your right to vote in California.
We are writing to inform you that the Secretary of State’s Office and Latino civil rights organizations agree: You should ignore that letter. It was unauthorized and inaccurate. An investigation is going on now to determine who sent the letter.
Voting is one of the most important rights and duties of American citizenship. You are encouraged to participate and vote in the upcoming November 7, 2006 General Election!
The purpose of this notice is to inform you of the official state requirements to register and vote.
Immigrants who become naturalized United States citizens are eligible to register and vote in elections in California. The other requirements to register to vote are to be 18 years old on or before Election Day, a resident of California, a United States citizen (including a naturalized citizen), not in prison or on parole for conviction of a felony, and not judicially determined to be mentally incompetent.
Because of a new federal law, if you are a first-time voter who registered to vote by mail you may have to show a form of identification when you vote, such as your utility bill or bank statement that includes your name and address.
There is still time to vote absentee. The last day an application to vote absentee can be received by your county elections office for the November 7, 2006 General Election is October 31st. There is an application to vote by mail contained in your sample ballot.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, OR FOR ANY QUESTIONS, YOU CAN CALL
THE SECRETARY OF STATE’S OFFICE AT 1-800-345-VOTE (8683) OR
1-800-232-VOTA (8682) OR YOU CAN VISIT WWW.SS.CA.GOV
[Footer of letter contains logos of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) and the National Association of Latinos & Appointed Officials (NALEO]
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URGENTE — INFORMACIÓN OFICIAL SOBRE LAS ELECCIONES
Estimado señor/señora:
Usted puede haber recibido recientemente una carta con información falsa y engañosa sobre su derecho de votar en California.
Le estamos escribiendo para informarle que la Secretaría de Estado y las organizaciones de derechos civiles de hispanos están de acuerdo: No hay que hacer caso a esa carta. Fue inexacta y no autorizada. En este momento se está realizando una investigación para determinar quién envió la carta.
Votar es uno de los derechos y obligaciones más importantes de la ciudadanía estadounidense. ¡Lo instamos a que participe y vote en las próximas elecciones generales del 7 de noviembre de 2006!
El propósito de este aviso es informarle los requisitos oficiales del estado para inscribirse y votar.
Los inmigrantes naturalizados como ciudadanos se pueden inscribir para votar y votar en las elecciones en California. Los otros requisitos para inscribirse a votar son: tener al menos 18 años de edad en el día de la elección o antes, ser residente de California, ser ciudadano de Estados Unidos (incluyendo ciudadanos naturalizados), no estar en la prisión ni bajo libertad supervisada por haber sido condenado de un delito mayor y no haber sido determinado mentalmente incompetente por un juez.
Debido a una nueva ley federal, si vota por primera vez y se inscribió para votar por correo, es posible que tenga que mostrar algún tipo de identificación cuando se presente para votar, como por ejemplo una factura de servicios públicos como el gas, teléfono o luz o un estado de cuenta bancario que contenga su nombre y dirección.
Todaviá está a tiempo para votar en ausencia. El último día en que la oficina electoral de su condado puede recibir una solicitud de votante ausente para las elecciones generales del 7 de noviembre es el 31 de octubre. Su balota de muestra contiene una solicitud de votar por correo.
PARA MÁS INFORMACIÓN O CUALQUIER DUDA, PUEDE LLAMAR
A LA SECRETARÍA DE ESTADO, AL 1-800-345-VOTE (8683) Ó AL
1-800-232-VOTA (8682) O PUEDE VISITAR WWW.SS.CA.GOV
[Footer of letter contains logos of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) and the National Association of Latinos & Appointed Officials (NALEO]
Ping - FYI
Could a mod add "MALDEF, NCLR, NALEO" to the title of this post? Why is the Secretary of State sending out what is in effect an endorsement of those groups' agendas? Why didn't he seek out more conservative organizations that don't, for instance, support illegal immigration?
I called and asked those questions and was told someone would call back. I don't expect a callback, but if someone else wants to try please let us know what they say.
http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/005766.html
Thank you. Maybe this will backfire on the State and will eliminate more of the illegal votes the RATS work so hard to get.
If I'm parsing this properly, it says "all Latinos" can vote, and so can "all other eligible voters."
-PJ
Ha! You are right. Well, I wouldn't expect any less from La Raza. I just can't figure out why politicians and even our government are in bed with them.
McPherson says in his letter that you must be a US citizen in order to vote. That's the LAST thing the scumbag Democrats wanted him to write.
In Spanish:
Escrita en español, la carta advierte a los votantes latinoamericanos que si su residencia en este país es ilegal o si son inmigrantes no naturalizados, votar en una elección federal es un crimen que podría llevarlos a prisión.
And translated into English by AOL:
Written in Spanish, the letter it notices the Latin American voters that if its residence in this country is illegal or if are immigrants nonnaturalized, to vote in a federal election it is a crime that could take them to prison.
Here's a publication, far removed from California politics, without an ax to grind in California, and guess what? Both the Spanish and English translations of the orginal Spanish language letter are reasonably accurate.
Remember the letter read: o si es emigrado (if an emigrant)
The clamor/allegation about intimidating naturalized citizens was made almost exclusively from whole cloth by the MSM and its Democrat allies.
That high profile Republicans joined the chorus and are still contributing to the myth can be explained by:
1) Local Republicans don't want Nguyen to represent them in Congress.
2) Suppression of angry, Hispanic voter turn out, not favoring Republicans
If Loretta Sanchez is complaining about the warning letter, you just know it was the right thing to do. While it could have been clearer, the message it tried to convey was correct: if you're in this country illegally, you cannot vote (and can be deported).
Sounds good to me.
I don't care for those suck-up-to-the-militant-latinos logos at the bottom of McPherson's letter. I agree with lonewacko_dot_com -- it amounts to official recognition, if not outright endorsement, of those wackos.
Absolutely correct. This is the real problem with listening to partisans Republican magpies who squawk "Vote straight R" daily on this forum.
McPherson, a moderate, and Schwarzenegger, a liberal, are both registered Republicans. It should be obvious that their public responses were driven by advice from Schmidt, in an effort to elect both in November. It did not matter to Schwarzenegger that the letter was far from a hate crime or to McPherson that he was officially sanctioning organizations that are trying to balkanize California on the basis of culture.
What mattered to both was to win an upcoming election. The truth and their obligation to their offices be damned. Their commitment to the principles of their party was tossed in the trash heap.
For those who insist on voting straight R in November, be careful what you wish for.
También falsamente dice que el gobierno está creando una base de datos de electores.My translation: It also falsely says that the government is creating a database of voters.
I must have missed something. Who is "Schmidt"?
I hear ya, czar. While it shouldn't have caused so much ado, it did. Hence my curiosity--why?
In the PDF file, the prominent logos were more striking than they are in my footnote notation.
(But hey, they could have put Mecha! Better than Bustamante!)
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
The suck-up letter was bad enough, but what really pisses me off are those logos at the bottom of the letter. That is enough to cause me to no-vote McPherson. More than enough. I may as well no-vote this simp while I'm no-voting the Austrian.
Two no-votes and counting...anyone else want to apply?
McPherson's opponent (Bowen) joined Angelides, Steve Westly and a bunch of other Dems in Santa Ana ranting about the "shenanigans".
It's a short news video on this page:
http://cbs2.com/topstories/local_story_298103335.html
But of course. The Rats never ever miss a chance to demagogue anything.
[Official State Seal of California]
Should read: [Official State Seal of Mexifornia]
Nguyen is on KFI right now (640AM) with John and Ken.
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