California: Senate passes open-records constitutional amendment. Fate in the Assembly uncertain

Sacramento Bee ^ | June 29, 2002 | Ed Fletcher

[John Jorsett]

A proposed constitutional amendment aimed at strengthening California's open government laws picked up steam Friday, winning unanimous state Senate approval. The measure still faces significant opposition as it moves to the Assembly. It must be passed by a two-thirds margin in both houses before it is placed on the ballot. It's unclear whether backers of the amendment can move it though the Legislature fast enough to get it on the Nov. 5 ballot.

[John Jorsett]

Nice list of upcoming ballot measures, including 4 items that will increase spending, and a "please commit vote fraud" inititative. Sheesh.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Will this force the Fascists Davis to change his actions?
That is the question!

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[boris]

"Nice list of upcoming ballot measures, including 4 items that will increase spending, and a "please commit vote fraud" inititative. Sheesh."

The voter fraud one is being bankrolled by the fellow who owns Taco Bell.

I wrote a letter to the editor (not published!) accusing him of lacking vision. "Why not hand out voter registrations at Taco Bells? With your burrito, you get the franchise! How cool is that?" For some reason they didn't find it worth printing. Perhaps they lacked a sense of humor.

--Boris

[heleny]

2002 Initiative Update

Election Day Voter Registration. Initiative Statute. Proponents: Lance Olson (916) 442-2942 and Vigo G. Nielsen, Jr. (415) 389-6800

Allows persons who are legally eligible to vote and have valid identification to register to vote on election day at their polling place. Increases criminal penalty for voter and voter registration fraud. Makes conspiracy to commit voter fraud a crime. Requires trained staff at polling places to manage election day registration. Creates fund to implement measure, including training and providing personnel for election day registration. Allows persons to register or re-register during 28 days preceding election day at their local elections office. Provides more time to county election officials to prepare voter registration lists. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Direct of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: This measure would result annually in about $6 million in state costs and no net costs to counties.

In March 2002, California voters passed a proposition that ensured that every vote counted. In November, we consider whether unregistered people may vote by providing some ID, verified or not, without providing proof of citizenship in the US, let alone residency in the precinct, and without providing proof they're not felons or aren't mentally incompetent. If this passes, will illegal votes have to be counted, too? The summary doesn't even say whether the unregistered voters will get provisional or real ballots.

Last March, many precinct workers couldn't even understand how the "modified closed primary" system worked -- voters registered with no party could select a partisan ballot. Some precinct workers failed to show up in LA because the job was too confusing for them. (LA also has ballots or instructions in other languages, so a precinct worker might have to handle dozens of different ballot types.)

That was far simpler than evaluating whether someone who hasn't registered is eligible for voting.

[heleny]

"Why not hand out voter registrations at Taco Bells? With your burrito, you get the franchise! How cool is that?"

The next step is to move the precincts from the local churches and schools to the fast food stores. Would you cinnamon twists with that registration form?