Secretary Of State

Recall Notice Filed Today, Secretary of State Says

Joe Mathews — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:44:00 -0400

The official notice of recall against Gov. Schwarzenegger was filed today with the Secretary of State's office. The governor now has a chance to file his formal response. It will be interesting to see if he files it. By the current rules of the political game, every attack requires a response. But I'm not sure if that's the best strategy right now. If the recall proves to be serious -- and the jury is still very much out on that -- I argue that Schwarzenegger should embrace the recall vote and use a campaign to defeat the recall to win some new political capital. (He's awfully low right now). But he doesn't need an official response to do that. And filing a response that blasts back at the prison guards' union, which is backing the recall, might do little more than get more attention for the recall at a moment when Schwarzenegger needs to focus attention on the budget. It's an interesting call.

Attached to this post is a pdf file of the recall notice.

1,041,530

Joe Mathews — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:39:00 -0400

I'm going to need remedial math work. A correction to my post on basics: I was right about the required number of signatures being 12 percent of the number of votes cast in most recent election. But when I made a mathematical error in calculating that. The correct standard is 1,041,530 signatures, according to the Secretary of State's office. That's still very doable, and likely to be not that much more costly than a ballot initiative. One note: proponents of a recall will want to get at least 1.5 million signatures so they have a cushion. Typically, about 30 percent of signatures are found to be invalid for one reason or another. But with no other measures on the ballot, the recall should be able to qualify for less than $2 per signature -- so the total cost of qualification ought to be less than $3 million.

For more on recall procedures, the secretary of state's handbook is here.

Why You Should Update Your Voter Registration Signature

Joe Mathews — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:38:00 -0400

The Secretary of State of Oregon was no fan of an effort to qualify a referendum to reverse the state's domestic partnership law. And the number of valid signatures barely met the requirement. So he went through the signatures and disqualified some 200 signatures that were determined not to match the voter signatures on registration card.

Now the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the Secretary of State's actions were lawful. It's a tough call. While signature fraud remains a threat in the petition circulation game, it's a good bet that many or even most of the disqualified signatures were valid. How's that? People's signatures often change over the years. And for that reason, here's some free advice. If you haven't changed your voter registration in the past 5 years, it's a good idea to go in and update it, with a fresh signature. I've observed the counting of absentee ballots in California, and election officials are often checking against voter registration signatures from 30 or 40 years ago. If signatures don't match, the votes don't get counted.

'Total Meltdown': Why Not Move the Capital?

Joe Mathews — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 20:55:00 -0400

It's two months past the deadline, and still no deal on a new California budget. Midnight Saturday was the Secretary of State's deadline for the legislature and governor to add measures to the November ballot. Some measures would need to be part of a budget compromise. You'd think all sides would spend that time in the Capitol. You'd think wrong. The legislature reconvenes today for a bit of grandstanding and meaningless votes on the budget.

Since our elected leaders seem so unwilling to put in the time in Sacramento and reach a compromise, I offer a modest proposal in Sunday's LA Times: relocate the state government to Monterey.

Today in 'Total Meltdown': Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Ballot Deadlines But Were Afraid to Ask

Joe Mathews — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:11:00 -0400

Sacramento is like the boy who never turns in his homework on time and expects the teacher to not mark him down for it.

California's leaders privately seem to think there's some time and room to manuever to get measures on the ballot that are part of a deal. There really isn't. The deadline for adding measures to a supplemental ballot has already passed. So what about this deadline of midnight tomorrow (Saturday, Aug. 16) you may be hearing about? That deadline is generous and aggressive -- it is actually dependent on the legislature and governor waiving various laws and regulations, including a requirement that such ballot pamphlets be put on display for 20 days. And passing measures on Saturday -- such as changes to the state lottery and a new constitutional rainy day fund for the budget -- would put California's counties in a tough spot, almost certainly forcing them to spend more money to prepare balloots. The state is asking a lot from counties, and giving little in return. The legislature has failed to reimburse the counties for costs associated with missing previous deadlines.

In Sacramento, however, there is a sense that even this Saturday deadline can be pushed, perhaps by a few weeks. After examining the law and talking to county clerks, I'm convinced that this is not true. If there's any give in Saturday's deadline, it's only a matter of a day or two. Yes, military and overseas ballots don't go out til Sept. 5, a date that many in Sacramento are talking about. But even with an abridged timeline, there' s plenty of things that have to happen once measures pass. They must be signed by the governor; the attorney general must produce titles and summaries. There must be ballot arguments for and against. And it takes the state printer between 20 and 40 days to print a full slate of ballot pamphlets, according to the Secretary of State.

So how does the legislature respond to the Saturday deadline? By scheduling votes for Sunday--a day past the deadline. It's like sitting down with your accountant to do your taxes on April 16. On a related item, the legislature could still attempt to replace Prop 1, the high-speed rail bond, with an amended alternative--even though the original ballot pamphlet has gone to the printers. In that case, California's dysfunctional government would establish a new precedent--it would have sent to voters a ballot pamphlet with a measure that might not end up appearing on the ballot. Talk about voter confusion.

if you want to know even more about deadlines, attached to this post is a July 23 letter from Secretary of State Debra Bowen to Gov. Schwarzenegger in which she explains all the ins and outs of ballot deadlines.

The Arizona Signature Gathering Fiasco

Joe Mathews — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:06:00 -0400

In blockbuster democracy, there are always invalid signatures. People don't sign their own names. Forgery by gatherers can be a problem. Sometimes, people's signatures change over time, and no longer match registration cards filed decades ago. Or people mistakenly leave out part of their address, or sign on a petition from the wrong county. Some problems are to be expected. When initiative petition signatures are checked, about 70 percent of signatures will prove to be valid -- if the signature gathering operation was well run.

But in Arizona, the signature gathering efforts for multiple measures appear to have failed to meet that standard. According to the Arizona Republic, three measures appear to be in trouble. Two of them, one involving real estate transfers and another involving conservation, appear to have fallen short. A third, a transportation initiative, had so few valid signatures that it has failed to make the ballot. In random sampling, an estimated 42 percent of the signatures were invalid, suggesting that the people handling the gathering failed to do their job. Arizona's Secretary of State said that this was "among the largest overall invalid rates that I can recall ever seeing from a citizens initiative drive.” The initiative won't be on the ballot.

One excuse offered by petition circulators there; the counties and state may be slow in processing new voter registrations. Here's the background: when signature gatherers approach somebody who is not registered to vote, they often have them register on the spot, then sign the initiative petitions. If the initiative petitions are processed before voters are registered there could be a problem. There may be such a problem, but it's hard to imagine that would account for such a low validity rate. Having that many bad signatures suggests a deeper problem -- a problem broad enough to warrant investigation by legal authorities.

How Ballot Measure Deadline Could Prolong California's Budget Stalemate

Joe Mathews — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:04:00 -0400

Yep, Aug. 11 and California still hasn't passed a budget for the new fiscal year, which is 42 days old. And things could get much worse this week. California's budget negotiations are complicated, and a potential compromise could include the addition of various measures to the November ballot. Among possible measures would be a rainy day fund and some mechanism to change the lottery to clear the path for borrowing against future revenues.

But there's a problem: time. Legal deadlines and printing deadlines for the November ballots are upon us, so time is short for adding new measures. The Secretary of State has identified this coming Saturday, Aug. 16, as the deadline for adding new measures to the ballot. There may be a little bit of give in that. (I could see the secretary of state agreeing to a short extension of a few days if legislators and the governor are close to a deal). But not much. So if there is no budget deal this week, the framework for negotiations would vanish. And California's budget stalemate could continue for many more weeks.

California Rolls Back Its Ballot Measure Odometer

Joe Mathews — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 20:59:00 -0400

Once a decade, California starts over at 1 in the numbering of its ballot measures. This November's ballot thus provides a fresh start. After Prop 99 in June, we start with Prop 1 this November. The Secretary of State is out with the numbers of all 11 measures on the November ballot. Here they are:

The big ones to watch are Prop 2 (the Humane Society is the champion of direct democracy), Prop 8 (the much talked about gay marriage initiative), and Prop 11 (the redistricting measure).

Prop. 1: High speed rail bond.

Prop. 2: Humane Society farm animal confinement initiative

Prop 3: Children's hospital bond

Prop 4: parental notificatoin before minors have an abortion.

Prop 5: lighter sentences, easing of parole restrictions for non-violent offenders.

Prop 6: Anti-gang initiative

Prop 7: Initiative to require utilities to generate 20 percent of power from renewable sources by 2010.

Prop 8: anti-gay marriage initiative.

Prop 9: a crime victims' bill of rights.

Prop 10: $5 billion alternative fuel bond.

Prop 11: Redistricting reform.

Children's Hospital Bond Makes California Ballot

Joe Mathews — Sat, 10 May 2008 17:06:00 -0400

The Secretary of State has certified an initiative to borrow $980 million for children's hospitals for the November ballot in California. It's the third initiative to be certified as having enough signatures to make the ballot. But it won't be the last. Signature verification has begun on other measures, including an anti-gang initiative, a redistricting initiative and an anti-gay marriage initiative.