As you may know, earlier this year I submitted the Vote SAFE Now initiative (which would require voters to produce photo identification at the polls) to Attorney General Brown’s office. While the California Constitution requires the Attorney General to write fair and balanced title and summaries, what Brown wrote for the Vote SAFE initiative was politically tilted and factually incorrect. As a result, I sued Brown this past fall.
Brown’s latest attempt at the title and summary for the Vote SAFE initiative is materially more accurate than the prior version. Thus, I have dropped the suit. It’s not perfect, but we believe we can move forward with the language in all but one respect.
However, I still plan to re-submit the initiative this week to the Attorney General in an effort to bring clarity to one of the initiative’s provisions – the one which would allow the county registrar of voters 15 additional days to count absentee ballots of military personnel stationed outside California.
It’s important that California voters have a clear understanding of this important provision. I am sure every California voter wants to make sure every soldier’s vote is counted.
The new filing means the initiative will be ready for signature gathering in February, which means we have fewer days to qualify for the November 2010 ballot.
The bottom line is there is some risk we will be a little too late for the gubernatorial election. But qualifying for the 2012 election may not be a bad alternative when you consider how crowded the ballot might be in November 2010 with initiatives – as it is there are more than 40 initiatives on the streets now for signatures.
While voter reform is long overdue and I am eager to see a voter ID measure passed sooner rather than later, I know from experience that if we are to accomplish our goals, we must make sure we take the time to get it done right.
December 19th, 2009 at 12:00 am
I am suspicious of the motives of the individuals or organizations that have been or now are against a reasonable Voter ID initiative, such as Senator George Runner’s proposed ballot initiative known as VoteSAFE. Nearly 100 countries in the world have some type of Voter ID policy in place including Mexico.
Here’s what: In Mexico, to cast a ballot, the voter – all of the voters – must prove citizenship and eligibility by presenting the federally issued Mexican voter ID card – which not only bears the photo of the potential voter, but a fingerprint, a barcode and a holographic image to deter tampering. Oh my. No photo voter ID card – no voting. Si? After having voted, the voter’s finger is dipped in ink to prevent repeat – or three-peat – voting. To no one’s surprise, nobody in Mexico gets very far with the argument that this is somehow unfair, excludes the poor or discriminates against English-speaking voters.
The VoteSAFE iniative is much less onerous than Mexico’s requirement. As the Latino population is becoming more politically astute as many today assert, then we indeed should look to Mexico as a role model in implementing a secure Voter ID policy.