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Voice for Democracy

Newsletter of Californians for Electoral Reform

Summer 2008

Call to Action: Urge Your Senator To Support and Co-Author AB 1662

Click Here for Details

In This Issue

President's Letter

Davis Will Vote on City Charter

Call to Action: Urge Your Senator to Support AB 1662

Contact Senate Appropriations and Your Own Senator

California Legislation Update

National League of Women Voters Will Study NPV Compact

News Briefs

Did You Know ...

Membership Form

About CfER

CfER Board and Officers

Support Our Work

Voice for Democracy

President’s Letter

CfER President Steve Chessin reports on our Annual General Meeting (AGM) last May, and on an interesting trip to Long Beach in early July. Read his report here.

Davis Will Vote on City Charter

On July 15 the Davis City Council approved a charter to be placed on the November ballot. If the charter is approved by the voters, the council will be able to adopt choice voting (a.k.a. single transferable vote or STV) by ordinance. Since three of the five council members have indicated their support for choice voting it is likely that it will be adopted if the charter passes.

Read Chuck O'Neil's full report on Davis.

Call to Action: Urge Your Senator to Support AB 1662

AB 1662 is CfER's bill to use ranked ballots to improve access to the ballot box for overseas absentee voters. It would apply to general elections held within 90 days of the primary. These include all special elections to fill vacancies in the Legislature and Congress and elections in at least 10 charter cities. Overseas absentee voters would be able to return a special ballot ranking all of the candidates along with their normal first-round ballots. If they are unable to return their second-round ballot in time, this ranked ballot would be used to determine their second-round vote.

As detailed in previous issues of Voice for Democracy, AB 1662 passed the Assembly last year and has been approved by the Senate Elections Committee. It is now in Senate Appropriations, which must approve it by August 15 at the latest. We estimate that the cost of implementation would be AT MOST $100,000, but this year the annual summer budget crisis is more severe than usual. We need to keep the momentum going and continue to build support for the bill.

We need your help to get AB 1662 through the Senate and signed by the Governor. We need you to make two contacts today in the state Senate, as described in the box below. Please visit CfER’s AB 1662 action page for more information, including detailed talking points.

Contact Senate Appropriations and Your Own Senator

(1) Please contact Senator Tom Torlakson, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and urge him to support the bill when it is heard in committee soon -- by August 15 at the absolute latest.

        Senator Tom Torlakson,
        Chair, Senate Appropriations Committee
        Postal: State Capitol, Room 5050, Sacramento, CA 95814
        Phone: (916) 651-4007
        Fax: (916) 445-2527
        Email: Senator.Torlakson@senate.ca.gov

(2) Please contact your own state Senator today and urge their support for the bill. In particular, please ask them to co-author the bill. Download this co-author letter and forward it to your Senator. Senators Battin and Hollingsworth are already co-authors.

You can call, fax, email, or send a postal letter to them. Written comments, especially handwritten letters, have the greatest impact, but do whatever works for you. For contact information for your Senator, please view this Senate roster. You can also find out who your Senator is using your address or a map here.

(3) If your senator is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee -- Senators Torlakson (Chair), Cox (Vice Chair), Aanestad, Ashburn, Cedillo, Corbett, Dutton, Florez, Kuehl, Oropeza, Ridley-Thomas, Runner, Simitian, Wyland, and Yee -- be sure to ask them to support the bill when it is heard in committee. An in-person visit or call to their district office is especially effective.

CONDENSED TALKING POINTS

  1. About 20 percent of overseas voters who attempt to vote don't have their votes counted, and the tight deadlines for runoff elections make this problem worse.
  2. The federal government urges states to mail overseas ballots by 45 days before election, a deadline that cannot be met in some California runoff elections.
  3. Ranked ballots offer a very low cost way for voters who cannot return their runoff ballots in time to participate in runoff elections.
  4. The special ranked ballot will be counted only if a regular runoff ballot is not received from the same voter.
  5. This process already has a track record and enthusiastic support in Louisiana, Arkansas, and South Carolina.
  6. Overseas ranked ballots do not require any special hardware or software capable of running instant runoff voting processes. All county registrars could handle these ballots today.

For more detailed talking points see https://www.cfer.org/legislation/ab1662.php#talking.

California Legislation Update

The only CfER-sponsored bill currently before the Legislature is AB 1662 (ranked ballots for overseas absentee voters), which is alive and well in the Senate Appropriations Committee. See the articles above for details. CfER has also endorsed three bills currently in the Legislature. Read about them here.

National League of Women Voters Will Study NPV Compact

In 2006, CfER Board members and LWV members Paula Lee and Rob Dickinson held a caucus at the LWVUS Convention on the National Popular Vote (NPV) compact, with overflow attendance. Last month, at the 2008 Convention, we held another well-attended caucus, which led to 2008 convention delegates adopting a study of the NPV! Read Paula's convention report.

News Briefs

Activists in Los Angeles came very close to getting IRV on the ballot this year. But time ran short, and there were still questions that the council wanted answered, so it will probably be on the ballot next March. There's lots more news here.

Did You Know ...

... that both Barack Obama and John McCain support IRV? For more, see FairVote’s documentation of this.

... that IRV has now been used, very successfully, in San Francisco, Burlington VT, Cary NC, and Takoma Park MD ... and that choice voting has been used for decades in Cambridge MA to elect the City Council and School Board?

... that ranked ballots are used by overseas voters in Arkansas, Louisiana and South Carolina.?

Membership Form

Help us grow! Download, print and distribute this membership flyer.

About CfER ...

Californians for Electoral Reform (CfER) is a statewide citizens' group promoting election re­forms that ensure that our government fairly represents the voters. We are a nonpartisan, non­profit organization with members from across the political spectrum. Since our founding in May of 1993, our numbers have grown from about two dozen to hundreds of members participating in local chapters across California.

OUR ELECTORAL SYSTEM IS IMPORTANT

The method by which we vote has dramatic consequences, and nearly one third of the state's electorate consistently goes without a representative that speaks for them in Sacramento. The choice of electoral system can determine whether there will be "spoilers" or vote-splitting effects, majority sweeps of representation on city councils, or pervasive negative campaign­ing. The choice of electoral system determines whether minority perspectives or racial and ethnic minority groups receive fair representation or get shut out of the process entirely.

CfER IS THE LEADING ADVOCACY GROUP FOR THESE REFORMS IN CALIFORNIA

CfER works for legislation that would allow cities and counties to adopt voting methods that allow people to rank their preferences when they vote.  CfER also works with activists in its local chapters to enact fair election methods in cities and counties across the state.

For more information about CfER, please visit

https://www.cfer.org/aboutus

CfER was established by citizens like you who think that our government should be representative of the people.  A lot of progress is already being made, but the future depends on you.

To join CfER, or renew your membership, please visit

https://www.cfer.org/join

CfER Board and Officers

For the membership of CfER Board of Directors, please visit

https://www.cfer.org/aboutus/board.php

For a directory of CfER's officer, please visit

https://www.cfer.org/aboutus/officer.php

Support Our Work

We will soon be able to accept contributions on our website. Meanwhile, checks payable to "Californians for Electoral Reform" or "CfER" can be mailed to the address below.

Voice for Democracy

Voice for Democracy is published by

Californians for Electoral Reform

P.O. Box 128

Sacramento, CA  95812

Phone: 916-455-8021

E-mail:

www.cfer.org

Contents copyright © 2008 by Californians for Electoral Reform.  Signed articles are the responsibility of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Californians for Electoral Reform.