top
Government
Government
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

California Most Roadblocks for Greens; Your vote didn't count

by Terry Baum
Writing In without Connecting the Arrows Means Your Vote Doesn't Count.
ballot7.pdf_600_.jpg
UPDATE ON TERRY BAUM WRITE-IN CAMPAIGN

The week of March 21, John Arntz head of the Department of Elections notified Terry Baum, Green Party write-in candidate for Congress, that he was reversing his decision and that because of a technicality her election was no longer valid. Since getting this reversal of his initial ruling that she had gotten enough write-in votes she has launched a campaign to make sure that everyone who voted for her gets his and her vote counted.

Consequently, they have discovered other elections where write-ins in which the voter didn’t fill in the arrow were counted. The possibility of a court challenge looms. For now, though, the first thing to do is file your complaint with the Department of Elections in San Francisco and the Secretary of State in Sacramento.

Green voters who aren’t sure they filled in the arrow when they wrote Terry’s name in. Even Green voters who are sure they did can complain because their candidate is not getting acknowledged. Non-greens outraged by the undemocraticness of not counting votes when the intention of the voter was crystal clear. All have standing to complain.

A copy of Terry Baum’s letter explaining the situation is at: http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/04/1676675.php

A chart of how difficult California makes it for write-ins by comparison to other states will soon be posted to http://www.terrybaum.com


General Information - Elections Division
Phone: (916) 657-2166
Fax: (916) 653-3214
E-Mail: Elections [at] ss.ca.gov

Dept of elections
415) 554-4375
rachel.gosiengfiao [at] sfgov.org

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IF WE DON’T HAVE DEMOCRACY, IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT ELSE WE DO HAVE!

April 7, 2004

To the San Francisco Board of Supervisors:

I am the Green candidate for Congress in Congressional District 8, San Francisco. I am writing to ask that you refuse to certify the March 2 primary election results until John Arntz, Director of Elections, certifies my election. He has decided to exclude all write-in votes for me where the voter did not complete the arrow next to my name. This decision deprives me of having the 1605 votes needed to qualify for the ballot in November.

Mr. Arntz phoned me on Monday, March 15, to tell me that I had 1651 valid votes – 46 more than I need to qualify for the ballot. He said, “We’ve gone over these ballots with a fine tooth comb. There’s no way they can be challenged.” I was ecstatic! I had accomplished something historic. I am the first small party candidate to succeed in a primary write-in campaign in California since 1968. This task is so difficult because of the unfair burden placed by state law on small parties (see State Write-In attachment).

Then one week later, Mr. Arntz left me a message telling me that he had consulted the City Attorney for a second time and had been informed that, according to a technicality of state election law, the uncompleted-arrow votes were invalid. Therefore I had only 1407 votes and could not be on the ballot.

This decision deprives the voters of the Green Party of having any candidate on the ballot for Congress. It deprives all the voters of Congressional District 8 of having the spirited debate that would have resulted from my being in the race. In the interest of fairness and democracy, there are six reasons why this decision should be reversed:

<sum> Again and again, the courts have affirmed that voter intent must be the primary means of deciding a vote’s validity. Both Mr. Arntz and the City Attorney acknowledge that voter intent is crystal clear. That is, everyone who wrote in my name but did not connect the arrow intended to vote for me.

<sum> There is a San Francisco precedent for counting votes with uncompleted arrows. In the 2000 run-off in the supervisor’s race between Mabel Teng and Tony Hall, the D.O.E (closely watched by the City Attorney) counted votes where the candidate’s name was circled or underlined, but the arrow uncompleted. Certainly those voters showed a lower level of intent than the voters who wrote in my name.

<sum> The City Attorney’s office claims that it has no choice but to bow to a technicality of the law. But it recently came to an opposite conclusion, on the issue of gay marriage. In that case, to its great credit, it supported Mayor Newsom’s decision to support fairness and equality by marrying gays and lesbians. The Green voters deserve that same wisdom and commitment to equal justice.

<sum> The actual technicality that the City Attorney insists must be obeyed is 15342(a) which says: “For voting systems in which write-in spaces appear directly below the list of candidates for that office and provide a voting space, no write-in vote shall be counted unless the voting space next to the write-in space is marked or slotted as directed in the voting instructions.” But in this instance, the write-in space does not appear directly below a list of candidates because there is no list – only a write-in space (see attached ballot). So the technicality of 15342(a) technically does not apply. If there had been a candidate list (with all the uncompleted arrows), it would have been more obvious to my voters that they needed to complete the arrow after they wrote in my name.

<sum> In the March 2 2004 election, the machine was programmed to reject Republican ballots where the voter had not connected an arrow for President, giving Republicans a second chance to vote in that race. So the Green voters did not receive the same treatment as Republican voters. This is a clear violation of election law.

<sum> It is difficult to believe that the City Attorney and Department of Elections would make the same decisions if it were a matter of depriving the Democrats or Republicans of having a candidate in a major race. The Green Party deserves equal treatment.

In the Teng-Hall run-off in 2000, the outcome of a race was being determined. My election is simply about ballot access. If anything, elections about ballot access should be subject to a less stringent standard, not more stringent. It is in the interest of a strong democracy that any candidate who can show enthusiastic support from her party be on the ballot in the general election.

Mr. Arntz says he must submit to the technicalities of the law. But as head of the Department of Elections, he has great discretion. The City Attorney’s advice is not binding. Mr. Arntz makes the final decision. And the City Attorney’s memorandum itself admits that “this result may seem contrary to both public policy and common sense.”

I know you are aware that voter interest and participation continues to decline, in San Francisco and the whole country. This is a real crisis in our democracy. But how can we blame voters for being cynical and passive when important decisions are made to exclude candidates from the ballot, based on a technicality rather than clear voter intent?

I have retained an attorney and will sue the City if my election is not certified. I do this with great reluctance, and I’m concerned that the resulting publicity will reflect badly on the city of San Francisco. But it is the will of the voters of the Green Party that I run for Congress. I must do everything in my power to get on the ballot. In the interest of fairness and a vibrant democracy (and to save the City the expense of a trial), please urge Mr. Arntz to reconsider his decision. And if he doesn’t, please vote against certifying the election results.

Sincerely,





Terry Baum

terry [at] terrybaum.com
http://www.terrybaum.com
§California Compared To Other States
by Terry Baum
statewrite-ins3.pdf_600_.jpg
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$110.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network