Brown Signs Bills to Move Ballot Measures to Novembers & Online Voter Reg

by: Brian Leubitz

Fri Oct 07, 2011 at 15:50:41 PM PDT

Measure would put signature initiatives on November elections

by Brian Leubitz

First, let's say one thing, SB 202 is not a simple stroke of genius that makes initiatives all of a sudden a great system. But, it is a fair reform that lets the full electorate vote on important measures.

In short, SB 202 moves all future (so doesn't apply to measures already qualified for the ballot) initiatives placed on the ballot through signatures to general elections. In other words, gubernatorial and presidential elections.

Of course, the Right is pretty livid about this, as this June was going to be their dream election to put a bunch of right-wing crap on the ballot. With low turnout on the Democratic side, we would basically have the electorate of Arizona or something.

You can read Governor Brown's signing message for SB 202 here or below the fold. He refers to a rainy day fund measure that will be on the ballot that is moved by SB 202, in the context of wanting to avoid putting additional money into a bank account when we are broke. (Makes sense, huh?)

In other news, the Governor also approved finally allowing people to register to vote online. Which, if you think about it makes perfect sense. So, apparently Jerry has some of that common sense thing. Hooray!

Brian Leubitz :: Brown Signs Bills to Move Ballot Measures to Novembers & Online Voter Reg

SB 202 Signing Message

Tags: Voting, Election2012, SB 202, (All Tags)

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Brown Signs Bills to Move Ballot Measures to Novembers & Online Voter Reg | 6 comments

Brown made the right call (4.00 / 1)

I have to say that governor Brown made the right call on this one. Sure the Republicans will complain but they are going to do that no matter what Brown does. There is no upside to trying to work with them. They won't comprise on revenue (even to the extent of the single sales factor). Personally I'd prefer if we could devolve most taxing authority and revenue to the counties (each county sets rates itself). Let the red areas of the state decide if they like living in their low tax / services paradise without impacting the rest of us.

by: jbmsv @ Sat Oct 08, 2011 at 21:00:24 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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SB202 (5.00 / 1)

While SB 202 is a step forward, Gov Brown had the opportunity to do so much more, but instead a few weeks ago vetoed both SB 168 which would have prohibited payment per signature to signature gatherers, and SB 448 which would have required signature gatherers to wear badges stating that they are being paid for obtaining signatures.

As long as super rich special interests can continue to pay to collect signatures on petitions, with virtually no restrictions, the direct democracy envisioned by Hiram Johnson and others at the forefront of the original Progressive movement 100 years ago, is but a dream. Rather, the Initiative system remains a means to take the voice of democracy away from the people, and place it in the silver-platted hands of State Farm Insurance, Pacific Gas & Electric, and ExxonMobil.

by: theHoundDawg @ Mon Oct 10, 2011 at 07:41:31 AM UTC

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by: you @ soon

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yeah i wanted more (0.00 / 0)

SB202 doesnt fix anything it just consolidates money for the big elections.

by: CaliCon @ Mon Oct 10, 2011 at 22:43:17 PM UTC

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Caveats (0.00 / 0)

IMO we've stopped seeing much in the way of progressive initiatives, especially the sort with all-volunteer petition drives (the last one of those that succeeded in getting something on the ballot was ~20 years ago), because what used to be grassroots organizations have acquired institutional connections in Sacramento. Lobbyists, even progressive ones, generally don't like doing that kind of work, so they strongly resist it.

But note that the right wing used to put initiatives on with all-volunteer efforts, and that too has pretty much stopped.

So there's something a little deeper going on. Much-increased population is probably part of it, as is increased lack of voter trust in politics, but I'm not sure that's a complete explanation.

Just to note also that the California of the Progressive reform era had little more than a million people, which allowed a relatively small group of volunteers to qualify an initiative. Signature percentage requirements haven't changed, but the difficulty of coordinating such an effort sure has.

by: Steve Bloom @ Tue Oct 11, 2011 at 05:32:51 AM UTC

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