When Republican voters in San Diego County open their June sample ballots in the next few weeks, most will see something new — a color GOP fundraising appeal in the middle of the other usual black and white pages, touting the party’s locally supported candidates and positions on ballot measures.
When San Diego Democrats glance at their versions of the sample ballot, they obviously won’t see the Republican advertisement. Yet, they also won’t see one of their own.
A little known and perhaps long forgotten 1970s-adopted section of the California Elections code requires every county Registrar of Voters to provide to each party committee the space for a letter or insert of solicitation in the June voter pamphlet. This year local Republicans submitted an advertisement, then yesterday successfully fended off a legal challenge over its contents in Superior Court.
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April 14th, 2010 at 12:00 am
Kudos to the local GOP!!!
tjz
April 14th, 2010 at 12:00 am
That’s great! I hope my home county of Placer will do something similar in the future. Congrats to the SD GOP!
April 14th, 2010 at 12:00 am
I’m a Libertarian, not a Republican. But for the Democrats to oppose a no-cost communication by a political party to its registered voters is reprehensible.
Do they really fear Free Speech that much? Short answer: YES!
April 15th, 2010 at 12:00 am
Barry, if the Open Primary initiative passes, and I sure hope that never happens again, what impact do you think it would have on these inclusions in the future?
April 15th, 2010 at 12:00 am
That’s great.
April 15th, 2010 at 12:00 am
Great question Dwight. The law allows the solicitation only in the June primary for a simple reason, since that’s when the Registrar sends out individualized partisan ballots already, so partisan advertisements to each party’s members only is fairly simple to achieve. If the state were to go to an open or top two primary system, the individualized ballots would cease I assume. Anyone’s guess what that might mean for this current provision. Jim Lacy, what are your thoughts?
April 16th, 2010 at 12:00 am
The Open Primary won’t change the Election Code Section allowing the use of the sample ballot. The section doesn’t peg the date of the primary, and we will still have a primary if Open passes. Parties would still be in a strong position to maintain the right, even stronger now.