[EL] The perhaps overly partisan rhetoric of Alex Padilla, Calif. Sec. of State

[larrylevine at earthlink.net]

Thousands of phone calls and a website were and are no substitute for direct mail messages to registered voters. The minor parties were not asked to contribute one cent to those mailers, just have their state chairs sign messages to be mailed to voters. There was funding available for this program and I was involved in some of the outreach, although I don’t think the Libertarian Party was my responsibility. The mailers were designed; the message was that no one from that party would ever again appear on a General Election ballot if the measure passed. All that was missing was the credibility of the name and signature of the chair of each of the parties, which never came. 

Larry

 

From: Richard Winger <richardwinger at yahoo.com> 
Sent: Saturday, 10 November 2018 3:22 PM
To: larrylevine at earthlink.net; 'Election Law Listserv' <law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: Re: [EL] The perhaps overly partisan rhetoric of Alex Padilla, Calif. Sec. of State

 

This message gives a false impression.  California Libertarians phoned thousands of registered Libertarians and asked them not to vote for Prop. 14.  Minor party memers set up the most popular anti-Prop. 14 web page, "Stop Top Two."  

 

Richard Winger 415-922-9779 PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147

 

  _____  

From: "larrylevine at earthlink.net <mailto:larrylevine at earthlink.net> " <larrylevine at earthlink.net <mailto:larrylevine at earthlink.net> >
To: 'Richard Winger' <richardwinger at yahoo.com <mailto:richardwinger at yahoo.com> >; 'Election Law Listserv' <law-election at uci.edu <mailto:law-election at uci.edu> > 
Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2018 3:08 PM
Subject: RE: [EL] The perhaps overly partisan rhetoric of Alex Padilla, Calif. Sec. of State

 

When California enacted the top-two Primary, which had the inevitable result of freezing minor party candidates out of the General Election, attempts were made to engage the minor parties in the campaign to defeat the measure. All that was asked was that the state chair of each of those parties be willing to sign mail to voters registered in their own parties expressing the importance of voting against the measure on the ballot. Every one of them declined. In my experience in speaking with those people, they indicated a belief that it was a plot by the Democratic Party.

As for write-in campaigns, they yield so few votes that they would have virtually no impact on the results of the vast majority of elections. Write-ins are not the real issue.

Larry

 

From: Law-election <law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu <mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> > On Behalf Of Richard Winger
Sent: Saturday, 10 November 2018 10:35 AM
To: Election Law Listserv <law-election at uci.edu <mailto:law-election at uci.edu> >
Subject: [EL] The perhaps overly partisan rhetoric of Alex Padilla, Calif. Sec. of State

 

California's Secretary of State, Alex Padilla, is chair of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State.  In that role he sends out fund-raising messages for that association.  Today's e-mail from him has the subject line "Brian Kemp is trying to steal Georgia's election."  Maybe that is a true observation, but it makes me queasy for one state's election officer to be talking about another state's election officer.

 

Also, Padilla is no champion of voting rights himself.  At his press conference in San Francisco on November 2, 2018, I asked him if he favors restoring write-in space on California general election ballots for congress and partisan state office.  The California legislature had eliminated write-in space for those offices in general elections, in 2012.

 

He replied stiffly, "That's for the legislature to decide."  And said nothing further.  Yet routinely, every year his office recommends election law changes to the legislature.

 

If California had write-in space in the general election, that would enable third party candidates to continue campaigning in the general election season, asking for write-in votes (California no longer allows third party candidates on the general election ballot for statewide office other than president), which would expand voter and candidate freedom of expression.  With no write-in space, it is obviously impossible for third party candidates to campaign for write-in votes; they simply shut up).

 

Richard Winger 415-922-9779 PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147

 

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