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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDid Prop 37, GM food labeling, win or lose in Calif??
The day after the election, I was discouraged to read that the Prop 37 measure, which would have required foods to be labelled if they contained GM products, had failed.
However, within a week, I was not discouraged, I was puzzled. And perhaps angry as well. Although the measure was defeated by some hundreds of thousands of votes, its failure was announced before some 1.5 million votes were counted?
Other activists were as angry and upset as me, I now realize. Apparently in Fresno, the activists have challenged their county's recording of the count of the ballots, and asked for a recount.
Initially this was goo dnews. But then the Registrar of Voters did what registrars of Voters in Calif do - she demanded an exorbitant amount of money, much of it upfront, and lo and behold, her problem went away.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=9848
February 2013 »
" Forget About Fresno: How One CA County Clerk Stopped Prop 37's Oversight 'Recount' "
1/31/13 - 1/29/13 - Archives...
PROP 37 'RECOUNT' BLOCKED IN FRESNO
A BRAD BLOG Special Report: How one CA registrar helped keep citizens from confirming results of one of last year's most contentious initiatives, and why paper ballots secretly tallied by computers fail U.S. democracy...
Forget About Fresno: How One CA County Clerk Stopped Prop 37's Oversight 'Recount'
And why secretly tallied paper ballots undermine U.S. democracy
A Special Report by The BRAD BLOG...
By Brad Friedman on 2/4/2013, 6:35am PT
What happened last November in California's Prop 37? Is it really possible that progressive California doesn't want Genetically Engineered Foods to be labeled as such? According to the reported results of that election, that would seem to be the case. But did Californians really vote against such labeling? Unfortunately, thanks to a lack of oversight regarding public hand-counts on Election Night, and a gaping weakness in the state's otherwise liberal "recount" law, we're unlikely to ever know for certain.
A weeks-long investigation by The BRAD BLOG into the months-long attempted effort to confirm the results of the Prop 37 ballot initiative last November, serves to highlight not just the weakness in California "recount" law, but also the notion that paper ballots, secretly tallied by optical-scan computers, are just fine, since, as the knee-jerk saying goes, "we can always count the paper ballots by hand afterwards if there are any questions about the results."
The fact is: no we can't. As our investigation reveals, election officials have the ability to stop an attempted "recount" dead in its tracks, by simply charging contestants anything they like for the effort. They are able to price such oversight beyond the means of most citizens, and are even doing so in apparent violation of state election code and regulations, as we found in Fresno County, CA last month during an attempted citizen oversight campaign of Prop 37 results.
But that election was not the only one where an attempt to examine paper ballots to assure accuracy of the secret computer tallies has been stymied by officials in the Golden State. The matter is rife for abuse and continues to frustrate Election Integrity advocates, even as both the CA legislature and the CA Secretary of State have done little to correct the situation...
Democracy 'only available to high-rollers'
California has one of the most liberal election contest laws in the nation. It allows for any "elector" (voter) to challenge the results of any race or initiative on the ballot by filing for a hand count of ballots in any county and any number of precincts they choose, provided they pay the full costs of the hand count. (In the event that the post-election count leads to a race or initiative being overturned, those costs are to be reimbursed to the challenger.) rest of article at the link
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Glad to see Brad working hard on these issues. Like he states in the above article, "democracy" in California is only for high rollers. If you have the money to challenge an election, you can get a recount. If not, then forget about it!
mike_c
(36,281 posts)Bad policy, fortunately rejected by voters.
truedelphi
(32,324 posts)Supposedly this is a democracy. Supposedly we vote in an election, and our votes are tallied and THEN AND ONLY THEN, the results are announced.
Unfortunately in Calif, many counties did not have the votes tallied for several weeks - yet election results were announced within 48 hours for the propositions!!!!
That is what is so infuriating.