Schwarzenegger May Disenfranchise Thousands of Overseas Troops with Early Special Election Date

[BradBlog]

Schwarzenegger May Disenfranchise Thousands of Overseas Troops with Early Special Election Date
June 22nd state Senate primary election date violates 45-day ballot requirement of federal law...

-- Guest blogged by Scott Dick

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is effectively disenfranchising 2,046 overseas California voters around the world, including military personnel stationed in combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan by calling a special election for June 22, 2010.

While the election could have (and still can be), by law, scheduled for late August, the Governor's date for the state special election is in violation of the 45-day requirement of federal law needed to help assure that overseas military voters are able to receive their ballots and return them in time to be counted on Election Day.

The Governor could change the date of the election, but he only has days to do so at this point. Please read the story linked below for more details, and actions on how you can ask him to do the right thing!...

(UPDATED: Santa Cruz, CA County Clerk/Registrar and Vice President of the CA Assoc. of Clerks and Election Officials (CACEO) Gail Pellerin saw our article just after it went up, and wrote to both thank us for covering it, and to express her outrage over the Governor's decision here. She points us to a letter sent by clerks to his office earlier this week, and also notes that "Military voters are definitely disenfranchised" by this move. See the UPDATE at the end of the full article for more comments and detail from Pellerin. )

FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7825