Advertise Here

Deliver your message to thousands of readers every day.

Our readers are influential opinion makers - politicians, journalists and activists.

Our latest headlines

About Us

The California Progress Report is published by Frank D. Russo, a longtime observer of and participant in California politics.

About Frank Russo.
About California Progress Report.

Got a news tip? Want to write a guest column? Contact Frank here.

Demise of ‘Motor Voter’in California-- Another G.O.P. Political Crime

towashington 089.gif By Bill Cavala
A veteran of over 30 years in Sacramento

Today’s Bee editorial, "Voter registration law isn't working well here", whines about the lack of voter registrations being generated by County welfare offices. The Bee notes that federal law instituted 15 years ago mandated that state offices administering federal programs take a responsible role in registering voters.

But they don’t.

The federal law was labeled “motor voter” because one piece of it was designed to automatically put drivers on the voter roles when they applied for licenses or renewals – unless the driver “opted out”.

The law was the result of years of lobbying by an old colleague of mine at Berkeley, Professor Raymond Wolfinger. Ray’s research had convinced him that the low turnouts characteristic of American Democracy were the result of artificial impediments to voting – chief among them the requirements of registration. Make it easier to register and people would. Then they would vote, and our elections would better represent the sentiments of the people.

But Republicans don’t want the people to vote.

So when the law passed, the requirement that government offices that served
the poor facilitate registration were ignored - or only formally obeyed. (In California, the Wilson Administration had a stack of voter registration applications set up in the midst of all the other forms in the office. If you went through all the forms, you were free to ‘take one’.

Then Secretary of State Bill Jones looked askance at the DMV’s role in registration. Instead of automatic enrollment (as the law required), Jones interpreted it as sufficient to offer registration. More paper to fill out, not automatic at all. As do all Republicans, Jones argued that the inability to electronically transmit ‘signatures’ from DMV to Clerks meant no check on FRAUD. So even though fewer than a dozen cases of voter fraud had been prosecuted in a decade, motor voter was tanked in it’s name.

In D.C., the price the GOP demanded for passage of motor voter was to allow states to “purge” their voter rolls of “deadwood”: people who had died or moved out of the jurisdiction. In California, Republican Jones interpreted that to mean he had the authority to unilaterally institute a “positive purge” and knock off anyone who had not voted in four federal elections (they could still vote for a while after that, but would cease receiving information as to where to vote, what was on the ballot, etc. from the clerk). This purge eliminates about 500,000 – 600,000 voters who may be dead, may have moved, or may simply have not liked the top-of-the-ticket choices over a four year period. They have to re-register. An ironic consequence of a new law intended to facilitate participation.

The Democratic Party sued Jones over these issues – and lost. And since that loss, no one has made an effort to restore ‘motor voter’ to its original purpose.

And, as the Bee notices in its editorial, there has not been any federal enforcement action by the Justice Department since 2000. Since 2000? What happened in 2000? The answer is that U.S. Attorneys across the nation focused their efforts on sending Elected Democrats to prison rather than enforcing “motor voter”.

It’s a shameful record.

Bill Cavala was Deputy Director of the Assembly Speaker’s Office of Member Services where he worked for over 30 years.

He attended undergraduate and graduate school in the 1960’s and received a doctorate in political science at UC Berkeley. He taught political science at UC Berkeley during the 1970's while he worked part-time for the State Assembly.

Cavala left teaching at UC Berkeley and went to work for Assembly Speaker Willie Brown in 1981 until his tenure as Speaker ended in 1995, and he has worked for his five successors as Speaker up to and including Speaker Fabian Nunez.

Mr. Cavala manages election campaigns for Democratic candidates.

Posted on April 05, 2008

Comments

You said "Republicans don’t want the people to vote."

I guess you believe it's OK to lie on this blog because it's yours.

But you and I both know it is the Democrat Party that did every thing in their power for years to deny the vote to minorities and women citizens of this county.

That’s one of the reason why I became a Republican; to help register voters. And over the years I've registered thousands of voters, both Democrats, Republicans and decline to state.

We both know that people who are not citizens (who have a green card) use the Department of Motor Vehicles and to automatically register these people to vote is a violation of federal law.

To set out registration application forms at the DMV, Post Offices and in other public buildings does not ignore the law but upholds the laws of this county.

To say the Secretary of State should not purge the list of voters who have not voted within the prescribed period of time is just wrong. We know from our history books and public records how the Democrat Party has won elections (think Chicago) by having dead people vote.

I can agree with you on one of your statements "It's a shameful record." Yes, the Democrats have a shameful record, starting with Thomas Jefferson (a slave holding President who apparently fathered a child by one of his slaves
- how much do you want to bet that was not a mutual choice on the part of the slave woman), President Andrew Jackson who also owned slaves and who didn’t recognize the civil rights of Indians and forced the first Americans out of their homelands (the trail of tears). Democrat leaders who turned their backs on the United States in 1860 and the freeing of their slaves; at least 618,000 Americans died in the Civil War. A party that did everything in their power to stop the right of women and blacks to vote. Yes it’s a shameful record.

I am a proud Republican who believes in liberty for all and who registers voters regardless of the party they prefer.

Carl Burton, Vice Chairman
Sacramento County Republican Party

Posted by: Carl Burton at April 6, 2008 09:33 PM

Get Email Updates

Want the California Progress Report by email? Once a week, we'll send you the latest and greatest headlines.

Stat tracker