Warning To All California Voters!

By: Nancy C. Arcuri, Editor and Publisher

The California Voter Participation Rights Act (SB 415) requires cities with insufficient voter turn out to either change their election dates to June or November of even year, or, prior to January 1,2018, adopt a plan to consolidate future elections with statewide elections not later than the November 8, 2022, statewide general election.

The Monterey Park City Council discussed this very important matter at their July 5th and August 2nd meetings.

During the March 2017 Monterey Park City Council Election Los Angeles County failed to located their polling places in the Monterey Highlands neighborhood or at George Elder Park, a city facility.

Councilmember Mitch Ing stated the voters in Monterey Highlands, our largest voting precinct, had to travel outside of their neighborhood to vote in our March election. He was concerned that many of these elderly voters were not able to vote.

Mayor Teresa Real Sebastian said her usual polling place at George Elder Park was moved to another location.  It was a hardship to many of her neighbors who no longer drove a car.

Several residents voiced their concerns that Sacramento is forcing cities, counties and school boards to lose control of their elections.

This change by the county had all of the votes counted in their Norwalk office and reported the Election results on their computers for all the public to see, if you could get on line at the time.  The numbers were not always current. It also took a longer time until Los Angeles County and then the local cities validated the Election results.

They counted the vote by mail ballots postmarked by Election Day a few days after the election and before they finalized their count.

A spokesperson for Los Angeles County addressed this issue during the August meeting.

He said that Los Angeles County has projected the future of voting with over 10 million different cultures and languages so they are working on several computer ideas that included voting on your smart phone and downloading your votes onto their system and receiving a paper ballot for your records.

They are planning to open Election offices in the county that would allow you to walk in and vote in your local elections.

Voting by mail is another option, which seems to be in the voters’ future since Sacramento is determined that they know what is best for the California voters.

The County also has a “cute” video that have prepared for presentations.

The County said they are looking for input from the voters and city officials before this law is mandated.

Now the state is considering that each city be divided into voting districts to prevent what some people are calling voter discrimination.

This action would prevent you from voting for any elected official in your city.  It would destroy your benefits of voting at large.

The city of Alhambra has voting districts so their voters can only vote for their Council candidates in their district. The Councilmember can only help resolve issues in his or her district.

This issue has caused many Alhambra voters not to vote for their mandated Councilmembers since this person has not served them.

If you go to vote in a County Election office will you have to show your Driver’s License, State ID card, passport or other identification to be able to vote in the election?

Many states that require ID to vote in their elections are being charged with voter discrimination since some people do not have state or federal identifications.

California residents should investigate The California Voter Participation Rights Act (SB 415) to be sure your right to vote will not be lost in some questionable system set up by California politicians.

Our founding fathers guaranteed U S citizens our sacred right to vote in any and all elections. Please do not let the California politicians discourage you from voting.

E-mail, write letters or call your county elected officials and you’re elected officials in Sacramento to express your concerns on SB 415.