Debra Bowen for California Secretary of State - Lawmakers Try to Reform Signature Gathering

Lawmakers Try to Reform Signature Gathering

The Orange County Register
Jul 21, 2006
By Brian Joseph SACRAMENTO – Lawmakers are trying to fix problems with signature gathering in California by eliminating bounties that might fuel voter-registration fraud and also ensuring that voters get better information when they're approached by petitioners. Legislators say recent problems in Orange County have created momentum for changes, although legal experts say change in this area of the law is difficult because it touches on freedom of speech. Some proposals before the Legislature could have kept scores of Orange County voters registered as Democrats from being switched to the Republican Party. After dozens of voters complained to election officials about being switched, an Orange County Register investigation in April independently confirmed that more than 100 county residents had been deceived by signature gatherers circulating both petitions and voter-registration cards. The number of complaints to the county Registrar of Voters is up to about 550, and the California Attorney General's office and the Secretary of State's office are investigating. Signature gatherers earned as much as $7 for each GOP registration. Voter- registration experts believe such payments, known as bounties,are an incentive for fraud. Proposals by Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Marina del Rey, and Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, outlaw bounties, requiring instead that signature gatherers circulating petitions or voter- registration cards be paid hourly. Bowen also has a bill, introduced before the Register's investigation, to require petitions to include a list of top financial contributors to initiative committees and a statement disclosing whether signature gatherers are being paid. Lawmakers say the changes are necessary to prevent voters and the political process from manipulation and abuse. "Misleading voters leads you to a whole lack of faith and trust in the democratic system, a nd that's something I don't think any democracy can withstand," said Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, who proposed a bill to prevent signature gatherers from circulating petitions that differ from the ones submitted to the state. That happened with Proposition 77, a redistricting measure, in November's special election . During that election, lawmakers heard allegations that signature gatherers l ied to voters about the intent of ballot measures. "We've heard stories of the bait and switch - 'If you want to expand health-care cover, sign this petition,' when in fact, the referendum was to repeal the state law extending coverage," Leno said. "When people are eager to get signatures and they've got the people to do it, abuses occur." But changes in this area of the law, particularly as they relate to voter registration, often are scrutinized and challenged "because they touch on matters that are extraordinarily important to democracy," said Wendy Weiser of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. The Brennan Center is involved in challenges to new voter-registration restrictions in Ohio and Florida that would punish workers collecting voter-registration cards with fines or criminal charges if they submit forms to election officials late or bundle them with cards collected by others. Weiser said the restrictions reflect legislatures' growing interest nationwide to tackle voter- registration issues. She said Colorado and New Mexico, among other states, have also approved new rules. In California, proposals to prohibit per-signature bounties are of particular interest to those who work in the signature gathering industry. In February, the 9 th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an Oregon law prohibiting bounties for signatures on petitions. However, Fred Kimball, president of Kimball Petition Management in Westlake Village, which managed the collection and verification of signatures for three initiatives on the November ballot, said such a prohibition makes no sense for petitions. To prevent fraud, he says, companies like his validate signatures gathered for petitions before they're submitted, while voter- registration cards, often circulated be side petitions, are not independently checked. Kimball said it's in his interest to stop signature fraud on his petitions because he pays subcontractors to collect signatures for him. "Since we're paying for signatures, we're not paying for fraud," said Kimball, who urges his signature gatherers not to simultaneously collect voter-registration cards for bounty. Because they're not his employees, Kimball cannot force the signature gatherers to stop collecting registration cards. http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1217855.php

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