PEACE & FREEDOM PARTY OF CALIFORNIA
State Central Committee
1403 Los Padres Way, Sacramento, CA 95831
(916) 422-5395
www.peaceandfreedom.org
June 18, 2012
Transmitted by facsimile and email
Hon. Richard Pan
P.O. Box 942849, Room 4164
Sacramento, CA 94249-0005
Subject: AB 2058 Voter registration – OPPOSE UNLESS AMENDED
Dear Assembly Member Pan,
The Peace and Freedom Party of California opposes AB 2058 as currently written, because it would ban payment per affidavit of voter registration. However, we would support this bill if a proposal made by ballot access expert Richard Winger is added to it.
That proposal would lower the requirement for remaining a ballot-qualified party from 1% of voter turnout in gubernatorial years to 1/3% of the the same number, per California Elections Code section 5100(b). This change would also apply to new parties attempting to qualify, as does the current 1% threshold.
The connection between this proposal and payment of voter registration workers is direct and immediate. Small political parties in California are already threatened by the consequences of Proposition 14 and SB 6, which effectively eliminate the percentage of vote test for remaining ballot-qualified. Small parties must now rely exclusively on increasing and maintaining their voter registration numbers. Eliminating payment per affidavit would make that much more costly and, combined with the continuous removal of voters from the active list of registered voters, would make it very difficult.
Even without AB 2058, the ballot access requirement needs to be changed in response to Proposition 14. Banning payment per affidavit would make the need even more acute. This bill is therefore an appropriate place for the change to be made.
We continue to believe that the connection between payment per affidavit and any potential for fraud in voter registration campaigns is tenuous at best, and that such payments should be allowed. But we are nonetheless willing to support AB 2058 with the amendment described above.
Once this amendment is introduced, I would be happy to write again to state, and to testify to our support of the amended AB 2058. If you have any questions, please contact me at 916-422-5395 or 916-320-9186.
Yours truly,
C. T. Weber
State Chairperson
Peace and Freedom Party of California
cc: Hon. Lou Correa, Chair, Senate Committee on Elections
Hon. Doug La Malfa, Vice Chair, Senate Committee on Elections
Hon. Kevin De Leon
Hon. Ted Gaines
Hon. Ted W. Lieu
Assembly Committee on Elections and Redistricting
