Santa Ana : Petition Drive Continues for Vote on City Changes

Members of a citizens’ group calling for changes in the structure of city government say that since Tuesday about 3,500 people have signed petitions calling for a vote on the changes, and they will try this weekend to reach their goal of 10,000 voter signatures.

Once that total has been amassed, the city would contract with the registrar of voters office to check the petitions to be sure that at least 6,372 valid signatures--the minimum number required to place a proposition on the ballot--have been collected. Group spokesman Jim Lowman said he hopes the counting can be expedited to meet a March 7 deadline for a June ballot.

The group, Santa Ana Merged Society of Neighbors, is calling for election of council members by wards and the citywide election of the mayor, separating that office from the City Council. Lowman said an average of about 25 people walked precincts each day this week, and he said he hopes to have about 450 volunteers out each day this weekend.

Lowman was optimistic that the target figure could be reached by Sunday. Although the City Council would only be required to put the proposition on the next regularly scheduled ballot in November, Lowman said that his group hopes the proposals are put before the voters in June so that they would be in effect in November when three council members--P. Lee Johnson, Robert Luxembourger and Dan Young--are up for reelection.

“If we came in there with 10,000 signatures, we feel the council would follow the desires of the voters and put it on a June ballot,” he said.