Candidate Sues for Free Voter Booklet Space

A candidate for San Diego County recorder says the county registrar of voters is giving wealthy aspirants a leg up in their campaigns by charging thousands of dollars for space in the sample ballot booklets, which are distributed free to 1.3 million voters.

John Kelley, a three-time candidate for mayor of San Diego, filed suit Tuesday in San Diego County Superior Court against Ray Ortiz, the registrar of voters, seeking room in the booklet despite his inability to pay the going rate of $4,275 for a half-page statement.

A hearing in the case is scheduled next week, in time to get Kelley’s statement in the booklet for the June 3 election if he prevails, according to his attorney, Clifton Blevins.

Kelley contends that the booklet, mailed to all registered voters, is a powerful campaign tool and that making it unavailable to indigent candidates effectively makes it impossible for them to win elections.

“It’s a bargain if you’ve got the $4,000,” the retired Golden Hills resident said Wednesday. “If you don’t, it’s a disaster.”

Ortiz said he had no choice but to reject Kelley’s request for free space in the booklet because the fee schedule set by the Board of Supervisors makes no provision for waiving the cost.

“If they don’t pay, the entire voting population pays for it,” Ortiz said. “I feel at this point it would be wrong for me to spend taxpayers’ funds for a person to put in a free candidate’s statement.”

However, other localities have provisions for waiving the charges for indigent candidates, Blevins said. And for the last year, taxpayers have picked up the cost of the sample ballot booklets for elections in the City of San Diego.

“The problem was that the damn things were uncollectible, for one thing,” said City Atty. John Witt. “It was more of a bother than anything else. So to give everyone the ability to compete evenly, the City Council in its wisdom said, ‘We’ll make it free.’ ”

That decision opened the booklets to the full range of well-funded, and unfunded, candidates in February’s special mayoral election. Former Councilwoman Maureen O’Connor’s straightforward statement was back-to-back with Kelley’s offer to send voters a free copy of the New Testament and his exhortation that they accept Jesus as their savior.

Kelley said he was worried what voters would think if no statement from him appeared in the booklet for the June election.

“When they see zero there, they think you’re a dummy,” he said. “They think you have no beliefs.”

Kelley’s opponent, incumbent Recorder Vera Lyle, chose not to place a statement in the sample ballot booklet, Ortiz said.

Nonetheless, Kelley, who says in his lawsuit that he cannot afford the county fee because he has taken a “vow of austerity,” contends that his chances of election are nil unless his statement appears in the booklet.

“The voter’s pamphlet is highly discriminatory from both an economic and democratic viewpoint in that it places a qualified candidate with limited financial resources in a highly disadvantageous position and therefore effectively denies him the right to be a candidate,” the suit says.

“At the same time,” it continues, “it provides economically secure candidates a bargain publication actually costing many thousands more than they are actually required to pay.”

Ortiz, who four years ago unsuccessfully promoted the idea of selling ads in sample ballot booklets to defray printing costs, said he does not believe the cost of space is outrageous, given the booklets’ broad distribution.

In Los Angeles County, he noted, the cost for publishing a candidate’s statement countywide is $52,000, compared to San Diego County’s charge of $4,275.

“That seems quite reasonable to reach all the population,” Ortiz said.