Democrats Launch ’86 Voter Registration Drive

Sometimes the public attitude toward politics is expressed in a word: Apathy. Which, if you are a Democrat and you figure Democrats indulge in more than their share of apathy, calls for something drastic.

So the Democrats tried to draw attention to the launch of their 1986 voter registration drive Thursday by holding a press conference at a place of drastic contrasts and drastic implications--a Sun Valley elementary school located across the street from an unpleasant and possibly poisonous municipal dump.

The message: Millions of Californians who are unregistered and who don’t vote are letting others make political decisions on schools and dumps and everything in between.

This is particularly true, the Democrats said, because of California’s fondness for the initiative process, which permits direct public votes on almost any issue backed by enough signatures.

Participation Urged

“Think about the decisions we’ve made in the past through the initiative process in California,” said Conway Collis, an elected member of the State Board of Equalization who is supervising this year’s late-starting Democratic registration drive. “We’ve decided on property tax reform or Proposition 13, coastal zone protection, nuclear plant sites, homosexual teachers, and this last time around, the state lottery.”

He noted the upcoming Nov. 4 ballot asks Californians to set policies on school construction, toxic chemicals in drinking water, AIDS and more.

“There is a whole range of issues that affect every aspect of our lives. It’s just too dangerous to leave that to what is becoming a minority of our population,” Collis said.

Attending the press conference were Democratic candidates for office who hope to benefit from the voter registration drive and, doubtless, from association with the anti-toxics theme of Thursday’s registration press conference. They were Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, the party’s nominee for governor; U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston, who is seeking a fourth term, and U.S. Sen. Gary Hart of Colorado, who is moving toward another run for President.

With voter registration open for only 5 1/2 more weeks through Oct. 6, the statistics facing Democrats in California are the worst in 52 years.

Secretary of State March Fong Eu reported this summer that registered Democrats numbered 6.1 million--51.2% of the electorate. The percentage is the lowest since 1934, when the party had only 49.5% of the voters.

Even though they cling to a majority, Democrats are alarmed because their voters are disproportionately inclined to skip elections or cross party lines in high-visibility, statewide elections.

Republicans have shown registration gains and now account for 37.8% of the electorate, or 4.6 million, their highest since 1970, according to the latest accounting. Still, this is far from their registration high of 73% in 1930.

Registration Target

The real targets for registration are the estimated 5 million Californians who are eligible to vote but aren’t registered. That’s almost exactly 30% of the adult population.

Collis said the Democrats hoped to sign up 100,000 of these people as new voters before the Oct. 6 deadline. But the backbone of the new Democratic drive will be to follow up and try to make sure that each new registrant actually votes Nov. 4. There is a suspicion among Democratic Party leaders that people who register at shopping centers or sidewalks are the least apt to make it to the polls.

Collis said that new registrants can expect two phone calls and two letters by election day urging them to vote the easy way, by absentee ballot.

Republicans said they have the same goal of registering about 100,000 more voters in the time before Oct. 6. But the Republicans are not just starting their drive--they’ve been at it hot and heavy for 16 months. Party spokesman Joe Irvin said that since April, 1985, 400,000 Californians have registered to vote in the state as Republicans.

State and city officials said the target of the Democratic press conference, the Penrose Dump, was a closed municipal landfill, not a major disposal site for commercial toxins.

“Penrose is a Class II dump,” said Sterling Beusch, spokesman for the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation. “That means it can accept household garbage and commercial building waste. It can’t accept toxics because there is underlying drinking water.”

Nevertheless, Collis and a spokesman for Bradley said the 1960s dump was a suspected health hazard and exactly the kind of site that needed public attention.