Reading Specialists OKd for Ballot Committee

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to seek several changes to the special election code to enable the charter reform proposals get the attention they deserve at a reading level that is easily comprehended by voters.

Councilman Joel Wachs proposed--and the council agreed--to add a couple of “reading specialists” to its ballot committee to ensure that the ballot is written at an eighth-grade reading level.

“It’s going to be so complex,” Wachs said. “I want to make sure . . . it is at a level they can understand.”

Two charter reform commissions, one appointed by the council and the other elected, have been working to amend the 70-year-old civic constitution.

The proposed ballot changes, which will come back to the council, include lengthening the arguments for and against the changes that will be printed for voters. Currently, those arguments are limited, but because of the complexity and size of the proposed charter changes, officials believed the voters needed more information.

The council also gave its preliminary approval to allowing each charter reform commission to submit its arguments in support of their proposals and to allow the council president to select the authors of the opposing view--with priority given to elected city officials.

The city attorney is expected to draft an ordinance incorporating these changes, which will be brought back to the full council.