A Vote for Chaos

By an incredible vote of 61 to 2, the state Assembly has passed a bill that would impose on California one of the very worst features of Florida election law--one that helped mess up the last presidential election so badly. It’s up to the state Senate now to kill this measure and make certain it remains killed.

Assembly Bill 612, authored by Dennis Mountjoy (R-Monrovia), would give members of the armed forces and other Californians living abroad until 10 days after the election to return their absentee ballots. Under current law, all absentee ballots must be in the hands of county voting officials before the polls close at 8 p.m. election day.

Mountjoy argues that members of the military should not have to send in their ballots before election day. The measure won unanimous approval in the Assembly Appropriations Committee June 6 and then passed the full Assembly the next day after virtually no debate.

It seems that even members who might have questioned the wisdom of the legislation did not want to be perceived as anti-military. The brave two who voted against it are Assembly members Jackie Goldberg (D-Los Angeles) and John Longville (D-Rialto).

The bill seeks to cure a problem that does not exist. Election officials say they have not received any complaints about the present system, which gives absentee voters 60 days to apply for their ballots and return them. But the change could create a huge problem in a close race by delaying a final vote count, and the determination of the winner, at least 10 days after the election.

There is a reason Florida allowed the extra 10 days for the return of overseas ballots. This is because the Florida primary and general elections are only one month apart, according to an Assembly analysis of the bill. There’s no such problem in California, where the primary is in March.

The Mountjoy bill would make it possible for some overseas Californians to vote after an election since mail processed in Army and Navy post offices does not always carry postmarks. More than 800,000 Californians living abroad, including 157,000 in the military, are eligible to vote.

There are other ways to help servicemen and servicewomen abroad to cast timely ballots, such as making sure that ballot information gets to them as rapidly as possible. As the state further automates its voting process, these Californians ultimately may be able to cast their ballots on election day through computers.

California now has one of the most orderly and efficient election systems in the nation. To approve AB 612 would risk turning it into chaos.