![]() ![]() “People think that when they change their address with the post office, it changes their voting address, that’s not the case, so their ballots end up going to their old place. Those are the ones that get sent back because they had the wrong addresses or there were signature problems or they arrived later than the mail in deadline.” “They do destroy absentee ballots at county elections offices. articles, candidates and city officials found absentee ballots in recycle bins and trash cans. Everybody has a right to early voting and the right to conveniences, not just on a spotty basis,” said Alexander.Īccording to both L.A. One of the reasons we want standardization is because we want voters to know their rights. It makes absolutely no sense why federal and state elections are administered by their county election office, but their municipal election is administered by their municipal elections office. “From the voters perspective it’s utterly confusing. county can have their own procedures, some things are a matter of law and you have to follow the law, but when you say, what’s the procedure for processing ballots in this whole area, it varies quite a bit.”Īlexander, and other FoCE organizations, is making it a mission to “advance more standardization across jurisdictions.” When you get to the city level, things are even more different because whatever procedures the county has in place, the city doesn’t necessarily have to follow, for their election,” said Alexander. “Some might have a standing agreement with the post office that they’ll cover postage if inadequate postage is provided, some might set up drop sites where people can drop off ballots or open up their elections offices on weekends to receive ballots and let people drop off ballots there. That’s why the California Voter Foundation, as well as other member organizations in the Future of California Elections (FoCE), is discussing analyzing the vote by mail programs for three counties: a small county, a medium county and a large one, to “compare and contrast the different procedures they have in place.” There is no standardization in their practices,” said Alexander. “There are state statutes of what the vote by mail procedures are but they don’t describe every single detail, so a lot of the details are left to the counties or cities. Times reads “Five absentee ballots sent to recycling bins in Compton.” Here’s the Los Angeles Wave’s headline: “Voting materials in post office trash may point to Compton election hanky-panky.”Īfter reading both articles, I got to thinking, what is the law regarding absentee ballots? I sought the answers from Kim Alexander, President and Founder of the California Voter Foundation. ![]() But with the primaries just weeks away, the city is making headlines, and not in a good way. In fact, registered voters will pick a mayor, two city councilmembers, a city attorney, a city clerk and a city treasurer on April 16. That’s right, in the coming weeks, voters will head to the polls to decide their next leaders as many cities are holding primary elections. In Los Angeles County, it’s that time again–time to do some research on candidates running for public office. Some Compton ballots ended up in one of these. ![]()
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