CA: Bowen Measure to Stop Per-Signature Payments to Petition Sig Gatherers

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BOWEN RENEWS INITIATIVE REFORM EFFORT

NEW MEASURE WOULD BAN PER-SIGNATURE PAYMENTS & REQUIRE INITIATIVE PETITION SIGNATURE GATHERERS TO REVEAL WHO IS FINANCING THE PROPOSAL

SACRAMENTO – Eliminating fraud in voter registration and initiative signature gathering efforts, as well as requiring people pushing initiatives to tell would-be petition signers who is financing the initiative effort are the goals of two bills unveiled today by Senator Debra Bowen (D-Redondo Beach).

“Per-signature payments are an invitation to cheat and it doesn’t matter which party is writing the check,” said Bowen, the chairwoman of the Senate Elections, Reapportionment & Constitutional Amendments Committee. “If people are getting paid $10 for every signature they get on an initiative petition or for every voter registration card they collect, they have an incentive to defraud the system in a way that a volunteer or someone making $10 an hour doesn’t.”

On March 2, the Orange County Registrar of Voters turned over dozens of suspected fraudulent registration cards to the Secretary of State and the Orange County District Attorney for review. Included in that review are complaints from voters who registered as part of a Republican Party registration drive that their party registration was changed from “Democratic” to “Republican.” The Republican Party paid registration workers a set fee (between $3 and $10, according to news reports) for each new Republican voter signed up.

On March 6, the San Bernardino County District Attorney began looking at problems with nearly 3,000 voter registration forms submitted recently in connection with a San Bernardino County Republican Party voter registration drive that paid registration workers a set fee ($6, according to news reports) for every Republican voter registered.

On March 7, California Republican Party officials announced they would suspend their fee-based registration programs.

“It’s a smart move, but really, this isn’t a partisan issue, because over the years, both parties have had to deal with this problem,” continued Bowen. “Dangling per-signature money in front of a signature gatherer’s eyes creates an incentive for them to turn in a stack of fake voter registration forms, or worse, change people’s party affiliation on a form to fatten their paycheck. If we want to eliminate fraud in the voter registration and the initiative signature gathering processes, we need to start by getting rid of the incentive to falsify signatures and that means getting rid of per-signature payments.”

SB 1047, which is in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, was amended today to ban anyone from paying initiative or voter registration signature gatherers on a per-signature basis. The bill is based in part on Oregon’s Measure 26, which was approved by voters in November 2002 by a 75%-25% margin to ban paying initiative signature gatherers on a per-signature basis. Measure 26 was upheld as constitutional by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on February 22, 2006, which wrote in the case (Prete v. Bradbury):

“. . . asserted an important regulatory interest in preventing fraud and forgery in the initiative process. supported that interest with evidence that signature gatherers paid per signature actually engage in such fraud and forgery . . . plaintiffs did not prove Measure 26 would otherwise burden their ability to collect signatures.”

“This isn’t a First Amendment issue, it’s a fraud and forgery issue, so if people want to pick up a sales commission, they should go sell cars or cell phone service or real estate,” noted Bowen. “Putting a bounty on the head of everyone who might register to vote or sign an initiative petition may be a boon for capitalism, but it undermines our democracy.”

According to the Secretary of State’s office, between 1994 and May 2005:

o It has opened 1,023 cases involving bounty hunters, 671 of which dealt with fraudulent voter registration cards and 184 of which dealt falsified initiative, referendum, or recall petitions.

o 67 bounty hunters have been convicted of violating various election laws, including 39 for submitting fraudulent voter registration cards and 22 for submitting falsified petitions.

Bowen also announced she’s reintroduced SB 469, which was vetoed by the Governor last year. This year’s SB 1598 requires people circulating initiative petitions to disclose the measure’s five largest contributors and to update that list of contributors every seven days. Furthermore, it requires an initiative petition to state whether it’s being circulated by a paid signature gatherer or a volunteer.

“This is a way of letting people know who they’re dealing with when they’re asked to sign an initiative petition, whether it’s a real, genuine, grassroots initiative effort or a group of special interests who have a financial stake in whether it passes,” continued Bowen. “It’s really pretty simple. People deserve to know where the money’s coming from and who stands to benefit from an initiative before they sign on the bottom line.”

In his veto message of SB 469 last year, the Governor wrote:

“This bill attacks the initiative process and makes it more difficult for the people of California to gather signatures and qualify measures for the ballot. While difficulty of the process may be a good thing for big-money special interests and for political consultants who stand to gain financially, it is not for everyday Californians with an idea for reform.”

“The Governor is wrong if he thinks ‘everyday Californians’ are somehow better off being kept in the dark about who’s paying for an initiative campaign when they’re being asked to sign a petition to put something on the ballot,” said Bowen. “The initiative process needs more sunshine, not less, and the only people whose lives are going to be made more difficult by this measure are those folks who are trying to mislead voters into signing an initiative petition.”

SB 1047 will likely be referred to the Assembly Elections & Redistricting Committee for a hearing sometime next month. SB 1598 will be heard by the Senate Elections, Reapportionment & Constitutional Amendments Committee in April.

This is great news. Last Fall, I listened outside a Post Office while a petition gatherer lied his ass off to get signatures for Ahhnold's horrible initiatives. ... Then I spoke up a bit. ;)

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1. Great News! I was just offered a job last week getting sigs-I said NO,

if enough people don't care about the issue to gets sigs as volunteers then it shouldn't be on the ballot.

We would not be suffering under Arnold if he couldn't have bought his way into office.

I still think it should go further and not allow payment of any kind (not even hourly) for sigs.

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2. McPherson is threatening to veto it. (No surprise)

The $$$ per signature is just a huge incentive for signature-gatherers to lie.

Good on ya for not selling out! :)

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5. Correction:

*Ahhnold* is treatening to veto the measure.

D'oh! ;)

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3. Great story from the Fresno Bee -- Can you believe it? ;)

http://insidebayarea.com/timesstar/oped/ci_3600752

Paying signature collectors hurts California initiative process

By JIM BOREN
Fresno Bee
10-MAR-06

They're called bounty hunters and they lurk outside Wal-Marts, Targets and other stores that get steady streams of traffic. Some could be carnival barkers on the midway as they coax - or embarrass - shoppers to tables often containing several petitions.

But these aren't volunteers pushing a favorite political cause. They are professional signature gatherers and they are paid to get voters to sign their petitions. Some get as much as $10 per signature, and that's the problem.

Because they don't care about the issue, they'll tell you just about anything to get you to sign the petition. It may have nothing to do with what is actually in the fine print. And watch out if you say you're not interested. That's bad for business, and putting initiatives on the ballot is big business in California.

<snip>

In San Bernardino last week, the state Republican Party said it would stop paying people to register GOP voters after several voters said they had their parties changed to Republican when they signed up as Democrats or members of other parties. Under this program, the bounty hunters only get the $3 per signature for signing up Republicans.

Authorities in San Bernardino and Orange counties say the fraudulent signature gathering may have resulted in several thousand faulty voter registrations.

<snip>

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4. Several thousand Dems not properly registered as a result of $$ for sigs.

Highlighting from the last story. Rethugs paid $3 per rethug registration only, so many registration gatherers signed Dems up as rethugs.

"... fraudulent signature gathering may have resulted in several thousand faulty voter registrations."