Daily Archive
Stories Posted on June 2, 2008
State: Man Used Petition Info For Romance
Category: Crime · State: California · Source: KCRA News
A Sacramento man is accused of using address information from petitions to pursue a romantic encounter with a woman without her consent, the office of Secretary of State Debra Bowen said. The District Attorney's office has charged petition circulator John Edward James of Sacramento with one count of misusing petition signatures and another charge of perjury for allegedly falsifying the signature collection date on one of his petitions. James was scheduled to be arraigned in Sacramento Superior Court on Friday afternoon. "By all accounts, this is an isolated incident of someone misusing signature information, but voters should know that elections officials vigorously guard their private information," Bowen said in a prepared statement.
Yet Another Unnecessary State Law
Category: Initiative and Referendum · State: Colorado · Source: East Valley Tribune
A new law that at first blush appears to be upholding a societal good — telling the truth — but is actually the sledge hammer of the state coming down to swat a fly, became effective in Arizona last week. Most of House Bill 2288, which Gov. Janet Napolitano signed into law on Tuesday, reads as necessary housekeeping to the processes of initiative and referendum petitioning. One sentence, however, is troubling: “A person who is a circulator of an initiative or referendum petition and who induces any other person in the circulator’s presence to sign the … petition by knowingly falsely describing the general subject matter of the measure is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor.”
Ritter Vetoes Bill Regulating Paid Petition Circulators
Category: Initiative and Referendum · State: Colorado · Source: Denver Post
Gov. Bill Ritter on Friday issued his second veto of the year, striking down a bill that would have required paid signature-gatherers for candidates or ballot initiatives to be Colorado residents, free of certain felony records. The bill, House Bill 1406, also would have required the signature- gatherers to receive education on the measures for which they were collecting signatures. Sponsors said they hoped the bill would bring more credibility to the large petition drives that hunt for tens of thousands of signatures each election cycle to place a measure on the ballot. The requirements didn't apply to volunteer signature-gatherers, though, and Ritter cited that disparity as one of the reasons for his veto. He also referred to several court challenges Colorado has lost over the years on bills or constitutional amendments with similar requirements.