Vote … Damn It!

NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCILS ARE MIA-With all the things we have no control over...there is one important thing that we all can have control over...and that is to vote next Tuesday.

There certainly hasn’t been lack of reminders from robot calls, mailers, TV commercials, streaming banners.  One would have to truly be living in isolation not to know an election is occurring on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, some people will find all kinds of reasons why they couldn’t make it to the voting precinct.  Some will have work...others blame traffic...and the most pitiful excuse of all is “I don’t know who to vote for---or I don’t understand the propositions”.  My other favorite excuse is “ My vote doesn’t count- it’s all predetermined.”

Frankly, the amount of money spent on this mid-term election is nauseating.  Whatever happened to the hue and cry regarding the obscene amount of money raised in this mid-term election??  

The first qualification for running for political office is the ability to raise funds. The Supreme Court and Citizens United are responsible for this.  When one looks at some of the candidates running throughout the country...it is obvious we are not encouraging our best and brightest.

Everything starts and ends with the raising of money.  This election is not over and I am already being solicited for funds by candidates for next March’s primary election.

I have listed all the reasons to stay home on November 4 so why am I so insistent that all of you, your family members, your younger children, your neighbors, your fellow workers make the effort to vote?  We elected our present Mayor with a 23% turnout of the vote last year.  That means less than 25% of the population determined the direction of the City.

I realize I am not a voice in the wilderness.

Two weeks ago City Council President Herb Wesson held a meeting to get “community input” on how we can increase voting turnout in Los Angeles.  He was joined by the Chair of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission, Nathan Hockman.

In the City Council, President Wesson Chairs the Rules, Elections and Intergovernmental Relations Committee. The committee has jurisdiction over the City Ethics Commission, the Election Division of the City Clerk, and the Ballot Simplification Committee. This committee also oversees the scheduling of ballot measures and other city election and campaign practices, Charter amendments, Council rules and policies, and the U.S. Census and redistricting.

The Commission had held regional meetings, which- I had noted in a prior article...were not well attended.  Apparently individual City Council Members were supposed to encourage their constituents to participate.  The meeting I attended had two people. 

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You may have read or heard that one of the suggestions was to either pay people to vote or have a lottery where in order to win a significant amount of money, you must have voted.

The Election Reform Commission presented their report to the City Council on October 24th.  It was approved by both the Rules and Regulations Committee and became council file 13-1364.  

Basically, the report echoed the suggestion of the LA 20-20 Commission but fortunately received more action.

It states in part:

“Change the City's and LAUSD's primary nominating election to June of even-numbered years and the City's general municipal election to November of even- numbered years to enable consolidation of the City's elections with the State elections held on those same dates. 


Begin the change in election dates in the year 2020 for even-numbered City Council districts and odd-numbered Board of Education districts, and in the year 2022 for Citywide offices, odd-numbered City Council districts and even-numbered Board of Education districts. 


Transition to the new election dates by providing that City and LAUSD officials elected at the 2015 elections be elected to serve a term beginning on July 1, 2015 and expiring in December of 2020, and that City and LAUSD officials elected at the 2017 elections be elected to serve term beginning on July 1, 2017 and expiring in December of 2022. The entire report can be accessed here.  

Neighborhood Councils were mentioned twice in the report asking the City Clerk to prepare a budget and plan to involve NC’s in registration activities and to act as poll workers.


According to Council President Wesson’s office, the Municipal Election Reform Commission held 15 meetings this last summer. Six of which were community input meetings. The REIG Committee has held seven meetings, with an eighth on Friday. The committee also held the item in committee for 90 days between June and September to allow neighborhood councils to comment on the recommendations.

I noted that only three Neighborhood Councils out of ninety-five had filed Community Impact Statements:  South Robertson, DowntownLA, and Wilshire Center Koreatown.

I was really appalled that Angelenos would need a monetary incentive to vote and publicly voiced my objections at the last Community Meeting. The Press had headlined that part of the report , previous to its formal presentation.  My sources tell me that paying individuals was merely a ploy to get more media exposure.  There is however, a section in the file that includes a pilot program to include a lottery type incentive in areas of very low voter turnout.

The moving of Municipal and LAUSD elections to coincide with State and Federal elections makes sense.  Someone voiced the opinion that if the ballot was too long--voters wouldn’t wade through it.  Balderdash!  We need to do a better job of educating the voters.

It will be interesting to see what percentage of voters actually vote next week.  As far as the changes proposed to the City Charter?   The City Council will be voting today on whether to include this in the March ballot.   The Mayor has already given his approval.

When I asked him to comment on these election changes Council President Wesson replied, “We have reached a point in Los Angeles where we must act to make our elections more representative of our city.  Based on the work of the Municipal Election Reform Commission and the substantial public input we have received, I believe that the group of proposals the Council will consider will achieve that goal.”

Some of the suggestions voiced by members of the public included: having early voting over a weekend; have voting precincts in high traffic areas; make it a celebration of our democracy with entertainment etc.   If the voters pass the changes...perhaps we can incorporate some of these ideas.

In a world where so many people have fought for the privilege of determining the direction of their government, it is unconscionable that we allow others to make these vital decisions on our behalf.

I heard a very apt commentary it said “Your vote is as important as the next one’s...but if you don’t vote everyone else’s vote is more important than yours.”

As always...comments welcome

(Denyse Selesnick is a contributor to CityWatch focusing on the policies and activities of Neighborhood Councils.  She is a former Publisher/journalist/international event organizer.) 

-cw

 

 

 

CityWatch

Vol 12 Issue 88

Pub: Oct 31, 2014