<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT face="Helvetica" size="4" color="#000000" style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><B>From: </B></FONT><FONT face="Helvetica" size="4" style="font: 14.0px Helvetica">David Holtzman <<A href="mailto:dh@LAvoteFIRE.org">dh@LAvoteFIRE.org</A>></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT face="Helvetica" size="4" color="#000000" style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><B>Date: </B></FONT><FONT face="Helvetica" size="4" style="font: 14.0px Helvetica">October 14, 2007 11:21:49 PM PDT</FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT face="Helvetica" size="4" color="#000000" style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><B>To: </B></FONT><FONT face="Helvetica" size="4" style="font: 14.0px Helvetica">"Friends, Members and Supporters of L.A. VoteFIRE " <<A href="mailto:dah@LAVoteFIRE.org">dah@LAVoteFIRE.org</A>></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT face="Helvetica" size="4" color="#000000" style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><B>Subject: </B></FONT><FONT face="Helvetica" size="4" style="font: 14.0px Helvetica"><B>[LAVoteFIRE] Governor, in stupid Arnhole mode, vetoed AB1294</B></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV> <I><FONT size="+1"><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Gov. Schwarzenegger waited until the last day to act on AB 1294, and he vetoed it. AB 1294 would have (1) let any city have instant runoff elections</FONT></FONT></I><FONT size="+1"><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><I>, upon city council and voter approval (cities with their own charters, like L.A., Pasadena and Long Beach, can already do this) (the bill had similar provisions for counties), and would also (2) have enacted enact official rules for instant runoff elections, making it much easier for any city (charter or non-charter) to start having such elections.</I><BR> <BR> <BR> Here's the veto message (***>>see initial comments from me below):<BR> <BR> To the Members of the California State Assembly:<BR> <BR> I am returning Assembly Bill 1294 without my signature.<BR> <BR> This bill would allow cities and counties, subject to voter approval, to conduct a local<BR> election using a ranked voting system. This represents a drastic change to the way we<BR> vote. Although there are some proponents for ranked voting, which allows for so-called<BR> “instant runoff” elections, I am concerned that we don’t yet know enough about how<BR> voters will react to such a dramatic change in the way they vote. For instance, charter<BR> cities and counties already have the right to hold ranked voting elections, yet only one<BR> city has done so thus far, and that was on a trial basis only.<BR> <BR> Further, the machines necessary to implement ranked voting are not widely available nor<BR> have any been certified by the Secretary of State. As the Secretary of State recently<BR> decertified the vast majority of electronic voting machines used for traditional elections,<BR> it is premature to even contemplate moving to ranked voting tomorrow until we have<BR> resolved any issues with the machines needed for how we vote today.<BR> Sincerely,<BR> <BR> [AS]<BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> </FONT></FONT><FONT size="+1"><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">***>></FONT></FONT><FONT size="+1"><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Now, the governor knows that charter cities and counties are generally much bigger than cities and counties that haven't adopted their own charters. So he's actually implying that we should try ranked voting first in (more) *big* jurisdictions (it's already being used in San Francisco, where polls show the voters love it) to see how "</FONT></FONT><FONT size="+1"><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">voters will react to such a dramatic change</FONT></FONT><FONT size="+1"><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">," instead of encouraging -- or even allowing -- trial runs in *small* jurisdictions. That's the opposite of normal cautious pilot-project-first policy-making.<BR> <BR> </FONT></FONT><FONT size="+1"><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> ***>>Also, by this logic, general state law shouldn't change until charter cities and counties do ranked voting. But many (if not all) charter city clerks and county registrars won't get behind ranked voting until the state codifies guidelines for it, which this bill would have done. That's a chicken-and egg problem, a catch-22.<BR> <BR> ***>>Another chicken-and-egg problem or catch-22 is that voting machine manufacturers will not make machines for ranked voting "widely available" (and they have to pay a lot of money to get voting machines certified) until a wide range of jurisdictions is allowed to have ranked voting elections, which this bill would have facilitated (there are far more non-charter cites and counties than there are charter cities and counties).<BR> <BR> </FONT></FONT><FONT size="+1"><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">***>></FONT></FONT><FONT size="+1"><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">And then here we see no more lofty talk from the governor about respecting California's own voters, like when he vetoed the "national popular vote" bill. (Well, maybe his horizon is limited to California ... he apparently didn't consider the successful use of ranked voting in various foreign countries and in U.S. cities outside of California.) (But the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences uses ranked voting to choose nominees for the movie Oscar awards, which are awarded in California ... so maybe it's just that he's upset about never being nominated for an Oscar.)<BR> <BR> </FONT></FONT><FONT size="+1"><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">***>></FONT></FONT><FONT size="+1"><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Oh, he doesn't have his facts right. It was *not* "on a trial basis only" in San Francisco (ranked-choice voting is in the charter, and scheduled to be used for future elections).<BR> <BR> ***>>Finally, in general, only *non-charter* cities are small enough to conduct elections within their budgets without machines. Ranked voting doesn't require machines. (There are no "machines necessary to implement ranked voting" -- another factual error.) What an idiot.<BR> <BR> Anyway, thank you for your help if you tried to reach the governor to ask him to sign the bill.<BR> <BR> -dh<BR> <BR> <BR> </FONT></FONT><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">_______________________________________________</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Core mailing list</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><A href="mailto:Core@cfer.org">Core@cfer.org</A></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><A href="http://mail102.csoft.net/mailman/listinfo/core">http://mail102.csoft.net/mailman/listinfo/core</A></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV> </BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR></BODY></HTML>