On August 27, the California Assembly passed SB 439 on a voice vote. It legalizes write-ins in instances when the voter forgets to “x” the box next to the name written in. Since the bill is worded slightly differently than the Senate version of the bill, it now returns to the Senate.
A similar bill passed the legislature last year, but Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it.
What was his reasoning for vetoing the bill?
He is a rotten stinking unreforming liar [personal, face to face first hand experience] but then so is san diego county media darling and mega democratic party hypocrite donna ‘write in’ frye. She also vetoed write ins in city council chambers in 2005 —after spending $$$$$ in and out of court for her 2004 san diego mayor WRITE IN effort!
Politics!
Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill last year because Republicans in the legislature had voted against it, for partisan reasons. In 2005, a write-in candidate for Mayor of San Diego would have been elected, if all her write-ins had been considered valid. Since that San Diego write-in candidate was a registered Democrat, that influenced Democrats to be in favor of counting all write-in votes, and in knee-jerk reaction, all the Republicans were therefore against it. If the write-in candidate had been a Republican, of course the position of each major party would have been reversed! This year the bill may get signed since people have started to forget about the San Diego 2005 mayoral election.