The California Senate will vote on Wednesday, September 7, on AB 1413. The bill abolishes write-in space on California general election ballots for Congress and state office. If you support write-in voting, please telephone Senate President Darrell Steinberg’s office at 916-651-4006 and ask him to delete the write-in ban from the bill. If the bill cannot be amended, then ask that it be defeated. Anyone, whether a resident of California or not, should feel free to call. The receptionist will take the message, but she will also ask what city the caller lives in. If you call, don’t be embarrassed to say you live in a state other than California.

Although the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that states may abolish write-in space on ballots, no state has abolished write-in space since Louisiana did so in 1975. Only five states ban write-ins at general elections (Hawaii, South Dakota, Louisiana, Nevada and Oklahoma). In recent years, write-in voting has been expanded. Indiana added provision for write-in voting in 1991; Kansas added provision for write-in voting for President and Governor in 1991; Virginia added write-in voting for President in 1997; Nebraska added write-in voting for President in 2005 (Kansas, Virginia and Nebraska already had had write-in voting for all other office at general elections, but had previously banned write-ins for those particular offices).

California voters have frequently used write-in voting to elect people whose names were not on the general election ballot, including members of Congress in 1930, 1946, and 1982. The right to vote includes the right of choice for whom to vote.

Garrett Epps has this story, in The Atlantic, about the lawsuit filed recently by the state of Arizona to overturn Section Five of the national Voting Rights Act. Epps is critical of the state’s lawsuit, which is called State of Arizona v Holder.

On September 2, Assemblyman Paul Fong, chair of the California Assembly Elections Committee, amended one of his own bills to provide that write-in space should no longer be printed on general election ballots for Congress and partisan state office. The bill, AB 1413, originally made small changes to the campaign finance laws, but all the original parts of the bill have been deleted.

Because the original bill has already passed the Assembly, and the Senate Elections Committee, no committee hearing will ever be held on the newly amended bill. California election law, ever since 1891, when the first government-printed ballots were created, has always provided for write-in space for partisan office. Assemblyman Fong’s attempt to delete write-in space is a sharp break with tradition. Anyone who supports the freedom for voters to cast a write-in vote should telephone Assemblyman Fong’s office at 916-319-2022 and ask him not to eliminate write-in space on November ballots for Congress and partisan state office. Or e-mail him at Assemblymember.Fong@assembly.ca.gov. If Fong wants to eliminate write-in space, he should have the courage to introduce a new bill on the subject, so that public hearings on the idea would be held.

Another new, unrelated part of AB 1413 give special favorable treatment to incumbent members of Congress and the California legislature. It says that a Member of Congress and a state legislator’s domicile is deemed to be whatever residence address that member of Congress or state legislator lists on his or her voter registration form. However, people running for Congress and the state legislature would get no such treatment, and would continue to be forced to tell the truth about where they live when they fill out a voter registration card. Thanks to Dave Kadlecek for the news about AB 1413.