The Fair Elections Initiative
misnamed and a bad idea
One-half of the Fair Elections Initiative is a bad idea, the other unfair.
First, if we move the mayoral election, national issues will drown out discussion of local ones. The status quo lets voters focus on determining what is right for San Jose. Also, we have made it so easy to vote that one cannot claim that young voters, women and people of color face hardships in participating in off-cycle elections. Voters can mail ballots as late as Election Day and, as long as they are received within three days of Election Day, the ballot will be counted. How hard is that?
Second, the proposal is not fair. The sponsors want to severely limit some people’s and business’s participation in elections, but not labor unions’. That is unconstitutional, and, worse, will return us to the fiscally irresponsible government that resulted in devastating core service reductions, cuts that may never be fully restored. The Fair Elections Initiative is misnamed and a bad idea.
Pat Waite
San Jose
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