L.A. municipal primary election

[Brian]

I failed to vote only once since I came of age before June 1976. It was a Los Angeles Community College District runoff for two seats on its board of trustees -- no kidding, that's all -- in the mid-1980's. I did not intentionally skip the election. I forgot, and still it haunts me.

This year, I could have another one of those boring general elections in the City of Los Angeles, unless four members running in my area get 50 per cent plus one vote in the March 3 primary.  This is the city's cycle without a mayoral election.  No city attorney or controller either.  My city council and school board members are in the middle of their terms.  So if there are no runoffs for the college board of trustees and no measures to consider in the general election next May, what happens then?  Would the city clerk mail a blank sample ballot to me?

As for this 2015 primary, I'm very excited about defeating Measures 1 and 2, which would move our nonpartisan city elections onto the federal, state and county ballots in even numbered years, along other toxic changes.

These charter amendments are so wrongheaded that I don't know where to begin.

[Sharon W]

Glendale has a municipal election coming up too - ours is April 7th for two city council spots, two GUSD Board Members and two Glendale Community College Board of Trustees members plus 4 measures.

[Brian]

I must be weird because I love to vote, always have.  I was a Los Angeles County deputy registrar in the 1970's when that was the only way someone could register besides going to a fire station or a county office.  I also got paid by Assemblyman Richard Katz' campaign to register voters before his 1986 re-election.  So I heard every excuse for not voting.   Back then, I thought registration and turnout couldn't possibly get any lower, but I was wrong -- turnout is down to 15 to 20 percent of the registered voters in city elections, which doesn't include all of the eligible people who don't even bother to register.  Meanwhile, getting registered and casting ballots keeps getting easier in California.

In a misguided attempt to garner more votes for city elections, the Los Angeles City Council offers two charter amendments in the March 3 primary that would eliminate our March and May elections in odd numbered years.  All city offices and measures would be sandwiched between county judges and state propositions on our ever lengthening June and November ballots in even numbered years.  City candidates would compete with federal, state and county candidates and the propositions for campaign money and airtime -- and voters' attention.  No doubt, more votes would be cast in city elections, but I believe that the voters would be less engaged.

Measures 1 and 2 adjust for the transition from odd to even years by adding a year and a half to every office holder's term.  If the city council really wanted to sell this thing, they should have docked themselves six months instead.

[Brian]

Maybe the elevation up here in Tujunga -- the highest ground in the City of Los Angeles -- has deprived my brain of oxygen.  It didn't dawn on me until last week that Measures 1 and 2 were going to pass.  Eight percent of the registered voters showed up to vote or mailed their ballots as of Tuesday, and 77 percent of them voted yes on the charter amendments that will end our municipality's odd year elections, according to the city clerk's first unofficial results on this PDF:

clerk.lacity.org/stellent/groups/departments/@clerk_elections_contributor/documents/contributor_web_content/lacityp_030527.pdf

I understand why so many people want to combine all elections, and the turnout may prove their point.  Unlike me, they don't love to vote, so it must feel like it's a chore to cast a ballot twice every other year.  Me, I enjoy visiting the lonely workers in the polling place at my first elementary school.  They're happy to serve and they're getting paid as well.  Yeah, the city will probably save money without its separate elections, especially if there are layoffs in the city clerk's office too.

Let's follow the money.  Lots of large last minute contributions up to $35,000 were reported to the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission in the days before the election -- on top of the $223,550 raised as of the February 25 report.  If there was a No on Measures 1 and 2 campaign, it was invisible -- not just on the ethics commission's website, but also on a Google search.  These charter amendments would not have been defeated, but that's just my bumble opinion.  All I really know for sure is that real estate LLC's and unions wrote big checks at the last minute to kill the kind of election they were going to win anyway.