As election day draws near, the presidential decision will not
be the only one that needs to be made. The California ballot will
contain 16 propositions ranging from funding for mental health
patients to stem cell research laws.
Though the ballot initiatives can at times take the backseat to
the presidential race, the undergraduate student government, along
with other student groups and community members, is making an
effort to educate the UCLA community and encourage them to vote on
the issues.
“A lot of these are very important issues,” said
John Vu, external vice president for the Undergraduate Students
Association Council. “They will impact students when they
leave campus and enter the real world.”
So far, there has been a number of forums and meetings to
promote discussion on the different issues, and more are scheduled
for the remaining days until the election. The group will also make
calls to the more than 900 individuals who registered to remind
them to vote.
For those students who don’t have time to attend these
events, there is an easier way to find out about the ballot
initiatives.
A voter information guide, compiled by the office of
California’s Secretary of State, is sent to all registered
voters and aims to provide them with information regarding all the
issues on which to be voted.
The booklet presents readers with statements from both sides of
each issue and also provides contact information for the groups
that turned in the arguments.
“They ask for simple and short statements to be put at the
very beginning,” said Terry Francke, general counsel for
Californians Aware and former general counsel for California First
Amendment Coalition.
Francke’s organization took part in the preparation and
supports Proposition 59, a proposition that, if passed, would amend
the state constitution and give the public more access to documents
of government bodies and their meetings.
Like most other groups who turned in the “for” and
“against” arguments for the propositions,
Francke’s contact information is posted in the booklet.
“Considering that (this proposition) is not controversial
at all, I get about six to eight calls a day,” he said
regarding the number of inquiries he receives on daily basis about
the details of the proposition.
On the other hand, groups representing arguments concerning more
controversial propositions have had a different turnout as far as
callers are concerned.
“We receive calls around the clock,” said Frank
Mitchell, a senior activist member of Citizens Against Violent
Crimes, a group supporting the passing of Proposition 66, an
initiative that would amend the existing Three Strikes Law and
would limit the law to violent or serious felonies.
He explained that most calls have been from individuals who had
unanswered questions about the proposition or concerns that needed
to be addressed.
Vu emphasized the importance of fully understanding the
different propositions and gave the examples of both Propositions
209 (affirmative action) and 54 (racial privacy initiative) as ones
that may have passed because the public did not have clear
understanding of them. They are good examples of “how
sometimes propositions can mislead people,” he said.
Vu added that students need to vote in order to be able to later
hold legislators accountable.
“We are teaching students to be very careful as to what
they vote for and what it means and how it will be
implemented,” he said.