Abraham Lincoln famously said, “Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision.” In violation of this precious right, state and local officials across the country have imposed voter restrictions in order to take the vote away from the people.
Even as they claim to honor the integrity of the ballot, politicians creatively suppress voting in order to achieve political outcomes favorable to their own interests.
There are many ways to do this: strict voter ID requirements, purging the voter roles, underfunding the election process, to name a few.
In a local election here in Oceanside, councilmember Jerry Kern has found yet another path: voiding the power of the ballot by substituting a calculated political appointment. By this means he is trying to make sure that votes cast in the current race for Oceanside City Treasurer literally do not count.
Kern is openly asking people to invalidate their ballot by urging them in mailers and phone calls to vote for a deceased person who passed away too late for his name to be removed from the ballot. Should the deceased candidate get more votes than his opponent, the City Council would appoint an unnamed person of its own choosing. For all intents and purposes, this would invalidate the many thousands of votes the only viable candidate is likely to receive. Would the appointee be beholden to Kern instead of the taxpayers? Possibly.
People are being asked, in effect, to cast their vote for an unknown candidate to be named later by others, rather than a candidate chosen by the voters. My neighbor’s 12-year-old grandson saw an account of this on local TV last week. At first puzzled, he quickly realized this made no sense at all — “That’s crazy! Isn’t that cheating?”
Many Oceanside voters readily see through the ruse. The concern is that many others will not know that one of the candidates is deceased and will unwittingly be disenfranchised if they vote for him. Conniving politicians will be counting on the confusion.
The viable candidate in the race, an attorney and long-serving government agency treasurer, is well qualified to fill the position. She has kept her campaign positive, vows to keep the office nonpartisan, and will answer only to the taxpaying public. As Lincoln said, elections belong to the people. Let them decide, let their ballots count.
Max S. Meyerson is an Oceanside resident.
5 comments
There are many ways voters in Oceanside, CA are disenfranchised. The NVRA voter preference forms at local county services offices are one way votes can potentially be hijacked because they include your updated signature and every time someone reapplies, they have to sign one.
I know that my voter registration form came from there and my vote did not count. I voted by mail in every election and updated my address with the secretary of state and DMV and my name and signature matched the one on file. When I checked my ballot status, the S.O.S online website said I was not registered to vote.
Upon reading the details of the NVRA county agency compliance rules, I became aware of the fact that ballots are tracked by barcode and serial numbers to determine which agency the voter”s registration originates. So I am wondering if people are deliberately being discriminated against because they’re low income. I applied for temporary homeless assistance from the county when my apartment building burned, so the county likely had me on their files as homeless because I did not bother to apply for cash aid after my two weeks of hotel vouchers ran out and I did not return there to take advantage of the homelessness assistance where they pay your move in deposit. I did not need it because my burned apartments gave me my deposit back and I used that. I’m not onevog those people that takes something just because I can get it. I only ask for help when there is no other possible way. I realize that providing for my children is my responsibility. But when I did have to go to the county services office to apply for Medical for my daughter, there were so many people there who had problems with their paperwork and had to reapply, which is not the normal procedure. It was just before the registration deadline for the Primary.
Election fraud has been proven in SD County. Michael Vu had his own staff go presort the ballots during the election audit. There was a shredding truck there with the phrase ” Because the outcome has to be certain ” printed on it. It would be a shame if it turns out that my own city council member knew about and allowed the voters to be disenfranchised. Everyone has a right to vote but does every one have the right to have their vote count? Not if you’re poor. Not in. Oceanside.
This is a well-written, thoughtful article. Please see my website to see more about this situation. I assure you I am highly qualified, having been an agency treasurer for 20 years, an attorney for 30 and so forth.
http://www.nadinescott4oceanside.com
Nadine Scott for Oceanside City Treasurer
Nonsense. You last sentence says “Let them decide. Let their ballots count.” In total agreement. How they want to vote for, and this is the important part…………for WHATEVER reason they choose…..is alright with me. This article says (in effect) vote the way “I” think…i.e…not the way “you” want. I respectfully say you’re wrong on this. And with a pun in hand….”dead wrong.”
ANYBODY BUT ROCKY CHAVEZ! PLEASE VOTE FOR THOMAS KROUSE FOR 76TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT…. WE NEED TO RETIRE COL. ROQUE ROCKY DE LA CHAVEZ ….WE ALREADY HAVE ENOUGH TROUBLE WITH MAJOR HUNTER AND CAPTAIN HORN! WE DON’T NEED ANOTHER PTSD-AFFLICTED , MARINE ARTILLERY OFFICER SCREWING UP OUR LOCAL CIVILIAN POLITICAL ARENA!
kudos to max! but max is far too gentle with sleazeball/scumbag jerry kern….the entire wood/kern/mullen/mccoy developer’s cosa nostra mafia belongs in LOMPOC CLUB-FED, THE DELUXE WHITE-COLLAR PENITENTARY WITH CONJUGAL VISITS!….PLEASE VOTE FOR CROOKED JERRY KERN’S WORST NIGHTMARE, NADINE SCOTT FOR OCEANSIDE TREASURER…. after nadine audits jerry’s cooked books, he will cut and run down to texas to play with nuke storage….good riddance….was gary ernst silenced (poisoned) because he was turning state’s evidence? did gary know TOO MUCH?….ANYBODY BUT BEAZER HOMES’ BULLDOZER JIM WOOD!
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