This campaign season may be different
This spring’s campaign for a single City Council seat is unlike any of the 21 previous elections for positions on Yorba Linda’s five-member governing body.
All past council contests shared a ballot with other contenders or issues, from city incorporation in 1967 to several dozen state and federal candidacies last November.
The June 5 special election marks the first time citizens will make only one ballot decision, with just 24 instead of the usual 48 precincts open on Election Day.
While way less than half of the city’s 40,924 registered voters are expected to cast ballots in the contest to fill 18 months left on an unexpired council term, most might be absentee votes, with many sent in by 12,445 permanent absentee voters.
These voters will receive ballots, with unstamped return envelopes, automatically in the mail sometime next month. Voters also will be asked by campaign groups to apply for absentee ballots and some will fill out the absentee form mailed with the sample ballot.
Candidate and former councilwoman Keri Wilson has an absentee voter application posted on her Web site, www.keriwilson.com, and Yorba Linda Residents for Responsible Representation, www.ylrrr.org, will direct an absentee vote drive for former councilman and candidate Hank Wedaa.
This special election for one council seat with thousands of voters mailing in ballots at different times will have two especially positive benefits for residents sick and tired of some past “politics as usual” practices.
First, few, if any, of those phony “voter guides” or “slate mailers” from spurious groups that adopt important-sounding names and take money from candidates willing to pay for endorsements will flood voters’ mailboxes.
A paid endorsement and an unverified line or two of text on dozens of “let’s fool the voters” mailings can cost plenty: $400 for COPS Voter Guide, $590 for Your Ballot Guide, $1,200 for Republican Voter Checklist and $2,275 for California Voter Guide.
Second, last-minute attack ads and mailers, especially those that are unsigned or that use only a made-up “committee” name, will have less influence, since many voters will have already marked their ballots or will be warned to expect noxious hit pieces.
In addition, with just three contenders in the race—Wedaa, Wilson and ballot newcomer and self-financed candidate Victoria Gulickson—residents can expect fewer street signs and fewer glossy brochures arriving in mailboxes.
And let’s hope for less confusion, bitter feelings and charges of favoritism by candidates regarding the city’s sign ordinance. Although a bit murky in meaning, the code can be viewed by candidates and their sign-posting supporters at www.ci.yorba-linda.ca.us.
A FINAL NOTE
A Town Center Blue Ribbon Committee member is concerned that “three quarters of the committee members live west of Fairmont Boulevard,” according to recent Parks and Recreation Commission meeting minutes.
Richard Pepin, the commission’s representative on the blue ribbon body, “feels those residents living east of the downtown area need to be involved in order to have full support of the community. The downtown area needs to service the whole city, not just those residents living on the west side of town.”
Minutes from another commission meeting noted, “Pepin said that 20 of the 24 committee members live west of Fairmont Boulevard and don’t appear to be open to comments from residents on the east side of town.”
All past council contests shared a ballot with other contenders or issues, from city incorporation in 1967 to several dozen state and federal candidacies last November.
The June 5 special election marks the first time citizens will make only one ballot decision, with just 24 instead of the usual 48 precincts open on Election Day.
While way less than half of the city’s 40,924 registered voters are expected to cast ballots in the contest to fill 18 months left on an unexpired council term, most might be absentee votes, with many sent in by 12,445 permanent absentee voters.
These voters will receive ballots, with unstamped return envelopes, automatically in the mail sometime next month. Voters also will be asked by campaign groups to apply for absentee ballots and some will fill out the absentee form mailed with the sample ballot.
Candidate and former councilwoman Keri Wilson has an absentee voter application posted on her Web site, www.keriwilson.com, and Yorba Linda Residents for Responsible Representation, www.ylrrr.org, will direct an absentee vote drive for former councilman and candidate Hank Wedaa.
This special election for one council seat with thousands of voters mailing in ballots at different times will have two especially positive benefits for residents sick and tired of some past “politics as usual” practices.
First, few, if any, of those phony “voter guides” or “slate mailers” from spurious groups that adopt important-sounding names and take money from candidates willing to pay for endorsements will flood voters’ mailboxes.
A paid endorsement and an unverified line or two of text on dozens of “let’s fool the voters” mailings can cost plenty: $400 for COPS Voter Guide, $590 for Your Ballot Guide, $1,200 for Republican Voter Checklist and $2,275 for California Voter Guide.
Second, last-minute attack ads and mailers, especially those that are unsigned or that use only a made-up “committee” name, will have less influence, since many voters will have already marked their ballots or will be warned to expect noxious hit pieces.
In addition, with just three contenders in the race—Wedaa, Wilson and ballot newcomer and self-financed candidate Victoria Gulickson—residents can expect fewer street signs and fewer glossy brochures arriving in mailboxes.
And let’s hope for less confusion, bitter feelings and charges of favoritism by candidates regarding the city’s sign ordinance. Although a bit murky in meaning, the code can be viewed by candidates and their sign-posting supporters at www.ci.yorba-linda.ca.us.
A FINAL NOTE
A Town Center Blue Ribbon Committee member is concerned that “three quarters of the committee members live west of Fairmont Boulevard,” according to recent Parks and Recreation Commission meeting minutes.
Richard Pepin, the commission’s representative on the blue ribbon body, “feels those residents living east of the downtown area need to be involved in order to have full support of the community. The downtown area needs to service the whole city, not just those residents living on the west side of town.”
Minutes from another commission meeting noted, “Pepin said that 20 of the 24 committee members live west of Fairmont Boulevard and don’t appear to be open to comments from residents on the east side of town.”
posted by Jim Drummond at 12:00 PM
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