[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Brian Leubitz
Founder and Publisher
Calitics

On June 20, Equality California, NCLR, and a whole host of groups filed suit in the Supreme Court of California against our Secretary of State, Debra Bowen. (Note that Debra Bowen is an amazing Secretary of State; she's getting sued in her Secretary of State capacity.) To grossly oversimplify, EQCA alleges that the signature gathering process was flawed for a few reasons:

• "The proposed initiative is invalid because it is a proposed constitutional revision, not a proposed constitutional amendment and, as such, the California Constitution provides that it may not be enacted by initiative"

• "The description of the proposed initiative in the petitions that were circulated for signature was materially misleading and materially misstated the effect of the proposed initiative to the electors signing the petitions to qualify the measure for the ballot.

Ultimately, this is a long shot. For a number of reasons, the Supreme Court is unlikely to pull the measure off the ballot in November. First the general process questions:

Why go to the Supreme Court directly?

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

On June 20, Equality California, NCLR, and a whole host of groups filed suit in the Supreme Court of California against our Secretary of State, Debra Bowen. (Note that Debra Bowen is an amazing SoS; she's getting sued in her SoS capacity.) To grossly oversimplify, EQCA alleges that the signature gathering process was flawed for a few reasons:

Ultimately, this is a long shot. For a number of reasons, the Supreme Court is unlikely to pull the measure off the ballot in November. Let's go over those over the flip.  

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

If you're looking for more evidence of John McCain being out of step with California,look no further than his own supporter, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whotold Meet the Press this morning he opposes the proposed gay marriageban, while McCain recently voiced his support for it. This also comeson the heels of a high profile disagreement between the two overoffshore oil drilling.

Schwarzenegger also told Tom Brokow this morning that he is disappointed by the gridlock in Washington and wants to see the parties work together, the Associated Press reports, advice they could probably use in Sacramento as well.

In case you missed, we're back to the 1-10 series for ballot measures,as Secretary of State Debra Bowen recently assigned number to thepropositions, Capitol Alert reports. Some highlights: Proposition 1 onhigh speed rail funding, Proposition 2 on the treatment of farmanimals, Proposition 4 on parental consent for abortion (the thirdattempt), Proposition 8 banning gay marriage and Proposition 11 onredistricting.

There's more... 

by cacleanmoney [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

We all knew this was inevitable, but now it's official: the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage will appear on the November ballot.

An initiative that would again outlaw gay marriage in California has qualified for the November ballot, the Secretary of State announced Monday.

California Secretary of State Debra Bowen said a random check of signatures submitted by the measure's sponsors showed that they had gathered enough names for it to be put to voters.

The measure, known as the California Marriage Protection Act, would amend the state constitution to "provide that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

If approved by a majority of voters on Nov. 4, the amendment would overturn the recent California Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in the state. It is similar to gay marriage bans that have been adopted in 26 other states.

OK, fine.  Bring it on.  We're going to win this thing.  And the benefit will rebound on those Democrats who believe in equality and justice.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

From the Office of California Secretary of State
Debra Bowen

A day before the June 3, 2008, Statewide Direct Primary Election, Secretary of State Debra Bowen is offering helpful tips to voters preparing to cast their ballots.

“The more information voters have about their rights on Election Day, the more empowered they will be at the polls,” said Secretary Bowen, the state’s chief elections officer. “I encourage voters to take a moment to quickly review their rights before they head to the polls.”

DO: Know your crossover voting rights. If you are registered as a “decline-to-state” or nonpartisan voter, the American Independent, Democratic, and Republican parties are all allowing you to participate in their June 3 primaries. You have a right to request a ballot for any one of those three parties. If you do not, you will be given a nonpartisan ballot that contains ballot propositions and nonpartisan local races, but excludes partisan contests for Congress, state Senate, and state Assembly.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Zack Kaldveer, Sherry Reson, and Don Goldmacher

Recent events during and after the California Primary suggest Los Angeles is in the midst of an electoral crisis. And a crisis for Los Angeles is a crisis for California. With the largest concentration of voters in the State, 18 Congressional Districts are partly or wholly contained in the County, along with 14 State Senators and 26 Assembly-members. The votes cast and counted in Los Angeles County significantly affect the outcome of every state wide election and initiative.

So what’s the problem? Let’s begin with the now infamous “double bubble ballot” responsible for the initial disenfranchisement of over 60,000 “decline to state” (DTS) voters in the February primary. The ballot was designed by former County Registrar Conny McCormack – a woman with close ties to Diebold and an overt hostility to the electoral reforms advocated by Secretary of State Debra Bowen (recent recipient of the John F. Kennedy “Profile in Courage” award).

Conny McCormack and her “Double Bubble Ballot”