The time commitment is substantial. The pay is insignificant.
The job can be frustrating. And, yes, there are rewards that come
with working to make your community a better place as a local
elected official. But what are we thinking?
The time commitment is substantial. The pay is insignificant. The job can be frustrating. And, yes, there are rewards that come with working to make your community a better place as a local elected official. But what are we thinking?
Faced with dismal voter turnout numbers and local elections that sometimes have too few candidates, what does the government do? Triple and quadruple the fees charged for printing a 200-word ballot statement.
It’s absurd. Santa Clara County says the costs hikes – up to $1,710 for a Gilroy School Board race and an outrageous $3,030 for someone running for a Gavilan College Trustee slot – are merely being passed on because federal law requires ballot statements to be printed in multiple languages forcing the printing costs higher.
When does common sense intervene?
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that these astronomical fee hikes are counterproductive. If the ballot needs to be translated into Chinese, for example, fine. Have that translation available on the Web, at the public library and at polling places. But don’t sacrifice fostering participation in the process for the few voters who don’t understand English. There are better ways to accommodate those who need additional assistance than to charge people who want to run for local office a hefty fee that very well could preclude them from penning a statement for the ballot.
And what if a sincere candidate can’t afford or chooses not to pay the outrageous fee? Will voters take that lack of a ballot statement as a sign of indifference or arrogance?
Gilroy School Trustee Bob Kraemer has mounted a personal protest: He won’t pay the ballot statement fee and hopes other candidates will follow suit.
It’s a shame it has come to that. Where’s the ACLU when you really need them?
We’d encourage the Santa Clara County Registrar to file suit against the feds for such a ridiculous – and, just as importantly, unfunded – mandate.
Citizens who are interested in voting must take a personal responsibility upon themselves to do so. It is not the government’s responsibility to make it easy for everyone, it is the government’s responsibility to ensure that everyone eligible has the opportunity to vote.
That said, we’d encourage citizens with a desire to serve our community to run for the three Gilroy School Board open in November’s election and the one Gilroy seat available on the Gavilan College Board. The filing deadline is Aug. 6. If you’re interested, contact the city clerk or the county registrar of voters.
Effective leadership is invaluable to our community – though the government doesn’t seem interested in encouraging more of that.
