superior township, mi august 7, 2018 ballot

What’s printed on the ballot provides the last and, for some voters, the only impression of what a “yes” or a “no” vote on a proposition actually means. “The fact that lawsuits challenging (Becerra’s) descriptions of 2020 ballot measures are going down in flames is sure to serve as a strong deterrent to those who might wage similar challenges in 2022 and beyond.” But he said this week’s rulings, most of them denials, make that climb even steeper: Generally, such challenges are an “uphill battle,” said Bradley Hertz, an election lawyer with Sutton Law Firm. But he rejected challeges to the attorney general’s description of the measure in the voter information guide.

“The ballot label as currently drafted is misleading,” he wrote of Proposition 23, which would impose new regulations on dialysis clinics. “The Court is not a copy editor,” she wrote.īut in another tentative ruling from the Sacramento Superior Court this week, Judge James Arguelles handed a modest victory to one of the attorney general’s challengers. In three tentative rulings this week, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Laurie Earl announced her intention to slap down half the current lawsuits against Becerra. “If not I’m sure we’ll have a more serious conversation about having a nonpartisan entity do this.” “I’m hoping the courts will come in and do something,” said John Matsusaka, executive director of the Initiative and Referendum Institute at the University of Southern California. And that’s sharpening critics’ demands that California transfer at least some of the task of describing ballot measures to more objective, nonpartisan hands - as Utah, Michigan and the city of San Francisco do. No election cycle has seen more proposition summary battles since at least 2008, according to a CalMatters review of court filings.īut despite the surge, state courts seem generally inclined to defer to the attorney general’s choice of verbiage.

Over the last two weeks, Attorney General Xavier Becerra has been sued six times for the way he has labeled and summarized some of this year’s most contentious ballot measures.

Superior township, mi august 7, 2018 ballot