You Call this Democracy? Vote No on the Recall

Back in 1911, women wanted to make American politics more democratic by giving women as well as men the right to vote. That year California women got the right to vote. That same year, reformers put the recall in the Constitution, to take power out of the hands of special interests and return it to the people. Today, ninety-two years later, we need to live up to their legacy.

Something is broken in American politics and the power of the franchise can fix it. But the October 7 Recall election is part of the problem, not part of the solution.

The biggest obstacle to American democracy is money and money is what has given us this election. Signature getters were paid by wealthy and conservative Darrell Issa to get the 900,000 plus names that put the recall on the ballot. Paying people to collect names is the opposite of the original intent for the recall. Now money and special interests can buy a recall election. We need a constitutional amendment to ban this deeply undemocratic practice.

In addition, the recall election is unwieldy and rushed, the election machinery is demonstrably shoddy, and the cash-strapped election board has cut the number of polling places. Almost a third of the voters do not know that they can vote both against the recall and on the second question. Throughout the state voters are using the same antiquated punch card system that ruined the Florida count in the 2000 Presidential election. Because the 137 candidates will be listed in random, not alphabetical, order, it will take voters endless minutes to find a name on the second question. Every one of these difficulties will confuse voters and decrease their numbers. Widespread disfranchisement is a virtual certainty.

Finally and most importantly, the recall establishes a dangerous precedent for electing a governor with a tiny portion of the votes cast. With 137 people on the ballot, the vote will be shredded into little increments. . The winner won't need a majority, just one vote more than the next candidate. Political experts estimate that the top vote-getter could get as few as 15 percent of the votes cast. This is why this election is being called a circus: a ludicrous number of candidates, no time to get to know them and pick someone other than a familiar face, candidates who boast that they have no experience for the job, and the dispersion of the popular vote so that the smallest number of voters in modern California political history will decide our state's future. This is no way to pick the governor of the fifth largest economy in the world. And this is not a recipe for giving us more faith in our democratic system. Instead it will deepen our political disillusionment, and keep more and more of us home next election day. If this recall succeeds, it will be open season on elected officials. Our votes will be constantly overturned and we will be effectively disfranchised.

Something is indeed broken in the American political system when those who can't win elections via the popular vote steal them by illegal recounts or a mid-term recall. The 2000 election, when the Supreme Court elected George Bush over the popular choice Al Gore, set the stage. The people who organized the October 7 recall election meant it as is the next act in an outright attack on the democratic political process.

To honor those women who worked so hard to get us the vote, women need to make a special effort to use that right on October 7. We need to vote to reinforce the votes we cast last November, we need to vote to maintain the integrity of the electoral system, we need to vote with the long term good of California in mind. We need to vote No on recall, either in person or by absentee ballot.