H/T to Orange Juice for this!

The California State Senate recently voted to pass SB 812, Lou Correa‘s (D-Santa Ana) legislation that would stop the type of “bounty hunting” that the Orange County Republican Party used to illegally switch unsuspecting Democratic and Independent voters to Republican against their will. Finally, something is being done to put a halt to this nasty practice!

Follow me after the flip for more on this important legislation, and how we can help it become law…

So what exactly would this legislation do? Here is how the Legislative Counsel explains it:

This bill would prohibit any person, company, or other
organization, except state political parties that reimburse their
central committees and clubs on a per-affidavit basis, from agreeing
to pay money or other valuable consideration on a per-affidavit basis
to any person who assists another person to register to vote by
receiving the completed affidavit of registration, would prohibit the
receipt of this per-affidavit consideration, and would make
conforming changes. A violation of these prohibitions would be an infraction, punishable by a fine not to exceed $500.

Wow, so that sounds good! So what happens next?

Now, this bill moves to the State Assembly. And if you’d like to end the type of bounty hunting that was part of the dirty tricks used by Orange County Republicans to win our competitive 34th State Senate seat (now Lou Correa’s), you can contact your Assembly Member and ask him/her to support SB 812. Now this type of illegal behavior occurred in Orange County last year, but this practice isn’t limited to Orange County.

We need to ensure that this illegal act doesn’t happen ANYWHERE in the state. That’s why we need Lou Correa’s legislation that would work to prevent this. Let’s help Lou get this passed, and let’s protect the voters in this state. : )

Have you finally had enough of the bounty hunting? Are you sick and tired of seeing the Republican Party pay workers to illegally switch unsuspecting voters from Democrats and Independents to Republicans? Are you just frustrated over hearing about any more about these nasty misdeeds that only serve to prevent voters from truly making the choice that they want?

Well, help is on the way! Lou Correa, my State Senator, has written legislation to take on these nasty bounty hunts. And I’d like to tell you all about it after the flip…

So what exactly would this legislation do? Well, I’ll let the Legislative Counsel explain it to you:

This bill would prohibit any person, company, or other
organization, except state political parties that reimburse their
central committees and clubs on a per-affidavit basis, from agreeing
to pay money or other valuable consideration on a per-affidavit basis
to any person who assists another person to register to vote by
receiving the completed affidavit of registration, would prohibit the
receipt of this per-affidavit consideration, and would make
conforming changes. A violation of these prohibitions would be an infraction, punishable by a fine not to exceed $500.

Wow, so how about that? Here’s a simple solution to a prickly problem. If we just cut off the incentive for paid canvassers to agree to bounty hunts that illegally re register people as something that they don’t want to be, then we actually get rid of these illegal bounty hunts. How can we not agree to this?

And oh yes, who better to introduce this legislation than someone who has actually experienced the repercussions of these horrid bounty hunts? Lou Correa had a tough enough race last year, but his challenge last year was only greater as the Orange County Republican Party resorted to dirty tricks to try to prevent Lou from winning. And yes, one of those dirty tricks was a bounty hunt that illegally switched Democratic and Independent voters in the 34th State Senate District to Republicans against their will. Unfortunately, Lou had to deal with all of this himself as he ran for State Senate…

However, he is now taking action to ensure that these dastardly misdeeds never happen again. SB 812 is a good piece of legislation that prevents any more abuse of voter registration drives. No more bounties, and no more illegal switching. This sounds good to me, and this works great to ensure that our democratic process remains strong, healthy, and free of manipulation. Now that’s a good thing. : )