Encouraging high school and college students to vote was among the
topics discussed Thursday night at a forum sponsored by the League of
Women Voters Glendale/Burbank.
Glendale City Clerk Ardashes Kassakhian told an audience of about
50 people at the Buena Vista branch of the Burbank Public Library
that he was able recruit 110 high school students to work on his
spring 2005 campaign for city clerk by visiting them in the
classroom.
An aggressive, one-on-one approach was a key to getting young
people involved in the voting process, Kassakhian said.
"We spend so much money marketing products to youths but when it
comes to the process that drives our country we don't put our
pocketbooks where are mouths are," Kassakhian added.
The forum was part of a yearlong effort by the League of Women
Voters examining how public officials are elected in Glendale and
Burbank.
Joining Kassakhian during the forum were Burbank City Clerk
Margarita Campos, former Glendale City Clerk Doris Twedt, and
Glendale Community College professor Mike Allen.
The moderator was league member Tom Carson.
Twedt discussed how local laws govern municipal elections; Allen
addressed alternative systems of voting; and Campos outlined
Burbank's mail-in ballot system and compared the benefits and
drawbacks.
Even though the mail-ballot system was time-consuming and
labor-intensive, it was still her preferred way to conduct an
election, because it can assure voters their ballot will count,
Campos said.
"No system is perfect," Campos said. "You work with what you have
and you find ways to refine it."
Following their 10-minute presentations, the panelists answered
questions submitted by audience members, which included about 20
Clark Magnet High School students.
Responding to a question about how precinct boundaries are set,
Campos said it is done by the Los Angeles County Clerk and she then
uses the same boundaries to establish precincts in Burbank.
