From The Other Side:

Before the end of this month, a discussion will take place at a Glendale City Council meeting. The discussion will relate specifically to limits of political donations in Glendale municipal elections. It is a volatile subject at best and a discussion long overdue and highly necessary, given the magnitude of political giving in the last two municipal elections.

Political reform has been a topic of dispute not only nationally but here in the “quiet” city of Glendale. Reform, by definition, has many meanings. Two definitions apply particularly to Glendale: 1) to put or change, to an improved state or condition, 2) to amend or improve by change or form or removal of faults or abuses.

On July 31, City Atty. Scott Howard presented a report to the City Council about campaign finance reform and absentee ballots. Included in the report is a compilation of information on election practices in cities in California.

The discussion at this meeting got off to a slow start, principally due to the lateness of the hour. Howard was given little time to go over the substance of the report before the council decided to view it another day.

Recently, a portion of the city attorney’s report was discussed at a council meeting, and the council took action on the matter of absentee ballots. They decided that all returned absentee ballots will go directly to the Glendale city clerk’s office. They can no longer be collected by a candidate’s election team or be handled by anyone other than the absentee voter himself/herself or the city clerk’s office.

There has been concern on the part of many of us regarding the increasing use of absentee ballots, not only in local elections but elections in general. The concern is: There are far too many opportunities for mischief, and even the potential for fraud, when voting by absentee ballot.

In the 2007 Glendale election, 13,919 of the 24,173 ballots cast were absentee, which is 57.5% of the total vote, according to the city attorney’s report.

The action taken by the City Council relieves us of some of the anxiety associated with this increasing absentee ballot usage in Glendale.

As future elections come and go, I believe the percentage of absentee ballots will increase. I am still of the old school, and believe that going to the polling place on election day affords a voter the latest and most comprehensive information for casting a well-thought-out vote.