Absentee Ballots

CITY HALL ? A protracted battle over whether to change the absentee ballot application process for municipal elections is expected to end Tuesday, when the City Council is scheduled to hold its final vote on the issue. The final vote on a draft ordinance that would prevent campaign offices from intercepting absentee ballot applications on their way to the City Clerk?s Office was delayed Jan. 29 in a last-minute effort to assuage opposition with a community outreach meeting. But that meeting, which was held Wednesday, only highlighted pre-existing battle lines between those who feel the proposed change is anti-immigrant and those who want to remove any chance of electioneering when the actual ballots are mailed back to the applicant.

I would like to echo the Armenian National Committee’s call for Glendale residents to attend the absentee ballot application public information meeting Wednesday evening (7 p.m., 131 North Isabel St.). Anyone who is unclear as to what this proposal actually does, or is concerned how it may affect their voting rights, should ask hard questions and demand straight answers. They need this exercise because no one has been asking them, and the answers provided in the Armenian National Committee’s informational announcement are wrong.

Other cities also accommodate voters Read between the lines. It is hilarious to me how people in Glendale seem to find any excuse to blame Armenians for their heartaches. An example I can provide is in the last Mailbag. Letter writer Lilo Holzer (“Requests should go only to city or county,” Mailbag, Friday) states, “Do those opposed to changing the process realize how much money is spent to accommodate non-English speaking voters?” Yet the truth be said, every city surrounding Glendale provides absentee ballots.

CITY HALL — Immigrant advocacy and community service groups won a temporary victory Tuesday night after they successfully lobbied the City Council to postpone voting on an ordinance that would restrict municipal candidates from handling absentee ballot applications once they are filled out. The last-minute offer came from Councilman John Drayman in a down-to-the-wire result that precluded what would have surely been a 3-2 vote to confirm the...

CITY HALL — A strong rebuke from the Armenian-American community that came laced with accusations of discrimination and bigotry did not stop the City Council Tuesday night from introducing an ordinance that would prevent municipal campaign offices from handling absentee ballot applications. An overflow crowd at council chambers produced more than a dozen speakers who called the move a thinly veiled attempt to keep first-generation Armenians out of the elections system as some on the council pander to “hateful malcontents” in the community.

CITY HALL — Absentee ballot applications will now be required to go directly to the city clerk’s office — bypassing campaign offices. Candidates for municipal office will no longer have access to absentee ballot applications on their way to the city clerk’s office after the City Council voted 3-2 Tuesday to cut campaigns out of the middle. Despite concerns that the move would infringe upon candidates’ rights and prevent campaign volunteers from assisting non-English speakers during the election, the majority of the council agreed that preventing campaign offices from handling absentee ballot requests would remove any chance of error or impropriety.

CITY HALL — Campaign offices could be barred from handling absentee ballot applications in future elections if the City Council on Tuesday votes to change the system. Three members on the council have expressed strong support for changing the current system to mirror that of Los Angeles, where voters do not send applications for absentee ballots back to the candidates who provided them, but instead directly to the City Clerk’s Office, which mails the ballot out. Candidates vying for office in Glendale have historically used the process of mailing absentee ballots applications — which are attached to all sample ballots anyway — to potential voters to gauge their standing in the race.

LA CRESCENTA — Voters in the Crescenta Valley Town Council election returned an unprecedented number of marked absentee ballots Friday, which organizers hope means higher turnout at the polls today as well. Residents of unincorporated La Crescenta and Montrose are invited to vote for three of nine council candidates between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. today in the career room at Crescenta Valley High School, the only council election polling place. Last year, 95 of the area’s approximately 11,000 registered voters requested absentee ballots to weigh in on who should represent the community on the council, which serves as an advisory board to Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich.

In Part 2 of her column, Crescenta Valley Town Council President Grace Andrus reports on the activities of the Council as preparations are being made for the Town Council election on Nov. 3.   Pickens Canyon Park (corner of Briggs Avenue and Foothill Boulevard) is coming along — slowly but surely. The design for the welcome sign has been finalized, and with the mock ups and model being provided by the county, the Council hopes to proceed with the “Welcome to La Crescenta” signs shortly.