August 11, 2003

Davis: Recall Bid an 'Insult' to Voters (washingtonpost.com)

Only in California!

From The Washington Post"

"With close to 200 candidates signed up to run, the ballot itself could be a real page-turner. On Monday, the secretary of state was scheduled to hold a random drawing to determine the order in which candidates' names will appear.

A lottery-style drawing of canisters will determine an initial random alphabetical order. If "U" is drawn first then Ueberroth may be listed near the top in District 1. If "C" is drawn second, then all the candidates whose name begins with "C" rank high. And so on through the alphabet.

"The big unknown is who will turn out to vote in this election," said John Pitney, government professor at Claremont McKenna College. "How many will vote on the recall question and then freeze when they see this list of over 100 names?"

For additional fairness, the listing of names on the ballot will be rotated across the state's 80 Assembly districts. The candidate at the top of the ballot in District 1 would go to the end of the ballot in District 2 so that every letter of the alphabet gets the top position somewhere in the state."

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