Fresno County elections clerk shouldn’t let voter guide become conspiracy theorist stew
A respectful plea to Fresno County Clerk and Registrar of Voters James Kus:
Please reconsider your recent decision. Don’t allow the County Voter Information Guide for the November general election to become a community disservice.
Alongside all the national and state races and propositions on the 2022 ballot are two sales tax initiatives, Measure C and Measure E, that directly impact the purchasing power of Fresno County residents for decades. Those living within the Fresno city limits (54% of the county population) are also being asked to vote on a third tax, Measure M.
The voter information guide is the first place many voters turn for information about candidates and local ballot measures. Besides an impartial analysis of each initiative, the booklet contains written arguments for and against.
Kus doesn’t appear to share this belief. But as county clerk/registrar of voters, it’s his responsibility to ensure submitted arguments are factual, cogent and, most important of all, on the actual topic up for vote.
Instead — unless Kus does an about face — the printed rebuttal to those three sales tax measures (plus a fourth for Mendota and three Coalinga-area school bonds) on the November ballot will begin like this:
“How much election cheating are you willing to put up with?”
And continue with this:
“Do you know all the public officials with duties related to local measure elections?”
And contain this:
“Are these public officials corrupt? All of them? … It’s almost like it’s a conspiracy.”
Libertarian rant to be printed multiple times
These words of wisdom (and I use that word ironically) were submitted to Kus by two members of the California Libertarian Party, including one who lives in Fresno.
Unless Kus changes his mind, or is forced to by a judge, they will be printed in the taxpayer-funded ballot guide — not just once, but as the rebuttal for seven different measures — and distributed to every registered voter in Fresno County. Depriving those who rely on the booklet of vital information they need to make important voting decisions that have generational effects.
I’m asking Kus to do that very thing. Change his mind. Reconsider his misguided stance before it’s too late.
Kus told Fresnoland’s Gregory Weaver he selected the ballot guide arguments based on which arrived at his office first. And since the Libertarians were on the ball (and submitted an obvious reprint for seven separate initiatives) that’s the one he chose.
Oddly, Fresno County’s newly elected county clerk/registrar of voters said he didn’t even read the submissions.
“If I had read the arguments, it would bias me,” Kus said. “I approached this to be as far from being biased as possible.”
It’s great that Kus wants to appear unbiased. We should demand nothing less from election officials, especially in today’s bizarro political climate where one side can claim a presidential election was “stolen” without a shred of proof. But impartiality can also become a set of blinders if you lose sight of the larger picture.
And right now — the controversial Measure C extension alone is projected to generate $6.8 billion through 2057 — there’s far too much at stake for the county clerk/registrar of voters to be wearing blinders.
Measure C opponents announce lawsuit
I’m not saying the Libertarian submission should be crumpled up and tossed. Not at all. The county’s voter information guide should express a wide range of political views.
So print the conspiratorial screed that accuses others of a great conspiracy. (Don’t you just love those?) But print it once, not multiple times as the official rebuttal to seven separate tax measures. Who does that benefit? Certainly not the voters of Fresno County that Kus ought to be looking out for and is ultimately accountable to.
A coalition of Measure C opponents, livid they “can’t even get a word in” inside the taxpayer-funded booklet, held a press conference Friday to protest Kus’ action and announce they’ll be filing a lawsuit.
It shouldn’t have to come to that. Rather, let’s hope the county clerk/registrar of voters, still relatively new on the job, comes to the realization that decisions he makes to appear unbiased can sometimes do more harm than good when it comes to fostering an informed electorate.
The final deadline for printing approval is around Sept. 15, giving Kus a little time to reconsider. And perhaps listen to the wisdom of two former county clerks who criticized his judgment in this matter. Let’s hope he does.
So that next time, the person in charge of administering Fresno County’s elections actually reads submissions that read like online conspiracy theorist stew before he decides to print them, multiple times, in his office’s ballot guide. Turning what should be a valuable voter resource into a complete joke.
Crazy thought, I know.
