Guide for Arguments, Rebuttals, Analyses for Local Measures

Arguments, Rebuttals and Analyses
FOR
Local Measures

A GUIDE PREPARED BY:
THE SANTA CRUZ COUNTY ELECTIONS DEPARTMENT
701 OCEAN ST., ROOM 210
SANTA CRUZ, CA 95060

831-454-2060

831-454-2445 (FAX)

www.co.santa-cruz.ca.us

May - 1999

This guide was developed in an effort to provide answers to questions frequently asked the Santa Cruz County Elections Department concerning arguments, rebuttals and analyses for local measures. It is for general information only and does not have the force and effect of law, regulation or rule. In case of conflict, the law, regulation or rule will apply. Persons using this guide must bear full responsibility to make their own determinations as to all legal standards and duties. For information on city measures, please contact your City Clerk.

OVERVIEW

(All Sections cited are from the California Elections Code)

Arguments for and against:

Filers: The governing board (i.e. Board of Supervisors, school board or special district board) or member of members of the legislative body authorized by the legislative body, or any individual voter who is eligible to vote on the measure, or bona fide association of citizens, or any combination of these voters and associations may file a written argument for or against any county, school or district measure placed on the ballot by the governing body or county initiatives placed on the ballot through the petition process. §9120, 9162, 9282, 9501)

The persons filing a district initiative petition may file an argument in favor of the proposed ordinance. The district board may submit an argument against the ordinance. (§9315)

The filer does not have to be a signer of the argument.

Signers of arguments for or against a county, school, or special district measure do not have to meet the criteria listed above. The filer of the argument must meet the criteria above; however, anyone may sign the argument.
Ballot arguments for county and special district must be accompanied by the name or names of the person or persons filing it, or if filed on behalf of an organization, the name of the organization and the name of at least one of its principal officers. No more than five signatures shall appear with any argument submitted for or against a county or special district measure. (§9164)
Arguments for or against a school district measure filed by a bona fide association of citizens shall include therewith its fictitious name and the names of its officers. The names of the officers of the association shall appear in connection with the printed argument. No more than five signatures shall appear with any argument for or against any school measure (§9501, 9507)
If more than one argument for or against any county, district or school measure is submitted, the county elections official shall select one for printing in the Voter's Information Pamphlet pursuant to the following priority:

1. The Board of Supervisors or governing board, or member of members of the board authorized by the board;

2. The individual voter, or bona fide association of citizens, or combination of voters and associations, who are the bona fide sponsors or proponents of the measure;

3. Bona fide association of citizens;

4. Individual voters who are eligible to vote on the measure. (§9167, 9503)

Arguments must not exceed 300 words. (§9162, 9315, 9501)

Rebuttals:

Rebuttals must be signed with original signatures by the same authors of the primary argument unless the filer of the direct argument authorizes in writing (see form attached) for another person or persons to sign the rebuttal. (Allowed pursuant to §9069, even though it pertains specifically to state measures). An "Authorization for Another Person or Persons to Sign the Rebuttal" should be filed with the rebuttal; however, they may be accepted after the filing deadline.

Pursuant to a County Counsel opinion dated 4-21-97, a person does not need to be eligible to vote on a particular ballot measure in order to be one of the signers of a rebuttal argument.

Rebuttals must not exceed 250 words. (§9167, 9220, 9285, 9317, 9504)

Impartial Analysis:

County Counsel is required to prepare an impartial analysis of a county or school measure. (§9161, 9500)

The City Attorney shall prepare an impartial analysis of a city measure. (§9280)

For special district initiatives, the county counsel or district attorney of the county with the largest number of registered voters shall prepare an impartial analysis. (§9313)

The impartial analysis must not exceed 500 words. (§9160, 9313, 9314, 9500, Water Code App. §124-4115)

If the district is a water district, the counsel for the water district, or if there is no counsel for the water district, the county counsel of the county with the largest number of registered voters shall prepare an impartial analysis. If there is a legal counsel for the water district, the analysis shall be subject to review and revision by the county counsel. (§9314)

Notwithstanding the above provision, if the initiative pertains to the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency, the county counsels of Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz Counties shall jointly prepare an impartial analysis. (Water Code App. §124-415)

Fiscal Analysis:

The County Auditor-Controller may be requested by the Board of Supervisors no later than 88 days prior to an election to prepare a fiscal analysis of a county measure. (§9160)

The fiscal impact statement shall not exceed 500 words. (§9160)

Tax Rate Statement:

Each bond measure proposed by a county, city, district or other political subdivision or by any agency, department, or board thereof, the security of which constitutes a lien on the property within the jurisdiction, shall mail a tax rate statement with the Sample Ballot. (§9400, 9401) The law does not specify a word limit for such statements.

Order of appearance in Voter's Information Pamphlet:

Arguments, rebuttals and analyses are printed in the Voter's Information Pamphlet and mailed to all registered voters in the jurisdiction eligible to vote for the particular measure. The arguments will appear in the following order:

1. Analysis

2. Fiscal Analysis or Tax Rate Statement

3. Argument For

4. Rebuttal to Argument For

5. Argument Against

6. Rebuttal to Argument Against

Lettering of Measures

Letters designating measures will be assigned by the elections official pursuant to Elections Code §13116. Measures will be assigned in alphabetical order beginning with the letter following the last letter assigned in the previous election and continuing through Z, or as close to the end of the alphabet as possible to accommodate all measures filed for the current election.

For example, if the previous election ended with measure V, and five measures are on the next ballot, the measures will be assigned A, B, C, D, E rather than W, X, Y, Z, A.

For districts that overlap into other counties, the counties will mutually agree to use a letter designation for the measure that will not conflict or confuse the voter.
Measures will appear on the ballot in the following order pursuant to Elections Code §13109: Schools, County, Cities, Districts.

Signature Statement

Each argument and rebuttal must be accompanied by the two-page Signature Statement included in this Guide. (Elections Code §9600)

There is a distinction between a "filer" and a "signer or author". The filer of the argument or rebuttal must be either the governing board of the district, a bona fide association of citizens or an individual voter who is eligible to vote on the measure. The "signers or authors" of the argument or rebuttal can be any person or any organization accompanied by a signature of a principal officer. Filers do not have to be signers.

DEADLINES -- ELECTION

Contact the County Elections Department at 454-2060 for filing deadlines for a particular measure.

Arguments: Arguments are due by 5 p.m. on the deadline date chosen by the Elections Department. Once an argument for and against a measure is chosen, a copy will be provided to the Opposing authors for the purpose of writing a rebuttal. Arguments are available to the public after the 5 p.m. deadline.

Tax Rate Statement: Tax Rate Statements must be supplied for each bond issue proposed by a county, city, district or other political subdivision. It is Department policy to require the statement to be filed on the same day that arguments are due. Statements are available to the public after the 5 p.m. deadline

Rebuttals: 10 days after the argument is due, rebuttals are due by 5 p.m. Rebuttals are available to the public after the 5 p.m. deadline.

Analysis: County Counsel prepares an impartial analysis of each measure and it is filed on the same day as rebuttals are due. If requested by the Board of Supervisors, the County Auditor may also submit an analysis. Analyses are public after the 5 p.m. deadline.

Place to File: Elections Department, 701 Ocean Street, Room 210, Santa Cruz, CA 95060-4076, 831-454-2060.

Filing by FAX: Signatures on arguments, rebuttals and analyses must appear on the same page as the argument, rebuttal or analysis. Original signatures must be presented to the elections official within 48 hours of transmission or the item(s) will not be considered as filed (weekends and holidays excepted). FAXing must be started prior to 5 p.m. on deadline days to be accepted as filed. The FAX number is 831-454-2445.

Confidentiality: Arguments, rebuttals and analyses shall remain confidential until 5 p.m. on the date they are due.

Withdrawal/Changes: Arguments, rebuttals and analyses may be changed or withdrawn until and including the date fixed for final submission to the county clerk. (§9163, 9316, 9601)

Public Inspection: During a 10-day period following the final deadline for filing documents, arguments, rebuttals and analyses are available for a 10-day public inspection period. A writ of mandate or injunction may be sought to require amendments or deletions. (§9190, 9295, 9380, 9509)

HOW TO WRITE YOUR ARGUMENT, REBUTTAL OR ANALYSIS

Be accurate. Documents will be printed as submitted. Spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors will not be corrected by Elections Department staff.

An argument, rebuttal, analysis or tax rate statement must be written to address a single measure on the ballot. A document combining statements pertaining to more than one measure will not be accepted.

All arguments and rebuttals must be accompanied by a Signature Statement. See attached. (§9600)

No more than five signatures will appear with any argument. If more than five are submitted, the first five will be printed. (§9164, 9501)

Arguments, rebuttals, analyses and tax rate statement, including the names and titles of the signers, must be typed to ensure quality and accuracy.

Do not use profanity or other objectionable language.

The heading is standardized. Subheadings and deviations from the standardized heading will not be accepted.

Arguments, rebuttals, analyses and tax rate statements are printed in the Voter's Information Pamphlet in 9 2 point Helvetica type -- no exceptions.

Limited use of bolding, CAPITALIZING, underlining, italics, centering text, and bullets are permitted.

SUBMITTING ARGUMENTS/ANALYSES ON COMPUTER DISK OR E-MAIL:

To help us cut costs, we encourage you to submit arguments/analyses on 3 2" computer diskette or via e-mail

WordPerfect or another IBM compatible format is preferred,
Provide one hard copy of how you want the text to look in the Sample Ballot with original signatures.
Input signatures as:
Name
Title

HOW TO COUNT WORDS

(Pursuant to Elections Code Section 9)

Each word is counted as one word except:

PUNCTUATION: Punctuation is not counted.

TITLES: Words used in the title of the document, such as "Argument in Favor of Measure A" are not counted.

CITIES/COUNTIES: All geographical names shall be counted as one word. Areas that have boundaries and can be mapped are considered geographic areas. For example, "County of Santa Cruz" and "Pajaro Valley Unified School District" shall each be counted as one word.

ABBREVIATIONS: Each abbreviation for a word, phrase, or expression shall be counted as one word.

HYPHENATIONS: Hyphenated words that appear in any generally available dictionary shall be considered as one word. Each part of all other hyphenated words shall be counted as a separate word.

DATES: Dates consisting of a combination of words and digits shall be counted as two words. Dates consisting of only a combination of digits shall be counted as one word. January 1, 2000 shall be counted as two words, whereas 1/1/00 shall be counted as one word.

NUMBERS: Any number consisting of a digit or digits shall be considered as one word. Any number which is spelled, shall be considered as a separate word. "100" shall be counted as one word, whereas "one hundred" shall be counted as two words.

PHONE & INTERNET: Web site addresses and telephone numbers shall be counted as one word.

PERCENT SIGNS (%), NUMBER SIGNS (#), ETC.: It is department policy to count numbers consisting of a digit or digits used with a dollar sign ($), cent sign (¢) percentage sign (%), or number sign (#) as one word.

STANDARDIZED HEADINGS

Where the word "county" is used, you may substitute the appropriate jurisdiction of the measure, i.e. Scotts Valley Unified School District, Soquel Water District, etc.) The Letter "Z" for a measure has been chosen for illustrative purposes only.

ARGUMENTS:	ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF MEASURE Z ARGUMENT AGAINST MEASURE Z
REBUTTALS:	REBUTTAL TO ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF MEASURE Z REBUTTAL TO ARGUMENT AGAINST MEASURE Z
ANALYSES:	IMPARTIAL ANALYSIS BY COUNTY COUNSEL (or CITY ATTORNEY) SANTA CRUZ COUNTY MEASURE Z If the full text of a county or city measure is not printed in the Voter=s Information Pamphlet, pursuant to '9160 and 9280, following the text of the impartial analysis insert in 10-pt. bold: The above statement is an impartial Analysis of Measure Z. If you desire a copy of the ordinance or measure, please call the Elections Department at 454-2060 and a copy will be mailed at no cost to you. FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT BY COUNTY AUDITOR-CONTROLLER SANTA CRUZ COUNTY MEASURE Z
TAX RATE STATEMENT	TAX RATE STATEMENT BOND MEASURE Z
MEASURE (Voter's Pamphlet)	SANTA CRUZ COUNTY MEASURE Z MEASURE TITLE (Full Text of Ordinance, Resolution, Charter Amendment) Text…..
INITIATIVE (Voter's Pamphlet)	SANTA CRUZ COUNTY MEASURE Z INITIATIVE TITLE (Full Text of Proposed Initiative) Text……

BALLOT:

MEASURES SUBMITTED TO THE VOTERS
COUNTY
Z 75-word ballot question... ('13247)	Yes
	No

If the measure is a school bond, the ballot would read: ABonds Yes@ and ABonds No@ (Education Code '15122)

SIGNATURE STATEMENT

(Elections Code Section 9600)

All arguments concerning measures filed pursuant to Division 9 of the Elections Code shall be accompanied by the following statement to be signed by each author of the argument. Names and titles listed will be printed in the Voter's Information Pamphlet in the order provided below and will appear as indicated below.

The undersigned author(s) of the

[___] argument in favor of
[___] argument against
[___] rebuttal to the argument in favor of
[___] rebuttal to the argument against

ballot measure (insert letter) __________

at the (insert type of election: primary, general, special) __________________________________________

election for the (insert name of district)_____________________________________________________

to be held on (insert election date)__________________________ hereby state that such argument

is true and correct to the best of (insert his/her/their) _____________________ knowledge and belief.

ARGUMENT/REBUTTAL FILED BY (check any of the following that apply):

[___] Board of Supervisors or Governing Board

Contact Person's Printed Name: _________________________________________________

Contact Person's Signature: ____________________________________________________

Title: ______________________________________________________________________

Phone: _____________________________ FAX: __________________________________

[___] Bona Fide Association of Citizens or Filers of Special District Initiative

Name of Association: _________________________________________________________

Principal Officer's Printed Name: ________________________________________________

Principal Officer's Signature: ___________________________________________________

Title: ______________________________________________________________________

Phone: _____________________________ FAX: __________________________________

Attach list of officers if document relates to a school district measure

[___] Individual voter who is eligible to vote on the measure

Printed Name: _______________________________________________________________

Signature of Voter: ___________________________________________________________

Address Where You Live: ______________________________________________________

Phone: _____________________________ FAX: __________________________________

SIGNATURE STATEMENT - PART 2

CHECK ONE OF THE FOLLOWING & RECORD LETTER OF MEASURE:

[___] Argument in Favor of Measure _____

[___] Argument Against Measure _____

[___] Rebuttal to Argument in Favor of Measure ______

[___] Rebuttal to Argument Against Measure _____

The signatures of the following persons will be printed as submitted below following the argument or rebuttal.

SIGNATURE NO. 1
PRINT NAME as it will appear in the Voter=s Information Pamphlet
PRINT TITLE AND NAME OF ASSOCIATION (IF APPLICABLE) as it will appear in the Voter=s Information Pamphlet.
Are you signing on behalf of an association? YES or NO*
DATE

SIGNATURE NO. 2
PRINT NAME as it will appear in the Voter=s Information Pamphlet
PRINT TITLE AND NAME OF ASSOCIATION (IF APPLICABLE) as it will appear in the Voter=s Information Pamphlet.
Are you signing on behalf of an association? YES or NO*
DATE

SIGNATURE NO. 3
PRINT NAME as it will appear in the Voter=s Information Pamphlet
PRINT TITLE AND NAME OF ASSOCIATION (IF APPLICABLE) as it will appear in the Voter=s Information Pamphlet.
Are you signing on behalf of an association? YES or NO*
DATE

SIGNATURE NO. 4
PRINT NAME as it will appear in the Voter=s Information Pamphlet
PRINT TITLE AND NAME OF ASSOCIATION (IF APPLICABLE) as it will appear in the Voter=s Information Pamphlet.
Are you signing on behalf of an association? YES or NO*
DATE

SIGNATURE NO. 5
PRINT NAME as it will appear in the Voter=s Information Pamphlet
PRINT TITLE AND NAME OF ASSOCIATION (IF APPLICABLE) as it will appear in the Voter=s Information Pamphlet.
Are you signing on behalf of an association? YES or NO*
DATE

*If the argument or rebuttal is being signed by a principal officer on behalf of an association that is supporting or opposing the measure, the name of the association will appear on the first line, followed by the principal officer's name and title on the second line as the example illustrates:

Santa Cruz County Elections Department
s/ Richard W. Bedal, County Clerk

AUTHORIZATION FOR ANOTHER PERSON OR PERSONS TO SIGN REBUTTAL ARGUMENT

I, ___________________________________________ authorize the following person(s) to sign
(print name of FILER of the argument)

the rebuttal to the argument

[___] in favor
[___] against

Measure (insert letter)______ for the (insert election date) ______________________ election.

(One to five people who signed the argument may be replaced with up to five different people to sign the rebuttal)

PRINT NAME OF REBUTTAL SIGNER

To sign instead of

PRINT NAME OF ARGUMENT SIGNER

1

2

3

4

5

Signature of Filer: _______________________________ Date: ________________

Attach this form to the 2-part "Signature Statement" submitted with the rebuttal argument.

	PRINT NAME OF REBUTTAL SIGNER	To sign instead of	PRINT NAME OF ARGUMENT SIGNER
1
2
3
4
5