(California) Budget cuts may end mail-in ballots, registration

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Buried on page 620 of the state budget are a few small cuts that could change the way Californians vote.

To save $33 million, the bill suspended several state mandates requiring counties to provide voting services that many Californians take for granted. The state no longer requires counties to process all voter registration applications they receive by mail or to send out vote-by-mail ballots to anyone who wants one.

Counties still could provide these services, and many probably will, but they won't be reimbursed by the state.

Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature needed the savings to close a budget gap of $26 billion, said H.D. Palmer, deputy director for external affairs at the state Department of Finance.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/19/MN1R1KC0F5.DTL

Oh, excuse me: I think that's on the GOP agenda. ;-)

So screw those who for some reason cannot get out to vote..
I am one of those people...
This is a smoke screen and is really voter manipulation..
And the excuse that this is budget related is Bullshit at best..
How about those California Politicians taking a pay cut?????
I will bet too this would make up this $33 million dollar shortage quit easily...

Jeez, it really does seem like there is only one party anymore. It goes from moderate right to batshit crazy right, arbitrarily divides itself into D and R, but whatever you want to call it, there's no left or liberal choice anymore.

Hell...this is ANOTHER assault on voting.

Outrageous! And put exactly (and that means, which one of the RushThugs or T.HATEbaggers got this in) put this in?

WRITE to your papers...WRITE to your Reps...WRITE to Gerry and say NO WAY IN HELL will you pass
a budget, based on cutting out people's ability to vote!

and I've always voted by mail, I hope my county (Santa Clara) can afford to continue it...but mail voters elimination might swing elections a certain bad way...

:grr:

The legislature's gonna need to address this in a trailer bill pronto.