January 12, 2006

"Down the stretch toward a vote?"

"The legal definition of "registered voter" is breathing new life into Friends of Bay Meadows' fight against the track's future development.

The Friends group, pushing for preservation of the 83-acre venue, which the City Council approved for redevelopment in November, has been combing through petition signatures rejected by the county. They say the county might have broken the elections code by discounting the signatures of people who weren't registered voters when they signed, but had turned in their registration cards before the petition was submitted to the city.

Depending on how you interpret election law, those signatures could count.

"It looks like (a signature) counts as long as the registration is received on or before the date the petition is filed," said Jennifer Kerns, a spokeswoman for California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson.

The group turned in nearly 5,700 signatures from residents supporting a referendum recalling the council's unanimous vote on the redevelopment.

But the county and city, citing various problems with the signatures, announced in late December that the effort came 136 valid signatures short.

County Elections Manager David Tom said two of the biggest problems werethat the signers failed to re-register to vote after moving, or that they weren't registered voters at the time they signed the petition."

The story is .

Posted by Randy Riddle at January 12, 2006 11:56 AM