DUAL SIGNATURES MEAN PETITIONS NEED FULL COUNT.Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer A random check found two dozen duplicate DUPLICATE. The double of anything. 2. It is usually applied to agreements, letters, receipts, and the like, when two originals are made of either of them. Each copy has the same effect. signatures, enough to require a full count of petitions for a study of San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. cityhood, delaying the process more than a month, county officials said Wednesday. The Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County registrar-recorder said her office is ready to start counting all 202,514 signatures Monday and bill the county as much as $275,000, but supporters of the study said this is unreasonable. Leaders of Valley VOTE, which conducted the petition drive, contend a full count would be a needless roadblock to the secession secession, in art secession, in art, any of several associations of progressive artists, especially those in Munich, Berlin, and Vienna, who withdrew from the established academic societies or exhibitions. study and a waste of money. ``We have submitted way more (signatures) than legally required. Any process of verifying 100 percent of the signatures would be a waste of taxpayers' money,'' said Richard Close, co-chairman of Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment em·pow·er tr.v. em·pow·ered, em·pow·er·ing, em·pow·ers 1. To invest with power, especially legal power or official authority. See Synonyms at authorize. 2. . ``Why are they just trying to put another roadblock before Valley residents?'' he said. ``It's the time, the delay, that's the issue.'' County election officials said the verification process relied on the same state election codes used for all petitions and Valley VOTE is not being treated any differently. The Local Agency Formation Commission will review the random count report at its meeting Wednesday. ``When a petition has not qualified on a random count, it automatically goes into a 100 percent count. If they want to tell us not to do it, they can,'' said Conny McCormack, the county registrar-recorder. ``We give out the raw numbers and how these rules apply, but the actual agency is responsible for determining whether or not the petition qualifies.'' McCormack said the full count could take six weeks and require about 50 of the 60 full-time workers in the county's Voter Services Division. ``It's not unprecedented, but it's a tremendous amount of work.'' Close contends LAFCO LAFCO Local Agency Formation Commission LAFCO Los Angeles Filmmakers Cooperative should use its discretion to accept the count and begin working on the scope and cost of a study assessing impacts of the Valley breaking away from Los Angeles. The Valley attorney said the petition is only for a study - not to place a measure on the ballot. ``There are no specific rules that apply to this type of petition,'' Close said. ``They have the freedom to make a reasonable decision. They're not constrained con·strain tr.v. con·strained, con·strain·ing, con·strains 1. To compel by physical, moral, or circumstantial force; oblige: felt constrained to object. See Synonyms at force. 2. by arbitrary rules.'' Valley VOTE leaders on Wednesday, however, received a letter from LAFCO Executive Officer Larry Calemine stating the agency ``will now instruct in·struct v. in·struct·ed, in·struct·ing, in·structs v.tr. 1. To provide with knowledge, especially in a methodical way. See Synonyms at teach. 2. To give orders to; direct. v. the registrar to conduct a 100 percent verification.'' Calemine included the report on the random count. ``This is a numbers game,'' Calemine said in an interview. The results of the random count submitted to LAFCO on Wednesday showed that more than 76 percent of the signatures were from registered voters living in the Valley. The formula, set in the state election code, shows 154,476 of all signatures would be valid based on that percentage. But the formula penalizes Valley VOTE for 24 duplicate signatures by deducting 25,877 signatures, dropping the total below the 131,771 valid signatures needed to start the study. ``If you find a duplicate signature in a random sample, clearly there's going to be more. There's an assessed value that's a penalty,'' McCormack explained. Close said that penalty is too severe and shouldn't be applied. ``The duplicate signatures represent less than half of 1 percent of the (random) sample. If we apply that to the total number submitted, you get about 800. They want to penalize pe·nal·ize tr.v. pe·nal·ized, pe·nal·iz·ing, pe·nal·iz·es 1. To subject to a penalty, especially for infringement of a law or official regulation. See Synonyms at punish. 2. us by more than 25,000 signatures. . . . It just doesn't make sense,'' he said. So Valley VOTE faces yet another struggle before LAFCO. Last month Valley VOTE won the battle over costs for the full count when the supervisors voted 3-2 to pay for the full count of this and other looming looming: see mirage. secession movements. Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky Zev Yaroslavsky (born December 21, 1948) is a Los Angeles County politician. He served on the Los Angeles City Council from 1975 until 1994, when he was elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. He was preceded in both offices by Edmund D. Edelman. was the LAFCO commissioner who led the effort to have the supervisors pay for the full count. Yaroslavsky argued that no citizen should have to pay for signature verification and therefore unconstitutionally be denied access to petition government. |
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