League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	San Francisco County, CA November 4, 2008 Election
	Proposition E Changing the Number of Signatures Required to Recall City Officials City of San Francisco Charter Amendment - Majority Approval Required Pass: 195,605 / 60.10% Yes votes ...... 129,862 / 39.90% No votes See Also: Index of all Propositions

Arguments For Proposition E

Arguments Against Proposition E

Prop E will reform the outdated City and County of San Francisco's recall signature requirements for any elected official by adopting the state law that applies to other chartered counties. Currently, the recall of any elected city official, the City Administrator, the Controller, members of the Board of Education, the governing board of the community College District, the Ethics Commission, or the Public Utilities Commission, can be placed on the ballot with the signatures of ten percent of the registered voters within that jurisdiction, whether it be city-wide or by district. Prop E will change the flat rate of signatures required to the more dynamic state model, which relies on the population of each jurisdiction to determine the number of signatures needed. The majority of chartered California counties apply the state standard, including Orange County, Los Angeles, Santa Clara, San Bernadino and San Diego. This measure does not eliminate the ability of San Francisco voters to recall an elected official due to malfeasance, misfeasance or nonfeasance. This measure will reduce the number of frivolous recall attempts based on merely due to policy disagreements. State law simply mandates that if registration is less than 1000, 30% of signatures are required; between 1000-10,000 registered voters, 25% signatures are required; between 10,000 and 50,000, 20% are required; 50,000 to 100,000 requires 15%; and more than 100,000 requires 10%. Most Supervisorial districts have less than 50,000; one has a more than 50,000. The current San Francisco requirement of 10% is absolutely too low a threshold. It has been ripe for abuse. Vote Yes for Prop E. Supervisor Jake McGoldrick Supervisor Tom Ammiano Supervisor Chris Daly Supervisor Bevan Dufty Supervisor Sophie Maxwell Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi

Measure E is a solution in search of a problem. Raising the recall petition threshold is unnecessary because the law we have in place suffices: over the past 8 years, all 3 attempts to recall an elected official have failed. Citizens have the right to oust an elected official who has failed to live up to the public's expectations. Do not make this right more difficult. Vote No on E! Sean R. Elsbernd, Supervisor District 7 Carmen Chu, Supervisor District 4 Gerardo Sandoval, Supervisor District 11 Rebuttal to Arguments Against Opponents argue that Prop E is not needed, as the ten percent requirement serves as a check for elected officials in San Francisco. The ten percent requirement is too low a threshold, especially for a district that has a small population. The flat rate of ten percent is ripe for abuse by small special interest groups, who often initiate a recall based on one or two policy disagreements. Prop E would base the signature requirement on the state model, as most chartered counties in California have done. The dynamic state model would establish the number of signatures required for a recall on the size of the population of each jurisdiction. Prop E would not eliminate the ability to recall an elected official. It would however decrease the abuse that currently marks the recall efforts. Vote yes on Prop E. Supervisor Jake McGoldrick Supervisor Tom Ammiano Supervisor Chris Daly Supervisor Bevan Dufty Supervisor Sophie Maxwell Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi