Santa Ana issues request for term limit ballot measure arguments

City of Santa Ana, Downtown Orange County

Advisory: NOTICE OF ELECTION REGARDING CHARTER AMENDMENT (MEASURE) TO BE VOTED ON CITY OF SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA

SANTA ANA, CA (August 2, 2012) – NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the following measure will be voted on at a special municipal election consolidated with the general municipal election to be held in the City of Santa Ana, California on Tuesday, the sixth (6TH) day of November 2012:

Shall the Charter of the City of Santa Ana be amended to establish and impose upon the office of Mayor term limits of no more than four (4) two-year terms, commencing with the term beginning December 11, 2012?
Charter, Section 404

NOTICE TIME LIMIT TO SUBMIT BALLOT ARGUMENTS
(California Elections Code §9280-9287)
Charter Amendment- City of Santa Ana

2012 General Municipal Election – November 6, 2012

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that arguments with respect to the following ballot measure relating to proposed change in the office of the Mayor term limit provision of the City Charter of the City of Santa Ana will be received according to the following procedures:

1. The City Council or any member(s) of the Council authorized by the City Council, or bona fide association of citizens, or any individual voter who is eligible to vote on the charter amendment, or any combination of voters and associations, may file a written argument for or against the measure on the ballot. No argument shall exceed 300 words in length.

2. A ballot argument shall not be accepted unless accompanied by the name(s) of the person(s) submitting it, or, if submitted on behalf of an organization, the name of the organization and the name of at least one of its principal officers.

3. No more than five authors may sign any argument. If an argument is signed by more than five individuals, the names of only the first five persons signing, determined by the order in which their signatures appear, shall be printed on the argument appearing in the Voter Information Pamphlet.

4. The Clerk of the Council shall cause an argument for and an argument against the measure, if submitted, to be printed and shall transmit the arguments to the qualified electors in addition to any necessary ballot materials. Arguments for and against the measure shall be submitted to the Office of the Clerk of the Council, 20 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, California 92701, not later than 5:00 P.M., Friday, August 10, 2012.

5. Arguments may be changed or withdrawn by their authors until and including Monday, August 13, 2012 not later than 5:00 P.M.

6. Printed arguments submitted to the voters shall be titled either “Argument In Favor of Measure___” or “Argument Against Measure___”, accordingly. The blank space will be assigned a number or letter by the Orange County Registrar of Voters. Words used in the title shall not be counted when determining the length of the argument.

7. If more than one argument for or more than one argument against the ballot measure is submitted to the Clerk of the Council within the time prescribed above, the Clerk of the Council shall select one of the arguments for printing and distribution to voters. In such selection, preference and priority shall be given as follows: 1) member(s), of the legislative body authorized by that body, 2) bona fide associations of citizens, and, 3) individual voters who are eligible to vote on the measure. If more than one argument for a measure is received from individuals or groups with the same preference and priority, the first argument submitted to the Clerk of the Council will be selected if no other arguments from an individual or group with a higher priority are received.

8. At the time of filing an argument, a certificate is also required that states that the facts contained in the argument are true and correct. The certificate must be signed by each author of the argument. (A certificate form is available from the Clerk of the Council)

9. Copies of arguments for and against the measure shall be open for public examination at the Clerk of the Council Office, 20 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, California, 92701 during normal business hours (Monday through Thursday, 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.) beginning on Thursday, August 2, 2012 and ending on Friday, August 10, 2012. Any individual may obtain a copy of such materials for use outside of said office. A fee, not to exceed the actual costs incurred in providing such copies, will be charged at the time of provision of such copies.

10. Questions concerning this notice shall be directed to the Clerk of the Council, City of Santa Ana, telephone number (714)647-6520.

11. Copies of the text of the Charter Amendment to be submitted to the voters of the city of Santa Ana may be obtained from the Clerk of the Council during normal business hours.

For additional information contact the City Clerk’s office at 714-647-6520.

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Art Pedroza Editor

Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.

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