The Crush - September 2020 - 6

[ STATE FOCUS ]

Assembly Ag Committee Change; Election Voting
By Michael Miiller
RIVAS NAMED ASSEMBLY AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE
CHAIR; ANNOUNCES STATEWIDE AG TOUR
Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) on Sept. 11
announced that Assemblymember Robert Rivas (D-Hollister)
was appointed as chair of the Assembly Agriculture Committee.
Primary jurisdiction of the committee includes agricultural
commissions, agricultural commodities, CDFA, expositions
and fairs, farmers markets, food access, food labeling,
labeling of agricultural commodities, livestock and poultry,
marketing orders and agreements, milk and milk products, pest
management, veterinarians, and other agricultural issues.
"My district is known as the 'salad
bowl of the world,'" Rivas said,
"because our farms grow so much
of the fresh produce that our nation
and world rely upon to eat. From
big growers to small family farms,
the health of California's agriculture
industry is critically important. As
incoming chair of the Agriculture
Committee, I pledge to be a strong
voice for farmers, farmworkers, and
consumers across our state."
Rivas also announced that he will be launching a statewide
agriculture tour in October to meet with a diverse group of
agriculture industry members, farmworkers and community
leaders from across California. Findings from the statewide tour
will help shape legislative policy recommendations. CAWG will
be working closely with Rivas in setting up tours, especially in
the Salinas Valley, where he can meet with growers and learn
firsthand the challenges facing California's ag industry.
VOTING BY MAIL
Without regard to politics, there is much talk these days about
the method we will use in casting our votes in the upcoming
November election. For purposes of this discussion, historically
there have been three ways of voting in California: 1) absentee,
where a ballot is requested by the voter and then mailed in; 2) inperson, where the voter goes to the polling place and fills out the
ballot; or 3) vote by mail (VBM), where the voter completes the
ballot at home and then either mails in the ballot or drops it off at
an elections office drop site.

6 / SEPTEMBER 2020

Over the last 20 years, California
has been slowly moving towards
VBM. This is in part because
elections officials have had
increased concerns about the
reliability of in-person voting
machines and believe a hard
paper ballot is the best way to
assure the integrity of the process.
Generally speaking, Republicans
have long-supported VBM in
special elections to fill a vacancy and in rural areas as well. This
is due to the higher cost of in-person voting compared to VBM.
Democrats have historically pushed back, because they believed
VBM would reduce Democrat turnout.
Then the pandemic hit, and everything was turned upside
down. Republicans are now opposed to VBM and Democrats
now embrace it. Republicans argue that VBM is subject to fraud
and abuse, while Democrats argue the VBM is needed to avoid
spreading COVID-19.
Beyond the politics, there are fundamental concerns such as
postage. The VBM envelope requires postage. As most of us have
moved to paying bills by mail and seldom using the mail, many
people no longer have stamps in their homes. However, if there is
no stamp on the envelope or insufficient postage, the post office
will still deliver the ballot and will bill the county for the cost of
that postage.
An additional concern is about the delay in counting ballots. It
is highly likely that the winner of any particular race won't be
known for several days. This is not a new problem for California.
Unfortunately, we have become used to delayed results where
sometimes the winner on Election Day was not the winner after
counting all the ballots over the next few weeks.
The bottom line for California is that for rural voters and voters
in many counties, VBM is not something new. However, with the
increased volume this year, elections officials are advising voters
to vote early and to personally drop them off at an elections office
drop site if possible. If not, mail them in sooner rather than later.
All ballots postmarked on Election Day will be counted.

https://speaker.asmdc.org/ https://a30.asmdc.org/ https://a30.asmdc.org/press-releases/20200911-assemblymember-robert-rivas-named-chair-assembly-agriculture-committee https://a30.asmdc.org/press-releases/20200911-assemblymember-robert-rivas-named-chair-assembly-agriculture-committee

The Crush - September 2020

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