Opinion ID: 2603522
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Ballots Voted in the Presence of or With the Assistance of Incorporation Proponents.

Text: (5) Appellants contend that the secret voting provision of the California Constitution [4] was violated in the case of 45 absentee ballots voted in the presence of or with the assistance of 3 incorporation proponents. Appellants further allege that the conduct of the three incorporation proponents constituted criminal interference with the secrecy of voting in violation of section 29645. [5] Joseph Goodwill distributed approximately 79 absentee ballot applications. He later visited many of these people and asked whether the ballot had been received, and whether the voter had completed and returned the ballot to the county clerk. In most cases the voter was either a member of Mr. Goodwill's family or a friend of long standing. The trial court adopted the following findings with respect to the voters assisted by Mr. Goodwill: In some instances the voter asked Mr. Goodwill for instructions about the absentee ballot procedure. In some instances, because of age, physical disability or lack of familiarity with the computer card, the voter asked Mr. Goodwill for help completing the absentee ballot. In yet other instances, the voter had completed the ballot and gave it to Mr. Goodwill to return to the County Clerk. In some instances the voter had already completed and returned the absentee ballot to the County Clerk. In those instances where Mr. Goodwill helped complete the absentee ballot, he did so in privacy, in the presence of the voter, with the voter's understanding and consent. Occasionally, one or more members of the voter's family were present, with the voter's consent. All the ballots were punched to reflect the voter's decision on the candidates and on [the incorporation measure]. After the ballot was completed, each voter signed the ballot envelope. Mrs. Carmaleit Oakes is a 77-year-old retired school teacher who was active in EPACCI. She visited five voters, some of whom apparently had requested assistance from EPACCI in completing their absentee ballots. The trial court adopted the following findings with respect to the voters assisted by Mrs. Oakes: [Mrs. Oakes] was invited into their homes. She offered to help them with their absentee ballots. They all accepted her offer. All five people discussed their votes with her and voluntarily showed their ballot materials to her. At their request, because of lack of familiarity with the computer card, she helped four voters complete their absentee ballots in the privacy of their own homes. She helped complete all four ballots with the voters' understanding and consent and in accordance with the voters' wishes. Each completed ballot correctly reflected each voter's choice of candidates and each voter's decision on [the incorporation measure]. After the ballot was completed, each voter signed the ballot envelope.... The fifth voter ... completed her own absentee ballot.... Mrs. Oakes took the completed ballots of these five voters to EPACCI headquarters. No one tampered with any of these ballots. Mr. Frank Omowale Satterwhite is a former chairman of the San Mateo County Planning Commission, a member of the East Palo Alto City Council and the owner of a consulting firm. He was an active member of EPACCI, and his name appeared on the ballot as a candidate for city council. Mr. Satterwhite assisted several voters residing at Runnymede Gardens, a federally subsidized senior citizens residential facility. Following a request by several residents for help with their absentee ballots, Brad Davis, the resident manager of Runnymede Gardens, asked that a representative of EPACCI come to the facility to explain the absentee voting process. The trial court adopted the following findings with regard to the voters assisted by Mr. Satterwhite: Mr. Frank Omowale Satterwhite came to Runnymede Gardens for the meeting and helped six voters with their absentee ballots. All six voters requested help. All who showed their ballots to Mr. Satterwhite did so voluntarily. Four of these people asked Mr. Satterwhite to complete their absentee ballots. Because of age or disability, they could not punch out the holes in the absentee ballot computer cards themselves.... Mr. Satterwhite caredully [ sic ] ascertained their wishes, punched out the ballots according to the voter's instructions and showed the punched ballot to the voter.[ [6] ] Mr. Satterwhite's assistance was provided with the voters' understanding and consent, and the voters all signed the ballot envelopes. Mr. Satterwhite gave these absentee ballots to Brad Davis, along with those of [two other residents] who completed their own ballots. The trial court found that in each case where an incorporation proponent had assisted a voter in completing an absentee ballot, the assistance had been provided at the voter's request. The court also found that the assistance had been provided without fraud or coercion, and that all disclosures had been made voluntarily by the voter. Finally, the court concluded that no ballot had been tampered with, and that in all cases the vote cast reflected the decision of the voter. These factual findings are supported by substantial evidence and will not be disturbed on appeal. [7] Appellants argue that even accepting the trial court's findings as true, the intrusion by campaign workers on the secrecy of voting requires that the ballots be invalidated even where disclosures are voluntary and in the absence of tampering. We disagree. (6) Article II, section 7, of the California Constitution states: Voting shall be secret. This does not mean that every ballot including absentee and mailed ballots must actually be cast in secret; we recently rejected such an argument in Peterson v. City of San Diego (1983) 34 Cal.3d 225 [193 Cal. Rptr. 533, 666 P.2d 975]. In that case plaintiffs argued that an election conducted by mail ballot is invalid because the voter in such an election may show his ballot to another person. We noted that with respect to protection of the secrecy of the ballot, provisions for mail balloting and absentee balloting are substantially the same, and that the absentee ballot provisions have been held consistent with the constitutional provision. ( Id., at pp. 228, 231; see Beatie v. Davila (1982) 132 Cal. App.3d 424, 431 [183 Cal. Rptr. 179].) We emphasized the fundamental nature of the right to vote and noted the efforts of the Legislature to extend the exercise of the franchise by enacting liberal provisions for voting by absentee ballot. We are satisfied that the secrecy provision of our Constitution was never intended to preclude reasonable measures to facilitate and increase exercise of the right to vote such as absentee and mail ballot voting. We may not assume that the secrecy provision was designed to serve a purpose other than its obvious one of protecting the voter's right to act in secret, when such an assumption would impair rather than facilitate exercise of the fundamental right. (34 Cal.3d at p. 230.) Two Court of Appeal opinions recognize that absentee ballots validly may be cast in the presence of or with the assistance of third parties. In Fair v. Hernandez (1981) 116 Cal. App.3d 868 [172 Cal. Rptr. 379], the court refused to invalidate two absentee votes cast with the assistance of family members, when the voters were partially physically disabled. The court held that the statutory restrictions on who may provide assistance to disabled voters at polling places do not apply to absentee voting. ( Id., at p. 879; see §§ 14234, 14235, 14236.) And in Beatie v. Davila, supra, 132 Cal. App.3d 424, the Court of Appeal rejected a challenge to absentee votes cast in the presence of partisan campaign workers. In that case, defendant's campaign committee conducted an aggressive absentee ballot campaign, soliciting people to sign requests for absentee ballots and then returning to the voters' residences to pick up the ballots. The court held that the conduct of the committee members did not violate the voters' right to secrecy: [I]f a voter wishes to disclose his marked ballot to someone else, be it a family member, friend or a candidate's representative, he should be permitted to do so. To hold otherwise would cast a pall on absentee voting. We suspect that many absentee voters disclose their marked ballots to other persons before placing them in the identification envelope for return to the elections official or the polling place. Such a voluntary disclosure cannot be deemed to violate the constitutional mandate. ( Id., at p. 431.) Appellants argue on the basis of our opinion in Scott v. Kenyon (1940) 16 Cal.2d 197 [105 P.2d 291], that when there has been a breach of secrecy and an opportunity for fraud in the collection of absentee ballots, the ballots must not be counted. But Kenyon does not help appellants. There, the voters did not waive the right to a secret ballot. It was election officials who violated that right after the voters had turned their ballots in. An election official removed identifying tags from absentee ballots which had already been delivered to the clerk, opened them and read off the name of the voter and the votes cast without allowing anyone to corroborate his reading, and put the ballots and envelopes in an insecure ballot box. This box was actually tampered with and ballots were removed before the votes could be canvassed. These procedures violated statutory provisions for the storage, counting and secrecy of ballots once received by election officials. It was not merely the opportunity for fraud, but these wholesale violations, along with the evidence of actual tampering and the impossibility of determining with certainty how the challenged votes had been cast that compelled us to conclude that the absentee ballots could not be counted. ( Id., at pp. 201, 203-204.) The statutory provisions regulating absentee voting do not prohibit the voter from permitting third parties to be present while the voter marks his ballot. Neither do these provisions specify what class of absentee voter may use third parties to actually mark the ballot. The trial court found that each voter had voluntarily allowed the campaign workers to be present while the voter marked the ballot, and had requested whatever assistance was provided in marking the ballots. The trial court found that each ballot was marked as the voter had requested and that there was no coercion or tampering. Appellants' request that we nonetheless invalidate each of the votes cast because it was not cast in secret is inconsistent with our obligation in reviewing a contested election to protect the individual's exercise of the franchise in the absence of manifest illegality. We realize that the integrity of an election is impaired when partisan campaign workers coerce absentee voters to give up their right to vote in secret. But the trial court determined upon the basis of substantial evidence that no such coercion occurred here. As we noted in Peterson, the Legislature has adopted criminal sanctions to secure the integrity of elections. It is a crime to interfere with a voter lawfully exercising the right to vote at an election (Elec. Code, § 29612), to offer employment or any gift or lodging as an inducement for voting or refraining from voting (Elec. Code, §§ 29620-29624), to coerce or to intimidate any voter (Elec. Code, § 29630) or to interfere with the secrecy of voting (Elec. Code, § 29645). ( Peterson v. City of San Diego, supra, 34 Cal.3d at p. 231.) [8] In addition, the Elections Code prescribes rules intended to assure the secrecy and integrity of absentee ballots. (See, e.g., §§ 1009 [notice on absentee ballot envelope that it is to be opened only by canvassing board], 1015 [election official to compare signature on absentee ballot envelope with signature on affidavit of registration]; see also § 17007 [any ballot marked by voter so that it can be identified as his shall not be counted].) If it is perceived that there are defects or ambiguities in the legislative scheme for absentee voting which leave a potential for abuse, the Legislature must respond.