Court Opinion

ID: 9539940
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:11:46.683506+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:59:28.388826
License: Public Domain

BROUSSARD, J.
I respectfully dissent. The right to vote is fundamental because in a democracy it is “preservative of all rights.” (Yick Wo v. Hopkins (1886) 118 U.S. 356, 370 [30 L.Ed. 220, 226, 6 S.Ct. 1064].) Requirements burdening the right to vote are subject to the strictest of scrutiny. (Dunn v. Blumstein (1972) 405 U.S. 330, 336, 342 [31 L.Ed.2d 274, 280-281, 284, 92 S.Ct. 995]; Young v. Gnoss (1972) 7 Cal.3d 18, 22 [101 Cal.Rptr. 533, 496 P.2d 445]; Castro v. State of California (1970) 2 Cal.3d 223, 234 [85 Cal.Rptr. 20, 466 P.2d 244]; Otsuka v. Hite (1966) 64 Cal.2d 596, 602-603 [51 Cal.Rptr. 284, 414 P.2d 412]; Keane v. Mihaly (1970) 11 Cal.App.3d 1037, 1041 [90 Cal.Rptr. 263].) The record in the instant case makes clear that the preelection registration requirement in California, although neutral on its face and seemingly innocuous, has the practical effect, at least in Los Angeles County, of resulting in a denial of the right to vote to many citizens who want to vote on election day and that this practical effect impacts most seriously upon the poor and minorities.
*448The Legislature, obviously aware of the economic and racial impact of the preelection registration requirement, has enjoined upon the counties the administrative duties to maintain registration at the highest possible level, to design and implement programs intended to identify qualified electors who are not registered voters, and to register such persons to vote. (Elec. Code, § 304.)1 To accomplish those goals, the Legislature has given the boards of supervisors of the counties extensive discretionary powers, including the power to deputize any of its officers and employees as registrars. (§ 302.) Notwithstanding the specially enjoined duties, the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles decided to stonewall. It refused to design and implement a program intended to identify qualified electors who were not registered voters, and thus did not attempt to register those persons.
Based on overwhelming evidence, the trial court found a significant class of underregistered, eligible low-income and non-White citizens. In some of the towns and cities where the population was predominantly poor or nonWhite as many as 70 percent of the eligible voters were unregistered, whereas in wealthy White communities it was shown that only 10 to 15 percent of the eligible voters were not registered. Based on this showing, the trial court issued a preliminary injunction requiring the county to deputize as deputy registrars appropriate county employees having daily contact with eligible but unregistered voters. In short, the court said to the county that you cannot stonewall and temporarily, pending further proceedings, the county shall engage in a program to reduce the number of unregistered, qualified electors. There is nothing in the court’s order to prevent the county from mending the error of its ways, investigating to determine which electors are effectively deprived of the franchise by the preelection registration requirement, and developing programs to increase registration.
The majority tell us that courts cannot compel the county to deputize its employees as registrars because the Legislature in section 302, subdivision (e) gave it discretion to determine whether to deputize its employees and that section 304 is applicable to the Secretary of State and does not impose a direct duty on the county. (Maj. opn. at pp. 443-445.) The majority also argue that the preliminary injunction was improper even if the county was acting unlawfully, and that the court should not act until it has given the county an opportunity to remedy the situation. (Maj. opn. at pp. 445-446.)
However, it is clear that the Legislature has established the legislative policy and imposed an administrative duty on the county, that while the county is given discretion in appointing its employees as deputy registrars, *449its discretion is not limitless, and that the courts have authority to correct its abuse of discretion. The county’s stonewalling in refusing to implement a program to even identify the unregistered electors is a clear abuse of discretion, and the fact that the county is to act in accordance with the Secretary of State’s regulations does not furnish a defense when it has violated them also.
Nor was the court required to delay attempts to remedy the situation. As shown by the main authority cited by the majority, the proper function of the court in matters as important as elections is to take temporary action to assure that they are conducted in accordance with law, while leaving the authorized agency free to devise a permanent solution in accordance with law. The preliminary injunction does not preclude the county from devising its own plan in accordance with the law and obviously is only a temporary measure.
The election process is so important to the maintenance of our democracy that abuses, whether they take the form of fraud or abuse of legislatively conferred discretion, must be addressed immediately. Although the record in the instant case of practical disenfranchisement of large numbers of poor and minorities by the preelection registration requirement draws into question the validity of the requirement itself, the trial court did not invalidate the process but sought to enforce the legislative attempts to square preelection registration requirements with the citizens’ right to vote without economic or racial discrimination. Attempts ordained by the Legislature to modify the economic and racial effects of the preelection registration system must be enforced to maintain the integrity of the system.
It has long been recognized that county boards of supervisors exercise both administrative powers and duties and legislative powers. (E.g., Horn v. County of Ventura (1979) 24 Cal.3d 605, 612-615 [156 Cal.Rptr. 718, 596 P.2d 1134]; Simpson v. Hite (1950) 36 Cal.2d 125, 129 et seq. [222 P.2d 225].) As a generalization, matters which affect numerous people are legislative in character. However, where the general policy is established by the Legislature, the county board’s function in carrying out the policy by performing its duty is an administrative function delegated by the state. The determination whether the board’s function is legislative or administrative may not always be easy, and one of the factors that is usually considered is the procedures established by the Legislature for the board. {Ibid.)
The statutory pattern is clear. In the area of elections, including registration of voters, probably more than any other area in the law and in recognition that our dedication to a democratic form of government is involved, the Legislature has acted comprehensively dotting the i’s, crossing the t’s and *450directing county and local officials to enforce its policy determinations. (See Elections Code generally.) Turning to the specific code sections before us, the Legislature has specified its intent that registration be maintained at the highest possible level and directed the Secretary of State to adopt regulations requiring each county “to design and implement programs intended to identify qualified electors who are not registered voters, and to register such persons to vote.” (§ 304.) The Secretary of State has adopted regulations. (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2, § 20000 et seq.) Section 304 obviously requires counties to adopt outreach programs and does not permit the county board to ignore the directive. Indeed section 304 provides that the Secretary of State shall adopt regulations prescribing minimum “requirements” and continues by providing that if the “Secretary of State finds that a county has not designed and implemented a program meeting such prescribed minimum requirements, the Secretary of State shall design a program for such county.”
The policy judgment as to whether a program shall be adopted has been made by the Legislature. The Legislature has required the Secretary of State to adopt regulations prescribing the minimum requirements, obviously an administrative function, since the Secretary of State is not given legislative powers. Although conceivably a county board of supervisors may be acting in a legislative capacity in adopting a program which goes beyond the Secretary of State’s minimum requirements, a board is acting in an administrative capacity when it attempts to meet the minimum requirements. Moreover, the Legislature has provided that if a county fails to meet the minimum requirements, the Secretary of State may design a program for the county. Again, the Secretary of State is not a legislature.
The Secretary of State has adopted extensive regulations. (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2, §§ 20000-20005.) California Code of Regulations, title 2, section 20000 provides that “all counties shall design and implement programs intended to identify qualified electors who are not registered voters, and to register such persons to vote, hereinafter referred to as outreach programs.” California Code of Regulations, title 2, section 20001, subdivision (f) provides that each county voter outreach program shall provide for the solicitation of assistance from local government offices, including the incidental use of their premises and/or personnel for the purpose of outreach, and the offices to be solicited include those which in the opinion of the county clerk come into frequent contact with unregistered electors. And California Code of Regulations, title 2, section 20002 mandates each outreach program to “stress” the solicitation of voter registrations by persons whose activities place them in frequent contact with potential registrants. The Secretary of State’s regulations specifies that affirmative and positive steps must be taken to attain the Legislature’s goal. These provisions significantly directing the particular steps to be taken and providing discretion for the county clerk *451further show the administrative character of the duty imposed by the Legislature by section 304.
The fact that section 302, subdivision (e) provides that counties “may” assign any of its officers and employees to become deputy registrars does not show that the county’s power is a legislative one or that the Secretary of State or the courts may not require some employees to act as deputy registrars. The fact that the board of supervisors may exercise substantial discretion does not mean that it is not acting in an administrative capacity. For example, subdivision map approvals, variances and conditional use permits involve considerable discretion in applying the state established standards to the particular application but all are administrative determinations. (Horn v. County of Ventura, supra, 24 Cal.3d 605, 612-615; Topanga Assn, for a Scenic Community v. County of Los Angeles (1974) 11 Cal.3d 506, 513-514 [113 Cal.Rptr. 836, 522 P.2d 12]; Johnston v. Board of Supervisors (1947) 31 Cal.2d 66, 74 [187 P.2d 686].) Whether acting under subdivision (e) of section 302 or any other provision in sections 302 and 304, the board of supervisors acts in administrative and not in a legislative or quasi-legislative capacity.2
Legislative history makes it clear that the “may” in subdivision (e) of section 302 should not be read as a limitation on the county’s duty to adopt an outreach program under section 304. The provisions of subdivision (e) of section 302 were first added in 1965. (Stats. 1965, ch. 1866, § 1.) Obviously, they were found insufficient to fully accomplish the legislative purpose, and in 1975 the Legislature established the outreach program of section 304 (Stats. 1975, ch. 704, § 3.5), an additional program to accomplish the same purpose. Since subdivision (e) of section 302 and section 304 are both designed to increase voter registration and section 304 is designed to go beyond section 302, it would frustrate rather than further legislative intent to read subdivision (e) of section 302 as imposing an implied limitation on the duty imposed by section 304.
It has long been settled that while mandamus will not lie to control the discretion of administrative officials, it will lie to correct abuse of discretion of those officials. (E.g., Glendale City Employees’ Assn., Inc. v. City of Glendale (1975) 15 Cal.3d 328, 344, fn. 24 [124 Cal.Rptr. 513, 540 P.2d 609]; Griffin v. Board of Supervisors (1963) 60 Cal.2d 318, 322 [33 Cal.Rptr. 101, 384 P.2d 421]; Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton Corp. v. Superior Court (1962) 208 Cal.App.2d 803, 823 [25 Cal.Rptr. 798]; Munns v. Stenman (1957) 152 Cal.App.2d 543, 555-557 [314 P.2d 67]; see Robbins v. Superior Court *452(1985) 38 Cal.3d 199, 205 [211 Cal.Rptr. 398, 695 P.2d 695].) The discretion that is conferred on administrative officials is not an absolute discretion, but a discretion to be exercised in accordance with the purposes of the legislation. There can be no question but that in failing to take any steps to identify electors who are not registered, the board has violated section 304 and the Secretary of State’s regulations. While the statute and the regulations confer on the board discretion as to the steps to be taken, the failure to take any steps constitutes an abuse of discretion. Similarly, while subdivision (e) of section 302 confers discretion upon the board with respect to appointment of employees and officials as deputy registrars in pursuance of the legislative goal to maintain registration at the highest level, and to register those identified as unregistered electors, the record before us shows a clear abuse of discretion. The board has not attempted to identify the unregistered electors and thus did not take any steps to register them. The board has not suggested any other programs to register them. In the circumstances, the trial court injunction requiring appointment of some employees as deputy registrars—with limited duties not interfering with their other duties—is a reasonable method to correct the abuse of discretion.
I conclude that the provision in section 302 providing that the county “may” deputize governmental employees does not establish an absolute right to refuse to deputize any, does not establish that the duty imposed by section 304 and the Secretary of State’s regulation to establish an outreach program may not include a duty to deputize in the exercise of discretion, and does not preclude a court order requiring deputizing some county employees.
In concluding that courts may not compel counties to deputize any employees, the majority ignore the numerous cases which have recognized that courts may correct abuses of discretion of administrators.
The majority’s reliance on Serrano v. Priest (1976) 18 Cal.3d 728 [135 Cal.Rptr. 345, 557 P.2d 929] and Legislature v. Reinecke (1973) 10 Cal.3d 396 [110 Cal.Rptr. 718, 516 P.2d 6] is misplaced because those cases do not involve administrator’s duties but legislative powers to establish a system of public school financing and to reapportion legislative and congressional districts. Moreover, the latter case makes clear that, even as to the exercise of legislative powers, courts may adopt temporary solutions when the Legislature has failed to act. Thus, when the Legislature failed to reapportion the congressional districts, this court proceeded to do so itself for the 1972 election providing that the Legislature could adopt its own redistricting plan for the 1974 election and that if it did not do so, the court would adopt a plan. (10 Cal.3d at p. 400; Legislature v. Reinecke (1972) 6 Cal.3d 595, 601 et seq. [99 Cal.Rptr. 481, 492 P.2d 385].) Similar procedure was *453followed in this case. The trial court issued a preliminary injunction requiring the county to appoint some employees as deputy registrars. The injunction does not preclude the county from commencing its own outreach program to identify unregistered electors and to register those identified. Should the county comply with the law, it obviously is free to seek to have the preliminary injunction vacated. The temporary relief authorized herein is entirely consistent with the approach of Legislature v. Reinecke, supra, 10 Cal. 3d 396. As there, the court was faced with upcoming elections and acted to protect the integrity of the electoral process.
At the trial, plaintiffs established that the proposed preliminary injunction would not impose great burdens on the county and that it would significantly reduce the imbalances in voter registration existing in the county. Although the county claimed that there were significant burdens, it was unable to establish the claim. When the hearing comes on for the permanent injunction, the county, of course, will be able to show how burdensome the preliminary injunction is and whether it is effective.
I would affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
Mosk, J., concurred.

All statutory references are to the Elections Code unless otherwise indicated.

The majority (maj. opn. at p. 445) mischaracterize the board’s decisions under section 302, subdivision (e) as quasi-legislative.