Padilla v. Lever Hits Kern County

The Bakersfield Californian offers Sludge Initiative on Hold, talking about the latest California jurisdiction hit with a lawsuit to remove an already qualified voter initiative from the ballot for ostensible failure to comply with section 203 of the Voting Rights Act. A snippet:

The men's civil rights were violated, the suit alleges, because the sludge petition used last year during the signature-gathering process was printed only in English.

A hearing in the case is scheduled for Friday in Fresno.

The argument fueling the lawsuit was born in November in Orange County. That is: Petitions, like ballots at the voting booth, must be printed in multiple languages in certain geographic areas.

Since November, Padilla versus Lever -- or just Padilla, as legal folks refer to the case -- has derailed initiatives in Monterey and San Bernardino counties. Officials in Orange County are currently questioning a second petition.

And now there's Kern.

"Padilla opened up this Pandora's box," said Richard Hasen, a professor specializing in elections law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. "These are going to continue until the (U.S.) 9th Circuit Court of Appeals does something."

UPDATE: Here is another story on the Monterey case, written before the 9th circuit's denial of the motion.

Posted by Rick Hasen at April 6, 2006 08:58 AM