By Linda Taaffe
A 40-year law intended to guarantee civil rights to voters may end up eliminating all but the wealthiest of candidates in Santa Clara County.
The registrar of voters recently passed fees to publish a school board candidate’s statement in the sample ballot on to the candidates, tripling the cost for most contenders.
Some candidates already have described being shell shocked by the new fees.
Laura Casas Frier, running for a seat on the Foothill-De Anza School Board this fall, said the fee to file a 200-word statement of qualifications in the sample ballot went from $3,500, when she ran in 2003, to $7,020 for this fall’s election. That amount could drop to $4,800 pending some adjustments from the registrar office, she added.
Until last year, the registrar shared the cost with candidates to translate and distribute the ballot statement in five languages as required by the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. The board of supervisors shifted the cost last fall because of the county’s budget woes.
“This is a disaster for someone who wants to run for office. Placing a huge financial wall on candidates is like zipping their lips and not allowing them to speak to the community,” Frier said. “It really inhibits democracy because the irony is only the most wealthy candidates are eligible to serve.”
The candidate must still raise funds to get brochures in the mail, print posters and so on, she added.
Frier isn’t the only one concerned about the shift in fees deterring candidates from participating in future elections. The Civil Grand Jury recently issued a report concluding that the fee is a disincentive and recommends changing the county’s policy, especially since not all candidates are sharing the cost. Those running for seats on the county board of supervisors, sheriff, assessor or district attorney offices don’t pay any fee for their written statements.
In a survey, the Grand Jury discovered that 82 percent of the school board candidates who ran for elections last fall believed the fee discouraged other potential candidates from running.
While the statement is optional, the survey revealed that the public had a negative perception of candidates who did not file a written statement.
Under the law, population and demographics determine the languages that ballots must include. In Santa Clara County, ballots are published in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese and Tagalog. The cost to file a statement for each jurisdiction varies depending on the number of candidate statements on a page and the number of ballots printed.
The cost to file a statement in the Fremont Union High School District, which includes Los Altos students who attend Homestead High, is $4,000.
The Mountain View-Whisman School District has picked up the bill for candidates. Others, however, say it is too prohibitive. School districts are already charged an election fee that can range from $1 to $10 per voter.
The Los Altos School District board voted against supplementing the filing cost.
Superintendent Marge Gratiot said the board felt that paying for candidate fees was not an appropriate use of taxpayer money.
“The general sense of the board was that people who have support usually have a campaign budget,” she said.
County analyst Monica Welch said the grand jury report contains incorrect information. Many of the costs are less than projected, and often, candidates are refunded.
The grand jury report suggests placing a flat fee on all candidate races or charging a fee based on a reasonable percentage of school board compensation.
