Source: California Chronicle

California Political Desk

September 7, 2007

SACRAMENTO – The Assembly today passed a plan by Sen. Jenny Oropeza to prevent California’s newest citizens from being disenfranchised when seeking to vote.

“Newly sworn-in citizens should be allowed to register and vote right up to the close of polls on Election Day,” Oropeza, D-Long Beach, said after today’s vote. “Senate Bill 382 would allow our newest citizens to exercise not only their democratic right to be heard but to also fulfill one of their new duties as full participants in a democracy. Government should not be in a position where bureaucratic delays disenfranchise our newest citizens.”

Specifically, SB 382 would extend the registration deadline from one week to Election Day for those new citizens immediately before an election. Supported by the California Association of Clerks & Elections Officials, SB 382’s purpose is to not turn away our newest citizens simply because their naturalization ceremony fell on the wrong day, Oropeza said.

Oropeza has annually introduced an election-reform package since her election to the Assembly in 2000. Her 2003 measure required that The Voter Bill of Rights be posted at polling places statewide and included in the voter pamphlet.

SB 382 now returns to the Senate for concurrence.

For more on SB 382, visit Oropeza’s Web site below.

Elected to the Assembly in 2000 and the Senate in 2006, Jenny Oropeza is one of the highest-ranking Latinos in the Legislature and chairs the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee. For more visit www.senate.ca.gov/oropeza