A Shasta County Superior Court Judge will decide the fate of a controversial ballot measure that would require voter ID and other rules that currently run counter to state and federal law before the end of this week.
After hearing from proponents of Measure B and the woman who is suing to keep the initiative off the June 2 ballot at a hearing on Wednesday, March 25, Judge Benjamin Hanna said he will issue a written ruling no later than Friday, March 27.
But during Thursday’s hearing, Hanna appeared to be leaning toward allowing the measure to appear on the ballot, questioning at times if it was more appropriate for any legal challenges to come after the election, should Measure B pass.
Thursday’s hearing capped a month-long legal fight between proponents of the measure and Jennifer Katske, a local ICU nurse who sued the Shasta County Board of Supervisors and Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis in an effort to keep the initiative off the ballot.
Katske argued in court that mandating voter ID, hand-counting ballots, single-day voting and limiting absentee voting preempt state and federal law, so it’s incumbent upon the court to take action and keep it off the ballot.
The “charade” of keeping it on the ballot only to see it get shot down by the courts if it passes would be a waste of taxpayer money, she said. Katske also told Hanna that money spent to put it on the ballot would be better spent on issues that are important to Shasta County like the limited accessibility to health care for many residents.
But attorney Alexander Haberbush, who was representing five proponents of Measure B, countered that pre-election review of ballot measures are rare because doing so would interrupt the election process, adding that keeping this measure off the ballot would disenfranchise the 10,000-plus voters who signed the petition.
Registrar of Voters Curtis has said that it’s his duty to put an initiative on the ballot if enough verified signatures are collected to do so.
Hanna asked Katske during closing arguments, “Why can’t we just do this after the election? It might not even pass.”
Katske in part said that as a taxpayer she has the right to let the court know if she thinks her money is being wasted. She also added that the notion that Measure B is needed due to widespread fraud in past local elections is not supported by evidence.
Haberbush, who appeared via telephone, represented five proponents of the ballot measure, Laura Hobbs, Diedre Holliday, Kari Chilson, Jim Burnett and Richard Gallardo. Gallardo was not at Thursday’s hearing.
Shasta County Counsel Joseph Larmour was at the hearing largely as an observer because the county did not take a position on the lawsuit.
After the hearing, Katske was in good spirits.
“I am very pleased. I think it went very well. I was able to enumerate my merits on the case very well. I think the judge was very receptive to it. And like I said earlier, no matter what happens I am extraordinarily proud of what we accomplished so far,” Katske told the media outside the courtroom.
Curtis, who has been outspoken about his disappointment that the county did not take a position in the lawsuit, had suggested that he would hire his own attorney to defend against the suit. But he spent Thursday’s hearing in the audience listening to the proceedings.
“It didn’t sound like I needed to. It was better to do the declarations and simply send them in to the people who were asking for the information than it was to simply stand up (in court) and do it myself. I thought about it, but I decided not to,” Curtis said when asked why he did not defend himself in court.
Curtis said he thinks Judge Hanna is leaning toward leaving the measure on the ballot.
“Which is the norm. I mean, that’s what usually is the case. It’s extraordinary for them to pull something off the ballot. Because if they pull something off the ballot, it kind of looks like administrators are taking away your right to vote – because they are,” Curtis said.
David Benda covers business, development and anything else that comes up for the USA TODAY Network in Redding. He also writes the weekly “Buzz on the Street” column. He’s part of a team of dedicated reporters that investigate wrongdoing, cover breaking news and tell other stories about your community. Reach him on Twitter @DavidBenda_RS or by phone at 1-530-338-8323. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Court ruling on voter ID measure coming soon from Shasta judge
Reporting by David Benda, Redding Record Searchlight / Redding Record Searchlight
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