Vargas v. Balz

Opinion

FYBEL, J.

Introduction

The City of Brea City Clerk is responsible for transmitting to the Orange County Registrar of Voters for publication all arguments in favor of or in opposition to municipal initiatives. In this case, we hold the city clerk does not have the authority to change an argument, or the accompanying statutorily required form statement identifying the author of the argument, to effectuate what the city clerk believed was the author’s intent. Under Elections Code section 9600, the “form statement” is a required part of a ballot measure argument; we also refer to the form…