ARTICLES
May 2003 ARTICLES
Contents © 2003
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
Life on the Ballot
Volunteers Rev Up This Summer
Starting May 1, California voters will have a chance to help put parental notification on November, 2004 statewide ballot. This ballot proposition would require abortionists to notify parents before performing abortions on minors. From May through September, volunteer coordinators for Life on the Ballot, part of the broad coalition behind the parental rights effort, will be recruiting churches, nonprofit charities, and other groups to collect signatures.
"Nearly all propositions are qualified for the ballot with paid signature-gatherers. Our idea is to recruit petition-circulators from churches and other groups and let at least some of them earn the money for themselves or for their groups," said one of the organizers of this part of the coalition.
The crucial date (sometime in September or October) is when the attorney general approves the language of the ballot initiative. That's when the 150 days starts ticking -- the time needed to gather the 600,000 signatures.
"If each of our 10 regional coordinators can contact 100 groups this summer, and each of those groups can collect 1,000 signatures in the fall, this initiative will qualify very fast," said the source.
The last attempt to put parental notification for minor abortions took place in the fall of 1999. "Our biggest problem in 1999 was that we got started too late," according to the organizer. "The money-raising was going on at the last minute, volunteers were slow to get off the ground, and the paid signature-gatherers were busy getting signatures for Indian-gaming intitiatives at nearly the same time. This time we plan to have the necessary money raised by early summer and the volunteer groups ready to go by September."
Another difference this time around is that petition circulators can recruit and get signatures on church grounds. "Last time many churches were afraid to collect signatures in the pews," says the Life on the Ballot source. This time we will have letters from the Thomas More Law Center in Michigan and the Becket Fund in Washington, D.C. explaining to pastors they can collect initiative signatures in the churches." This may not yield more than a few hundred signatures for each church. "The most efficient place for volunteers to gather signatures is still the supermarket and shopping mall."
To sign up as a regional coordinator or church coordinator of paid volunteers, call 213-896-9554 or email emma.trujillo@attbi.com.