Because many of its members are retired and among the groups most at risk to the coronavirus, Preserve Our Rural Communities (PORC), a group of local activists, told BenitoLink it has halted its efforts to collect signatures for two initiatives for the November election.
The county-wide initiative seeks to eliminate numerous commercial node designations throughout the county and require voter approval for zoning changes. The Hollister initiative aims to make the sphere of influence, an area surrounding a jurisdiction marked for potential growth, into an urban growth boundary.
PORC secretary Mary Hsia-Coron said its members shifted their focus to more urgent matters even before the shelter-in-place was ordered on March 18. She said many members are making face masks and hand sanitizers and giving them out to different organizations.
An 180-day circulation process began when the San Benito County Elections Office sent the ballot title and summary of the initiative to the proponents. Francisco Diaz with the elections office told BenitoLink that verified signatures for an initiative must be turned in to the Board of Supervisors by the first meeting in August to make it to the November election. Prior to turning in signatures to the county, the elections office can take up to 30 days to verify signatures.
Unable to collect signatures, PORC, which successfully ran a referendum and campaign against Measure K in the primary election, is receiving commitments from voters who say they are willing to sign the initiative petition after the shelter-in-place order is lifted. A more restrictive version of the county’s shelter in place was extended on March 31 and expires May 4, though it could continue.
Hsia-Coron said she does not have a count of the signatures collected because not all members have reported their results. She also said she does not have the number of residents who have committed their signatures.
“Everything changed with the virus,” Hsia-Coron said. “We haven’t done too much with reaching out. We have our email list of members so we do communicate that way.”
While Hsia-Coron said the focus will return to collecting signatures once it’s safe to do so, the group is still discussing the matter with their attorney. She said that since there are a lot of initiatives statewide, there is a push for an extension to collect signatures.
Secretary of the State of California Alex Padilla approved 19 statewide initiatives and referenda for circulation as of April 16, according to the state website. Six of those have been withdrawn.
Angela Curro, assistant county clerk and recorder, said mail-ins are another method of collecting signatures for statewide referendums and initiatives.
“It requires the proponents to mail the initiative pages with a return mailing address to registered voters and the voter is required to not only sign, print name and residential address, but the voter is required to be the circulator, which requires additional parts of the petition to be completed,” Curro said.