Be suspicious of GOP-backed Fresno County ballot measures timed for low voter turnout | Opinion

You’ve gotta hand it to the Republican majority on the Fresno County Board of Supervisors.

For a threesome in political alignment with less than a third of the county’s registered voters, these guys sure know how to cling to power. Even when that requires resorting to a little chicanery.

As evidence, we offer up the two measures placed on the 2024 primary election ballot by Supervisors Steve Brandau and Nathan Magsig, with fellow Republican Buddy Mendes in tow.

The key word in the preceding sentence being “primary.” Not the big ol’ general election in November, when the largest number of voters mail in their ballots or make their way to polling places. The one coming up in a few weeks, when the historical turnout is comparatively sparse.

Whenever politicians so plainly suppress the vote, automatically be suspicious.

Opinion

In Fresno County and most others in California, law enforcement elections are held during the gubernatorial election cycle. That changed in 2022 due to a relatively obscure state law, AB 759, which mandated that most counties switch their district attorney and sheriff elections to the presidential cycle. Exceptions were made for counties whose charters specifically designate when those elections take place.

Fresno County’s charter contains no such language, meaning AB 759 would take effect here and the current four-year terms of District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp and John Zanoni would be extended through 2028.

Measure A, if approved by a majority of the county’s voters, would amend the pertinent section so that law enforcement elections remain in the off-year cycle.

Why is this important? Because in Fresno County, historically, Republican candidates for DA and sheriff run unopposed or win comfortably — Smittcamp and Zanoni being the latest examples — even though registered Democrats outnumber their GOP counterparts by nearly 7%. (The exact figures are 39.06% Democrat to 32.13% Republican, according to the latest voter data.)

Switching those elections to the presidential cycle could alter that equation, something our Republican threesome simply can’t risk leaving to chance.

The problem with Measure A isn’t so much the language as it is the timing. Fresno County voters absolutely should have the right to decide when they vote for the county’s top two law enforcement jobs. Better us than the governor or the Legislature.

If Brandau and Magsig had placed the initiative on the November 2024 ballot, when 66% to 75% of the county’s electorate would weigh in (based on voter turnout from the last two presidential elections), you wouldn’t be hearing a peep from this corner.

But by bringing it before voters in March, when about 40% will fill out and return ballots (again, based on 2016 and 2020), the GOP supervisors play the same political games they accuse Democrats in Sacramento of playing.

Valley that shall not be named

Speaking of political games, time to turn our attention to Measure B. Which is all about the renaming of a certain unincorporated foothill community east of Fresno. One the initiative’s authors fail to actually name. Kind of odd.

Here’s the condensed backstory: In 2022, as part of an effort to strike the word “squaw” from federal lands, the U.S. Department of the Interior changed the name to Yokuts Valley. Later that year, state lawmakers passed a law requiring that the s---- term be stripped from all place names and landmarks by 2025.

That should have settled the debate. Change the name of the post office, repaint a couple highway signs, and that’s it. The issue is behind us, and we can move on to matters more substantial.

But for reasons understood only to him, Magsig won’t let go. First, he wastes taxpayer money on an unsuccessful lawsuit against the state, only to double-down with an appeal.

For an encore, Magsig authors a ballot measure that claims to “give the duty and power to name or change the name of geographic features and place names” of unincorporated areas to he and his fellow county supes.

Voters who don’t know the backstory might be duped into thinking Measure B grants autonomy over such decisions to local officials. That is not the case whatsoever.

All it really does, if successful, is provide Magsig with another tool to make his arguments in future lawsuits. And if Fresno County continues to fight the feds and state over the renaming of Yokuts Valley, those will surely be coming.

Only by the grace of the 3-2 Republican majority on the Board of Supervisors does Magsig get to continue this culture war. If this election cycle is any indication, voters can expect more of the same.