By MYRTLE OSNER

The League of Women Voters (the League)takes positions of ballot propositions which it has studied. The following comments are the opinions of the author and are not the official stance of the League.

You all know, if you’ve been reading this paper for a while, that I have become more and more concerned about the large number of ballot propositions on which we have to vote at each election.

Bond measures always come first, and are generally placed there by the legislature, who use this way of borrowing money for future projects. This time, we have three, all of them supported by the League of Women Voters. None have elicited any negative ads, so far. They are:

Prop. 12: Safe Neighborhood Parks, Clean Water, Clean Air, and Coastal Protection Bond Act, $2.1 billion. There hasn’t been a parks bond act on the ballot for twelve years; something for everybody here. SUPPORT.

Prop. 13: Safe Drinking Water, Clean Water, Watershed Protection, and Flood Protection Bond Act, $1.97 billion. SUPPORT.

Prop. 14: California Reading and Literacy Improvement and Public Library Construction and Renovation Bond Act: $350 million. Stanislaus County voters have twice passed sales tax measures just to keep our libraries open here. Any money additional for libraries would be well spent. SUPPORT.

Propositions 15 through 19 are ones on which the League of Women Voters has taken no position because they have not previously studied these subjects, as well as Prop 23,24, 27, and 29-31.

Other measures on which the League has taken positions are:

Prop. 20: Requires that 50 percent of the annual increase in lottery funds for education be earmarked for instructional materials. At first glance this might seem like a good idea, but it’s not. Lottery money is already earmarked and is not a substitute for adequate funding for schools. OPPOSE.

Prop 21: Proposes changes to treatment of juvenile offenders, including giving prosecutors rather than judges the authority to send teenagers to adult court. An expensive and punitive measure that would jeopardize funding for prevention and early intervention programs. (Please articles on pages 1, 6, 7, and 8.) Strongly OPPOSE. To hear the reasons why, attend the January 29 symposium at King Kennedy Center in Modesto (see page 7).

Prop. 22: Provides that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. OPPOSE.

Prop. 25: Expands campaign contribution disclosure and establishes contribution limits . The League opposes the high contribution limits, and "soft money" loopholes. I believe contributions are already far too high and the election process is being subverted by money. OPPOSE.

Prop 26: "Let’s fix our schools" initiative to lower the threshold requirement for approval of local school bond measures from two-thirds to a majority vote. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: We are prisoners of the minority when we require a two-thirds vote for school bonds. Two-thirds is almost impossible to get, and our schools are crumbling. Locals should be able to make a decision without having the state say we have to do it by two-thirds. SUPPORT.

Prop. 28: Repeals Prop. 10 tobacco surtax (passed by the voters previously), which was the additional fifty cent per pack tax on cigarettes and equivalent increase in state tax on tobacco products previously enacted by Proposition 10. Eliminates funding of early childhood development and smoking prevention programs established by that measure. Who put this one on? I bet you can guess. League of Women Voters has always supported the funding as above, and believes it continues to be needed. OPPOSE.

ACTION: Pick up a free copy of the League's "Pros and Cons of the Ballot Measures" from any library, or call the League’s office at 524-1698. It is a simplified version of the official ballot version.

Voting in an Open Primary and other questions you were afraid to ask

From the Elections Department

What is an open primary?

In 1996 Prop. 198 created the open primary in California. Any registered voter, regardless of his or her political party, may vote for any candidate listed on the ballot. Before this, voters could only vote for candidates in their political party.

What's new about the March 7, 2000 Open Primary?

When Californians go to the polls this March 7, it will be the first time will use the open primary in a Presidential Election. Voting for president is different than voting for other offices because the national political parties have their own rules as to how the party's nominee can be selected.

How will Presidential delegates be selected now?

In general, national political party rules require that only party members may vote for presidential candidates to whom delegates to the party's presidential nominating convention are pledged. In fact, the political parties could have chosen to by-pass the California primary election altogether, and nominated by closed caucuses or conventions. So, the Legislature made a compromise. When you go to polls, you will be able to vote for any candidate, regardless of the political party. Elections officials will display the results so that we can see how voters of each political party voted. It will be the national party's choice which numbers to use.