Forum centers on election process

Encouraging high school and college students to vote was among the

topics discussed Thursday night at a forum sponsored by the League of

Women Voters Glendale/Burbank.

Glendale City Clerk Ardashes Kassakhian told an audience of about

50 people at the Buena Vista branch of the Burbank Public Library

that he was able recruit 110 high school students to work on his

spring 2005 campaign for city clerk by visiting them in the

classroom.

An aggressive, one-on-one approach was a key to getting young

people involved in the voting process, Kassakhian said.

“We spend so much money marketing products to youths but when it

comes to the process that drives our country we don’t put our

pocketbooks where are mouths are,” Kassakhian added.

The forum was part of a yearlong effort by the League of Women

Voters examining how public officials are elected in Glendale and

Burbank.

Joining Kassakhian during the forum were Burbank City Clerk

Margarita Campos, former Glendale City Clerk Doris Twedt, and

Glendale Community College professor Mike Allen.

The moderator was league member Tom Carson.

Twedt discussed how local laws govern municipal elections; Allen

addressed alternative systems of voting; and Campos outlined

Burbank’s mail-in ballot system and compared the benefits and

drawbacks.

Even though the mail-ballot system was time-consuming and

labor-intensive, it was still her preferred way to conduct an

election, because it can assure voters their ballot will count,

Campos said.

“No system is perfect,” Campos said. “You work with what you have

and you find ways to refine it.”

Following their 10-minute presentations, the panelists answered

questions submitted by audience members, which included about 20

Clark Magnet High School students.

Responding to a question about how precinct boundaries are set,

Campos said it is done by the Los Angeles County Clerk and she then

uses the same boundaries to establish precincts in Burbank.