“It looks to me like the proponents of noncitizen voting in Santa Ana were relying entirely on rigged ballot language to pass their measure.  They failed at that because of our lawsuit.  They have now made another big mistake in not putting up a campaign to actually ask voters for their support, and it looks to me like Measure DD is going to lose.” 

— James Lacy, nonprofit and election lawyer who raised the case against Measure DD’s initial wording

(from the October 18, 2024 New Santa Ana article, “Widespread coalition is opposing noncitizen voting ballot measure in Santa Ana”)

Measure DD been controversial from its origin.  It was placed on the ballot late last year in a contentious 4-3 vote of the City Council, with the Council majority overruling city staff recommendations on the wording of the ballot measure to add favorable language.  But this summer, Orange County Superior Court Judge Kimberly A. Knill ruled in favor of a lawsuit and ordered removal of wording she found to be biased and illegal, violating the California Elections Code by creating a prejudice on the ballot to encourage voters to vote for the measure.  The Judge’s Order is available here: https://usjf.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Hearing-on-Petition-1.pdf.

Read the entire article here.