Rules, rules and more rules when it comes to the simple act of voting

Did you know it’s actually against the law to commit election fraud?

I realize many people in town may have already cast their ballots for or against Measure V, for their favorite candidate for Yolo County Superior Court Judge, for their favorite Congressional candidate and for me as Governor of California.

Please don’t laugh about my candidacy. I can already feel a groundswell of enthusiasm. Not quite 9.8 on the Richter Scale, but significant nevertheless.

Be that as it may, if you do plan to vote in person, California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D., has issued some stern warnings to keep you out of the slammer on Election Day.

I know I’ve gone over some of these strict rules in previous elections, but with a whole bunch of footloose teenagers recently becoming old enough to vote, it’s right and proper that they know what’s allowed and what’s not. Voting is complicated and confusing. It would be easy for a newcomer to run afoul of the law, so I’m offering these tips, free of charge, as a public service.

At the very top of Page 58 of Shirley’s Official Voter Information Guide, we see the words “ELECTIONEERING PROHIBITED!”

The exclamation point is to let you know that Dr. Weber really means it. These prohibitions come into play if you are within 100 feet of a polling place, curbside voting or a ballot drop box, but I’m not sure how we would know that ahead of time. No matter. If I were you, I’d run down to Davis Lumber before you head out to vote and buy a 101-foot tape measure just to be sure.

I suppose it’s pretty obvious where a polling place is, but there are ballot drop boxes all over Kingdom Come, so I guess you can’t do any electioneering in the parking lot at Nugget.