SF Gate - Loss of funds for voter outreach hits local groups

Vanessa Hua, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, October 30, 2004

Bay Area community groups say they have been forced to scale back voter-outreach plans after federal funds they hoped to receive became entangled in the controversy surrounding Secretary of State Kevin Shelley.

In late August, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration froze $17.5 million in federal voter funds until an audit determines whether Shelley properly spent previously distributed money. Shelley, a Democrat from San Francisco, has come under fire after he hired political allies and Democratic Party activists with some of the money.

After the presidential election debacle in Florida in 2000, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act to help states upgrade voting machines and conduct nonpartisan voter education.

About $6 million of the money that went to California was designated for voter education programs through 2006 for communities with historically low voter participation. More than 300 groups statewide applied to the secretary of state for the grants of up to $50,000.

In September, the secretary of state made requests for the release of funds for the voter education grants and other programs in time for Tuesday's election. A legislative committee approved $15.2 million to train poll workers and fund other measures -- but blocked the release of further funds pending a comprehensive spending plan from the secretary of state.

Many community organizations that had applied for the grants said they had to reduce or scrap their voter outreach plans -- and lamented the missed opportunity to mobilize people during a presidential election year, which attracts more interest by potential voters.

ACORN, which organizes low- and moderate-income families, slashed the number of precincts it will target in Contra Costa County from 50 to about 25 or 30. In those precincts, the group makes at least two visits, door-to-door, to get out the vote.

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