[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Governor Schwarzenegger says that he will back the state supreme court’s ruling that gay marriage is legal in California,reports the San Francisco Chronicle. However, he clings to his beliefthat “marriage is between a man and a woman.” But wait! He neverthelessvows that he’s also going to help fight the Republican initiative tooverturn the court ruling. The Governor contains multitudes…

Meanwhile, county clerks across the state are gearing up to issue thousands of licenses to new same sex couples,reports the LA Times. However, it could be even longer than 30 daysbefore couples are allowed to wed, depending on if opponents ask forthe case to be reheard (and regardless of whether the court accepts).

Regardless of what happens in November, however, same sex couples who wed now are unlikely to have their marriages invalidated by the ban,reports the San Diego Union-Tribune. Even an attorney for the banagreed…which means that he knows he’s a retrograde moron, right?

by Be_Devine [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

4-3 DECISION!!   THE GOOD GUYS AND GALS WON!!!!!

The decision can be read here.

The conclusion of the majority is:

in light of the conclusions we reach concerning the constitutional questions brought to us for resolution, we determine that the language of section 300 limiting the designation of marriage to a union “between a man and a woman” is unconstitutional and must be stricken from the statute, and that the remaining statutory language must be understood as making the designation of marriage available both to opposite-sex and same-sex couples.  In addition, because the limitation of marriage to opposite-sex couples imposed by section 308.5 can have no constitutionally permissible effect in light of the constitutional conclusions set forth in this opinion, that provision cannot stand.

The Court goes on to say: "

by Ilya Sheyman [courtesy of Blog for America]

Ten days ago, Debra Bowen took a major step forward in restoring election integrity by decertifying electronic voting machines with the “potential for serious security breaches”. Our DFA-List endorsed candidate followed through on her campaign promise to require a top-to-bottom review of election procedures and take action on the results.

On Friday, we shared some of the success stories California DFA Members had calling their county clerks in support of Secretary of State Debra Bowen. But the positive responses keep rolling in!

County Official:

"It is working. I work for the [] Registrar of Voters, and I receive the website mail, and very few calls, but others in the office have received quite a few, all seemed on message, polite, well-done. All week I have seen that many other counties Registrars' offices have been getting increasingly more.....

Thanks for your Great work"

DFA Member Norma in Oakland wrote a Letter to the Editor in the Contra Costa Times:

"Secretary of State Debra Bowen's decision to decertify some electronic voting machines was honorable, constitutional, democratic, correct, right and appropriate...

read more »

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Hannah Beth Jackson

When Debra Bowen ran for Secretary of State, she ran on a platform of restoring integrity and confidence in the voting process. Although this may sound like an easy task, supported by one and all, it has been anything but. The county clerks and registrars of voters in many of the state’s 58 counties don’t want her treading on their sacred ground.

Historically, the voting process has been under the singular domain of each county registrar. As an example of their commitment to maintaining their autonomy, they went after Kevin Shelley on 2005, after he made it clear he wanted to assure credibility and accuracy of these alleged (and now proven) unreliable vote counting machines. Of course, Shelley had other significant issues, but his insistence that the county folks play ball with him didn’t help him, either.