CALPIRG’s Steve Blackledge talked with California’s Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, who was recently appointed by Gov. Schwarzenegger and unanimously confirmed by the California Assembly and Senate. Secretary McPherson, California’s 30th secretary of state, heads an agency that oversees elections and political reform in California.

What do you see as your most pressing tasks as secretary of state?

My first commitment is to restore the public’s trust and confidence in this office. Two critically important issues are, first, securing funds and implementing the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and second, ensuring that we have certified voting systems for use next year that comply with both state and federal laws, which means having an accessible, voter verifiable paper audit trail for electronic voting machines and having accessible voting systems to allow voters with special needs to vote independently and privately.

Some of the biggest challenges facing California and almost every state in the nation are certifying compliant voting systems and building the statewide voter registration database that is required for each state by January 1, 2006.

What should be done to improve California’s voting systems? Will you keep paper audit trails for touch-screen systems?

I co-sponsored the law that now requires an accessible, voter-verifiable paper audit trail for touchscreen voting systems. We now must certify systems to meet this requirement in addition to compliance with HAVA’s rules that each polling place have an accessible voting system by the June 2006 elections. My Voting Systems and Procedures Panel is working to ensure these systems are available for counties to purchase. Two new systemswill be considered soon and following a public hearing and input from county elections officials, I hope to add these systems to the one system that is already certified.

Given the issues surrounding Kevin Shelley’s resignation and the behavior of the secretaries of state in Florida and Ohio recently, should the secretary of state be a nonpartisan office?

I authored a bill in 2000 to make the secretary of state’s office in California nonpartisan. It would be appropriate to elect the secretary of state without a party label, listing all candidates on the same ballot in the primary; if one candidate gets 50 percent plus one of the votes, he or she is the winner. If no one is elected in the primary, the two top vote getters face off in the general election.

I also endorse a proposal to prohibit secretary of state candidates from accepting campaign contributions from voting system vendors. Likewise, I think the officeholder should be restricted from endorsing candidates. However, I believe it is necessary that the secretary of state be able to take advisory positions on state ballot measures that affect the duties of the office.

What do you think needs to be done to improve California’s campaign finance situation?

I have sponsored legislation to limit campaign spending, and I endorsed Prop 34 in 2000. I believe more frequent online disclosure of campaign contributions would also be useful. We have an excellent Web site that provides timely campaign and lobbying financial disclosure information. Ironically, I co-authored the bill that created the Cal-Access program, and now I oversee it. I also co-authored Prop 59 on last year’s ballot to provide much greater public access to government records.

How might 21st century technology changes help democracy?

We should expand and improve on the election information available to increase voter education and access via the Internet. Technology enables voters to have direct communication with candidates. We are building a statewide voter registration database with links to all 58 counties to expand the network we already have.

Aside from voting, what role should citizens be playing in California elections?

President Abraham Lincoln best described our form of government: “a government of the people, by the people and for the people.” That requires our citizens to voluntarily participate in our election process. We always need poll workers and polling places. We need informed voters who are willing to participate in public forums. We need to encourage the media to cover government and elections in a fair and unbiased process. And, most importantly, elected officials must be accountable to the people.