FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 30, 1994
Contact: Rob Lapsley
(916) 449-2949

Jones Warns: Don't Be Fooled by Miller
Dostortion on Motor Voter

Tony Miller's campaign is using distortions and misinformation about
Bill Jones' position on the National Voting Rights Act (Motor Voter) to
undermine support for Jones among voters, and to curry favor with
campaign contributors and the press (see attached letter).

Jones acknowledges he differs on some important issues relating to the
Motor Voter law.

"I believe that as we undertake the largest voter registration drive
in the history of this country, we should be prepared. I support Motor
Voter, and its outreach to new potential voters. With the historic low
voter turnouts that have occurred under Miller, we need it. I will
implement it to the full extent of the law. But, as Secretary of State,
I'm also going to do everything I can to protect the integrity of the
voting rolls, and keep us from wasting taxpayer dollars.

"I have been unequivocal in my support of Motor Voter," Jones said.
"I've stated that publicly with Tony Miller sitting next to me. And he
knows I authored AB 167X this year, which implemented Motor Voter in
California--it was a bill he said he supported."

One difference between their positions, Jones said, is that Miller
seems to have no interest in getting reimbursed by the federal government
to implement Motor Voter. Official State estimates put the cost at $36
million a year.

"The federal government has an obligation to reimburse the states for
that cost," Jones said. "While we implement Motor Voter, I will be
aggressively working with the Congress and the State Legislature to try
to see that California is fully reimbursed."

The other major difference between the candidates is that Jones
supports a positive purge of the voter rolls before and after Motor Voter
is implemented, and additional safeguards in the election system to
protect against abuses.

"Miller says he supports a positive purge, but where was he when I
introduced AB 167X. That's exactly what that bill would have done. He
did tell Dan Walters he was there in spirit to support my bill. But we
need more leadership than that. We have millions of names on the voter
rolls--people who have died, moved away, and even some that are
fraudulently registered. Not only does it call into question the
integrity of the rolls, it costs us millions upon millions every year to
send election materials to nonexistent voters. That's a waste of
taxpayer dollars."

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