Secretary of State

Congratulations! The fact that you are reading your California Ballot Pamphlet demonstrates you are one of the millions of Californians who are likely to vote in our March 26, 1996 Primary Election. Your commitment to civic responsibility is commendable.

As Californians, we must work together to convince more people to join us in c asting ballots on March 26. We are working to attain 100 percent participation a mong all citizens eligible to vote with absolutely zero tolerance for elections fraud of any kind.

Your help is needed. We hope that all voters who read this letter will show up at the polls on March 26. But, each of you needs to remind your friends, relatives, neighbors, and co-workers to go to the polls as well. We need your involvem ent to achieve our goal of 100 percent participation.

If you find that the people you contact are not yet registered to vote, please have them call the Secretary of State's 24-hour Voter Registration and Election Fraud Hot-Line at 1-800-345-VOTE and a registration card will be promptly maile d to them.

The 1-800-345-VOTE hot-line can also be used to report any incidents of electi on fraud, tampering or other election-oriented irregularities that need to be ad dressed. The complete elimination of fraud and the potential for it has been one of our top priorities. We have not only added to our fraud investigation unit, but fought for, and gained passage of, new legislation to help curb this problem . Regardless, we still need the help of all Californians in reporting instances of election-oriented misconduct.

A recent voter fraud case in Fresno County resulted in a three year sentence f or an individual who cast an absentee ballot for a deceased relative. Although we are extremely interested in increasing voter participation, we will not tolera te any action that would jeopardize the integrity of the ballot box in California.

Please go to the polls on March 26 and encourage your family, friends and rela tives to participate and vote.

Please note that Proposition 192 is the first proposition for this election. To avoid confusion with past measures, the Legislature passed a law which requires propositions to be numbered consecutively starting with the next number after those used in the November 1982 General Election. This numbering scheme runs in twenty-year cycles.