This speech was given by Senator McClintock on the floor of the State Senate opposing AB 2386 - Nunez. The measure passed with no Republican support.

The simple question I would pose to the supporters of this measure is, “What is it about the right to a secret ballot that bothers you?”

That’s exactly what this issue comes down to: the right of every worker to hear both sides of a question and then – in the privacy of a voting booth free from coercion, intimidation or recrimination – the worker is free to cast his or her ballot according to his or her own conscience and best judgment.

This right assures that whatever the pressure – whether from the employer, the union, from the supervisor, the shop steward, even from the spouse – that worker, in the private sanctity of the voting booth, can cast his or her own free decision – without worrying how it will  affect employment, or friendships, or working relationships.

This is the absolute, fundamental pre-condition for ANY democracy – NOBODY can look over your shoulder while you cast your vote.  NOBODY.

This measure utterly guts this fundamental principle upon which all free societies are based.  It provides that one side can cajole, pressure, threaten, plead, demand that a worker cast his or her vote while surrounded by other like-minded individuals.

This measure rips down the secret ballot as a bulwark of freedom … for farmworkers today – for others, no doubt just down the road.

An election in which somebody is looking over your shoulder as you cast your vote is no election at all.  It is a sham.

So I leave off as I began, with this simple question: “What is it about the right to a secret ballot that bothers you?”