WITH 19 BALLOT QUESTIONS, SF VOTERS GUIDE IS AN EPIC

SAN FRANCISCO - A lengthy homework assignment will soon land with a thud at
the door of each of the city's 440,000 registered voters: an explanatory
guide to November's ballot measures running more than 300 pages and costing
as much as $2.8 million.

Some of the 19 initiatives are so complex or sensitive that politicians
have ducked them for years.

Citizens and interest groups lined up outside the Elections Department on
Tuesday to meet a noon deadline, paying a $200 fee and $2 per word to have
their opinions included.

The resulting "pamphlet" will be too thick to fit in most mail slots.

"It's ridiculous," said Teresa Mathews, 39, a stay-at-home mom watching her
son in a playground last week.

"I wouldn't read it. It's going to end up in the garbage and on the
streets," she said. "I've got a toddler at home, so I wouldn't have time to
read it anyway, even if I were interested."

But Linda Johnson, who has missed just one election in 11 years, says the
guides are "an example of how robust the democratic process is in San
Francisco and how many people want to get their 2 cents in."

Oregon produced a similarly hefty guide last year as part of its vote-
by-mail system - at two volumes and more than 400 total pages, it cost $2
million to mail, partially offset by about $400,000 in fees.

San Franciscans also will get a 112-page California voter guide in the mail
with statements for and against eight other measures and candidates for
governor and other officers. About 40,000 voters also requested the city
guide in Chinese or Spanish.

"It's one of the few places they can go to get reliable information about
what both sides say about an issue," said David Binder, a pollster in San
Francisco for nearly 20 years. "If they took it away, there would be a
march on City Hall. It's one of the essential city services. It's up there
with water and street cleaning."

The League of Women Voters has never done a survey to determine the
effectiveness of its arguments, but voters do read them, if the complaints
the league gets from various candidates are any indication, said Sarah
Diefendorf, co-president of the city's chapter.

Mailing expenses alone could soar from about $600,000 to $1.9 million if
the guide weighs more than 20 ounces and needs to be mailed at the
$3.95-each catalog rate.

"It's such a hit on the budget. It's not just a matter of getting the
arguments published and mailing them, there's also a lot of staff time,"
acting Elections Director John Arntz said.

Still, the cost of the guide is "chicken feed" in a city where people have
such a passion for grass-roots politics, said Richard DeLeon, a political
science professor at San Francisco State University.

"San Francisco voters are quite sophisticated," he said. "They're very
demanding and politically smart and very actively engaged in the city's
political life."

San Franciscans also have a tradition of weighing in on broader issues -
such the idea of growing and distributing medical marijuana, which would
invite a direct confrontation between the city and federal authorities.

"It's the idea of local autonomy leading the way, and one way to do that is
to put a measure on the ballot that raises hackles and causes people to
roll their eyes and say, 'Only in San Francisco,' " DeLeon said.

"A lot of people have given up hope that their voice means a damn thing.
But here the sparks are flying and it's a little out of control and kind of
all over the place and it's messy. But there's something admirable and
inspirational about it."