By  Geoff Vanden Heuvel
Director of Regulatory and Economic Affairs
[email protected] 
 
There was some news this week on the upcoming referendum on the Quota Sunset Proposal. The United Dairy Families of California (UDFC) group, which petitioned for the referendum, sent some specific questions to the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) regarding the logistics of the referendum process. The group received responses to its question this week. You may read the entire newsletter HERE.
 
Question
Will the ballots be mailed out on March 4th, or will they arrive in producers’ mailboxes by March 4th?
 
Response
The ballots will be mailed via USPS on March 4th. As such, we cannot guarantee when they will arrive in the producer’s mailbox.
 
Question
Does CDFA have any particular protocols for enabling industry communication with producers during the referendum? For example, we understand Section 62716 gives the Secretary the discretion to reveal the names of producers who have voted during the referendum. In addition, we understand CDFA’s Marketing Order Policies (M205) set forth a process for communication with producers via the Department during a referendum. Please advise.
 
Response
The CDFA will not be releasing the names of those producers that have submitted ballots. However, if a producer were to contact our unit to verify we received their ballot, we will let that producer know. In the event of a lost/missing ballot, a duplicate ballot may be sent out upon request. The ballot will state “DUPLICATE” and will include the ballot number and producer number. If we receive both the original and duplicate ballots, we will only count the duplicate.

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