Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's veto of six bills related to voting drew a disappointed response this week from California Secretary of State Debra Bowen.

In his vetoes, Schwarzenegger said that the record-setting budget delay forced him to sign only bills that were of the highest priority for California. Schwarzenegger has until today to act on bills approved by the state legislature, or they become law.

The laws Schwarzenegger vetoed include one that would've required polling place workers to inform decline-to-state voters in writing which primaries they could vote in, and a separate one that would tell permanent vote-by-mail residents whether their voters were counted and if not, why they weren't.

"I'm dismayed the Governor doesn't believe it is a high priority to let voters know about their polling-place rights or if their votes were counted," said Bowen, who is the state's primary election officer, in a press release.  "I understand the governor is not fond of the Legislature these days, but it's California voters who are being punished."

Other bills vetoed would've made it easier for voters to remove their names from ballot measure initiatives, recalls or referendums; clarified the law on how long voters can stay in the voting booth; and given vote-by-mail voters more information on when they would have to send in their ballots.

All but one of the bills were authored by Democrats, like Bowen. Schwarzenegger is a Republican.