Hi Folks,
As we head into the holiday season, in this year-end CVF-News Roundup, I wanted to take a moment to share stories featuring CVF as well as an inspiring civil rights exhibit in Los Angeles, and to ask once more for you to support CVF's work as we head into 2024. A big thank you to everyone who has already donated.
Wishing you and yours a peaceful and restorative holiday season,
-- Kim Alexander, President & Founder, California Voter Foundation
CVF in The News
CVF in The News
Last month, election offices in California and several other states received threatening letters laced with fentanyl, renewing concerns about election staff safety. At CVF, we saw this crisis as an opportunity to highlight the support election workers received on Election Hero Day this year and the inspiring, successful pollworker recruitment work being undertaken by We the Veterans. Check out this interview with Sacramento Fox 40 News' Sonseeahray Tonsall to hear about efforts to support election workers.
This Fall, CVF worked with a coalition of nonprofit, nonpartisan voter advocacy groups to urge California Secretary of State Shirley Weber to support and monitor local elections last month in Shasta County. The Secretary of State sent a letter as well as several staff members to Shasta to observe the election and ensure the vote counting process was smooth, as reported in the Shasta Scout. While the Nov. 7 special election was relatively drama-free, the situation in Shasta continues to be tense with the board of supervisor's current chair appearing last month on OANN stating he will insist on hand counting ballots in March in defiance of a state law preventing counties with more the 1,000 voters from doing so.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles County, candidates for local office are benefiting from a law CVF helped enact in 2016 to allow counties to accept electronic candidate statements as an alternative to placing statements in the printed voter guide, which is prohibitively expensive in highly-populated counties, costing as much as $200,000. In 2022, the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters implemented an electronic candidate statement pilot program, which charges candidates about $280 to place a statement online, as reported by KPCC's LAist last month. L.A.'s Board of Supervisors recently adopted a motion to make the program permanent, giving local candidates a much more affordable way to reach voters.
Skirball display of historic civil rights photos through February
CVF is honored to be featured alongside other voting rights organizations in the Skirball Cultural Center's current exhibition, "This Light of Ours" showcasing extraordinary activists' photographs of the Civil Rights Movement. On view in Los Angeles through the end of February, the exhibition showcases more than 150 stunning photographs taken by Movement insiders who chronicled the fight for Civil Rights. The museum is offering free admission on January 15, 2024 in honor of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
Donate to CVF to help inform voters and protect elections
There is still time to make a year-end donation to the California Voter Foundation and support our work informing voters, protecting elections and securing the voting process.
Contributions can be made to CVF via credit or debit card using PayPal or by check to:
California Voter Foundation
P.O. Box 189277
Sacramento, CA 95818-9277
Your tax-deductible donation empowers CVF to continue our important work helping voters and protecting the voting process. Thank you for your support!
The California Voter Foundation is a non-partisan, non-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization, all contributions are tax-deductible, Tax ID #68-0190132.
About the California Voter Foundation
The California Voter Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working through research, oversight, outreach and demonstration projects to improve the election process so that it better serves the needs and interests of voters. CVF-News is a free, electronic newsletter featuring news and updates about the California Voter Foundation's projects and activities.
Support CVF's work with a tax-deductible contribution!