CVF in the News

California has a new law to protect election workers' privacy

By Daniela Pardo and Jackson Ellison, Spectrum News 1, October 4, 2022

Excerpts:

Election workers experienced a rise in threats and harassment in the fallout from the false claims about the 2020 Presidential Election being stolen from former President Donald Trump.

Two years later, election workers across the country have dealt with all forms of intimidation tactics that make them feel unsafe and unable to do their jobs.

A new California law, Senate Bill 1131, authored by state Senator Josh Newman, D-Fullerton, allows election workers and other government employees to enroll in programs to keep their addresses and other personal information confidential.

Election officials can now enroll in the Safe at Home program that’s currently used by domestic violence survivors and people who work at abortion clinics.

Fewer polling places hurt Black and Latino turnout in 2020. Should California have more in-person voting?

By Ari Plachta, Sacramento Bee, October 3, 2022

Excerpts:

In 2018, community organizer Chris Lodgson helped promote the voting changes coming to Sacramento’s historically Black Oak Park neighborhood.

Polling places at churches and schools were on the way out. But the new options were going to be good: automatically mailed ballots, more days to vote, drop boxes. Ahead of this year’s midterms, 28 California counties have made the same changes.

Shasta County reports possible voter intimidation; California governor signs voting protection laws

By Orko Manna, KCRA, September 27, 2022

Excerpts:

While California voters are about six weeks away from the Midterm Elections, voter and poll worker protections are top of mind in Shasta County as officials warn residents about possible voter intimidation.

Shasta County Clerk and Registrar of Voters Cathy Darling Allen sent a notice out Monday to inform the public about potential voter intimidation occurring in the county.

“Reports have been received by the department that there are people contacting voters at their homes and questioning their voter registration status,” the news release stated.

The note also explained that this activity violates California law and that local law enforcement has been notified.

What is the future of California elections?

By Sonseeahray Tonsall, KTXL, July 27, 2022

California primary’s lesson for pundits: Don’t speak too soon in the age of mail-in voting

By Jasper Goodman, Los Angeles Times, June 22, 2022

Excerpts:

In the hours after polls closed in the closely watched California primary on June 7, reviews from pundits were quick to come in.

Turnout: abysmal. Progressive reforms: rejected. Ex-RepublicanRick Caruso: the surprise star of the night in liberal Los Angeles.

But with the proliferation of mail-in voting, messages from California voters now arrive with a lag — one that hasn’t proven friendly to the quick takes of social media and cable news.

“We used to have a single election day, and often have decisive results for most contests on election night,” said Kim Alexander, president of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation. “Now, we have election month, and a month of vote counting.”

Election 2022: With turnout so low, why does LA County even have a primary election?

By Ryan Carter, Los Angeles Daily News, June 13, 2022

Excepts:

The June 7 primary in Los Angeles County cost $82.2 million, requiring 12,000 election workers to administer an election in which 597 total candidates were seeking 155 offices with voting taking place by mail at more than 600 vote centers. All this in a county of 5.6 million registered voters.

But there was one missing ingredient — or at least not enough of it, based on the early numbers — in this simmering recipe of democracy: Voters.

Just more than 1 in 5 voters cast ballots in L.A. County, according to Tuesday stats rom the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. And the turnout statewide, was at 26%.

Time to throw in the towel on the open primary?

No, says the system’s chief co-designer Steve Peace, the former San Diego-County assemblyman who designed California’s top-two primary, governing state and congressional elections.

News Analysis: Ten years later, California’s ‘top two’ primary isn’t always what it seems

By John Myers, Los Angeles Times, June 9, 2022

Excerpts:

California’s primary election won’t be remembered for what happened in a sprawling state Senate district that stretches from Lake Tahoe to Death Valley. But maybe it should.

After all, the one sure thing in the election that ended Tuesday was supposed to be that Republicans win elections in California’s 4th Senate District. The region backed former President Trump twice along with an array of Republicans in national and statewide races stretching back to at least 2010.

But early election results have produced a surprise. Two Democrats appear poised to advance to the Nov. 8 ballot, the result of a six-person field of GOP candidates thinly spreading out the votes and California’s top-two primary system that made its debut in 2012.

Election Day | Last Minute Voting FAQs | How the Unhoused Community Votes | Sacramento Pride Festival and March

By Vicki Gonzalez, Capital Public Radio, June 7, 2022

Midterm Primary election coverage. California Voter Foundation provides last-minute tips. Outreach for the unhoused community to vote. Sacramento Pride Festival and March this weekend.

Today's Guests

CapRadio Reporter Sarah Mizes-Tan joins us live from a polling place on Election Day.

CapRadio Reporter Chris Nichols shares his reporting on the outreach to ensure Sacramento’s unhoused community understands and has access to voting for the Primary.

Kim Alexander with the California Voter Foundation provides last-minute tips for mail-in, registration and in-person voting.

Sacramento Pride Team Collin Lourenco, Camille Adams, Jason Alviar preview the Sacramento Pride Festival and March this weekend, June 11-12. (Full Audio)

Voting Help and Info at California Voter Foundation Website

By Kitty O'Neal, KFBK, June 7, 2022

On this election day, The California Voter Foundation has a helpful website for people still needing voting assistance. Kim Alexander is president of the California Voter Foundation a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with a website calvoter.org that helps educate voters about the candidates.

Why California Voter Turnout Is Expected to Be So Low

By Soumya Karlamangla and Shawn Hubler, The New York Times, June 7, 2022

Excerpts:

In the past couple of years, California has done just about everything humanly possible to encourage voting: Mail-in ballots. Same-day registration. Drop boxes. Extended voting. As a result, California has 22 million voters in its electorate.

That’s the good news. The bad news? So far, they seem to be bored stiff with this election.

Political researchers who track the state’s voting patterns, like Paul Mitchell of Political Data Inc., project that only about six million Californians will have cast a ballot by the time polls close Tuesday.

“The election just isn’t that interesting right now to Californians,” Mitchell said on Monday, when he reported that only about 3.1 million ballots had been cast at last count.

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