CVF-News is a free, electronic newsletter featuring news and updates about the California Voter Foundation's projects and activities.
On February 27, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced his plan to decertify California's legacy voting systems to ensure counties use more secure equipment in time for the March 2020 California Presidential Primary.
His office issued a news release explaining why:
Hi Folks,
2018 was a busy year for the California Voter Foundation, filled with major achievements.
We need your help to continue our work improving the voting process to better serve voters. Please take a look at our 2018 accomplishments and consider making a year-end donation to CVF.
- Kim Alexander, President & Founder, and the California Voter Foundation Board of Directors:
Geoffrey Wandesforde-Smith, Joseph Loranzo Hall, Jack Lerner, Stephen Levine, David Jefferson,
Susan King Roth, Mindy Romero and Cathy Darling Allen
Hi Folks,
We know there are many worthwhile causes deserving of your support, and hope you will include the California Voter Foundation on your Giving Tuesday gift list. We operate on a small annual budget and every dollar helps us help the voters. I hope we can count on your much-needed support!
- Kim Alexander, President & Founder, California Voter Foundation
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Why should you support CVF?
We know voting is important, and as Californians with a tradition of direct democracy we have especially important choices to make when we vote.
CVF has fought to protect and improve the voting process, by:
Hi Folks,
While the election took place nine days ago, it is far from over. Millions of California ballots still remain to be counted. Voters and election officials alike are working to correct problems with vote-by-mail envelopes that are missing voters' signatures or the signatures are mismatched. Several California contests are still too close to call. Read below for more details on the status of the vote count and what Californians can and should be doing right now to ensure their vote-by-mail ballots get counted.
It's important to note that this work is going on at a time when firefighters are battling several major wildfires across the state that have upended many lives and created some of the worst air quality ever seen in the state.
Wishing health and safety for all,
- Kim Alexander, President & Founder, California Voter Foundation
Yesterday the California Voter Foundation debuted our new "Proposition Song" music video covering the 11 propositions on California's ballot.
On one of the propositions, Prop. 11, we had the "yes" and "no" vote meanings backwards - once this was brought to our attention we re-recorded the audio and corrected the text in the video and in the song lyrics to make sure our information is accurate.
Because it is not possible to edit a video once it is published on YouTube or Facebook, we had to take down the videos we posted yesterday and publish new ones at new urls. The links for the video on CVF's site have all been updated, but the prior links to the video shared on YouTube and Facebook no longer play the Proposition Song.
Today a new “Proposition Song” music video was released by the California Voter Foundation (CVF), designed to give voters an informative, impartial and entertaining overview of all 11 measures on California’s ballot in just five minutes.
The song and video can be accessed at www.calvoter.org or on YouTube at https://youtu.be/PuWd4FVuM5Q. It was recorded live on October 25 at Two Rivers Cider in Sacramento.
“Every election needs a song,” said Kim Alexander, CVF’s president and founder, who wrote, performed and produced the new Proposition Song, set to a traditional blues melody, with the help of numerous friends. This is the 7th Proposition Song produced by the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, which is dedicated to improving the voting process to better serve voters.
Hi Folks,
We are very pleased to debut our newly redesigned web site!
Please visit www.calvoter.org and have a look - we are excited to debut our new logo as part of the site redesign as well.
CVF has been serving voters online continuously at www.calvoter.org since 1996. As you might imagine, organizing 22 years' worth of content, projects, studies and newsletters took quite a bit of work. We managed to do this by creating new menus to navigate our content by topic and also by creating and linking to archived content in a new "CVF Archive" web site.
The new site also featured CVF's newly adopted Program Goals, focused on treating voters equally, promoting funding for elections and advancing voting security.
Do you or someone you know have what it takes to lead a county's election program? Sacramento County is seeking to hire a new Registrar of Voters. The county has been advertising this position for several months and produced a detailed promotional brochure to help potential candidates become familiar with the position, requirements, salary and benefits.
Visit http://www.personnel.saccounty.net/Documents/RegistrarOfVoters-RecruitmentBrochure.pdf for more details.
This is an exciting time for Sacramento County as it is one of five counties piloting the Voters Choice Act this election year, a new voting model for California. The county is accepting applications until August 31. 2018.
Voters need access to trustworthy information to make informed decisions. Luckily, California voters can turn to a wealth of voting information online. CVF's nonpartisan voter guide helps voters quickly locate the best resources for following the money and learning about the candidates and measures on the ballot.
Visit CVF's Online Voter Guide
Five California counties - Napa, Nevada, Madera, San Mateo and Sacramento - are experimenting this election with a new voting model.
The Voter's Choice Act is a new California election law that counties can implement if they choose to do so. Five counties - Madera, Napa, Nevada, Sacramento and San Mateo - are piloting this new approach to voting starting with the upcoming June 2018 statewide primary.
Participating counties will mail every registered voter a vote-by-mail ballot and provide secure ballot drop-off locations and vote centers where voters can return their ballots in person, or they can return voted ballots by mail.
All vote centers are available to all voters county-wide and will open for business ten days prior to Election Day. They replace traditional polling places and will offer additional services to voters such as the ability to register to vote, get a replacement ballot, receive language assistance or vote using an accessible device.
