News

Confusion over 'independent' voters in California prompts redesign of voter registration card

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The card millions of Californians use to register to vote is receiving its first makeover in more than a decade, inspired in part by confusion over how to become an "independent" unaffiliated voter — a problem highlighted by a Los Angeles Times investigation in 2016.

"It's an issue that's been lingering for years," said Secretary of State Alex Padilla. "But that was the first time it was really in the spotlight."

NorCal county registrars say hacking won't happen here

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Improving voter confidence in the elections process is part of Kim Alexander's mission at the nonprofit California Voter Foundation.

"When they say the Russians are going to come back, I don't think they're kidding about that," Alexander said.

Despite the threat of hacking in the 2018 election, Alexander said California is much better protected than other states because of paper ballots.

"The combination of a paper-based voting system and routine auditing of election results means that if something happened to our vote count and someone tried to intervene with the election, we would likely detect it," Alexander said. "And we would be able to recover from it."

Governor Jerry Brown proposes spending $134.3 million on new voting systems

In a major departure from his previous budgets, California Governor Jerry Brown's new state budget includes $134.3 million to fund new voting equipment. 

"This is a welcome development and will help build California voters' confidence in the integrity and security of our voting systems," said Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation, which has consistently supported increased state funding to help pay for California's election costs since 2013. 

Governor Jerry Brown proposes spending $134.3 million on new voting systems

Sacramento, CA -- In a major departure from his previous budgets, California Governor Jerry Brown's new state budget includes $134.3 million to fund new voting equipment. 

"This is a welcome development and will help build California voters' confidence in the integrity and security of our voting systems," said Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation, which has consistently supported increased state funding to help pay for California's election costs since 2013. 

Letter: Gov. Brown, don’t make it easier to meddle in our elections

Re: “Here’s how Jerry Brown can help protect vulnerable people, voting integrity and local control” (Editorials, Sept. 28) and “Brown should help ensure election integrity by signing this bill” (Another View, Sept. 30): With recent news of Russian scanning of state technology websites, this is not the time to reduce California’s manual 1 percent audit practice, which is designed to detect errors or manipulations in vote-counting software.

Assembly Bill 840 would invalidate a recent San Diego County court ruling (Lutz v. Vu) that all vote-by-mail ballots must be subject to inclusion in the 1 percent post-election manual tally, a ruling which confirms current practice of many California counties, including Inyo, Santa Clara and San Francisco. 

Sacramento Bee Editorial: Veto AB 840

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California elections officials are proud of the integrity of this state’s elections. Brown ought to help them keep their record of accurate vote counts by vetoing Assembly Bill 840 by Assemblyman Bill Quirk, an East Bay Democrat. The bill zipped through at the end of the legislative session without a no-vote. Legislators must not have been paying attention. 

Sacramento County is making plans to implement the Voters Choice Act

This past June, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors voted to implement the Voter's Choice Act, giving Sacramento County Registrar of Voters Jill LaVine and her staff the green light to move forward on a new plan for voting county-wide.

The Voters Choice Act, or VCA, was enacted in 2016 as Senate Bill 450. This new law allows counties to replace neighborhood polling places with a new voting process where every registered voter is sent a vote-by-mail ballot and provided with county-wide drop boxes and vote centers prior to and on Election Day. 

Political Road Map: Knowing who is (and isn't) legally registered to vote in California

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Perhaps the biggest takeaway from President Trump’s unproven allegations about the security of elections is that he’s managed to blur the difference between voting records and the act of voting.

Or put another way, it’s a distraction from resolving the challenges in keeping voter registration data accurate and up to date.

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