CALIFORNIA POLITICS

Blue Wave All the Way Down

Our regional tables and groups — in Orange County, San Diego, the Inland Empire, Central Valley and Contra Costa County — contributed to huge Democratic and progressive wins up-and-down the ballot this past election, including mayorships and city councils, where Republicans had managed to hold onto seats despite the growing Democratic advantage in voter registration.

 

2020 will be critical for making further gains and protecting recent wins. For example, per Scott Lay of The Nooner, The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors last week nominated ousted Assemblyman Dante Acosta (R) to be an appointed director of district 36 of the county water agency (Val Verde). Acosta will likely seek to reclaim the [AD38] Assembly seat [from CDT-endorsed Assemblymember-elect Christy Smith] in 2020 and with the appointment gains a strong ballot designation.”

 

California Voter Engagement Strategy

Though in-depth voter turnout analysis will not come out for a few months, many predict that this year’s high voter turnout — 65% of registered voters — will point partly to a surge in the youth vote, assisted by California’s motor voter program, which automatically registers and pre-registers eligible voters when they apply for a new driver’s license or state ID or renew or change their address on their existing license or ID. After a series of errors with the program, Republican State Senator Patricia Bates introduced a bill to stop the program and return back to voluntary “opt-in” voter registration at the DMV.

 

An increase in permanent vote-by-mail voters and a move by five counties to be “Voters Choice Act” counties (where all voters were mailed a ballot to return via mail or by drop-off at specified boxes) translated into 65% of all votes (over 12.7 million) being vote-by-mail this last election. Thus, as Scott Lay points out in The Nooner (and as voters in North Carolina District 9 know all too well), “Election Day is no longer about turning out polling place voters…. Equally important is ballot chasing/harvesting/whatever you want to call it. 36.9% of all votes cast were on mailed out vote-by-mail ballots received at the end of the voting period.”

 

In 2020, with our primary moved up to March 3, presidential candidates will likely focus on California voter engagement for the month of February to capture votes, making our state more powerful in influencing the primary results.

 

RESEARCH

The California Budget and Policy Center released a report on the racial wealth gap in California and key policy actions that would address the gap. They also released a helpful guide on how policy proposals move through the policy bill process and/or state budget process.

 

CDTF

 

SUBJECT: CA voter engagement strategy + CA racial wealth gap

 

CALIFORNIA POLITICS

California Voter Engagement Strategy

Though in-depth voter turnout analysis will not come out for a few months, many predict that this year’s high voter turnout — 65% of registered voters — will point partly to a surge in the youth vote, assisted by California’s motor voter program, which automatically registers and pre-registers eligible voters when they apply for a new driver’s license or state ID or renew or change their address on their existing license or ID. After a series of errors with the program, Republican State Senator Patricia Bates introduced a bill to stop the program and return back to voluntary “opt-in” voter registration at the DMV.

 

An increase in permanent vote-by-mail voters and a move by five counties to be “Voters Choice Act” counties (where all voters were mailed a ballot to return via mail or by drop-off at specified boxes) translated into 65% of all votes (over 12.7 million) being vote-by-mail this last election. Thus, as Scott Lay points out in The Nooner (and as voters in North Carolina District 9 know all too well), “Election Day is no longer about turning out polling place voters…. Equally important is ballot chasing/harvesting/whatever you want to call it. 36.9% of all votes cast were on mailed out vote-by-mail ballots received at the end of the voting period.”

 

In 2020, with our primary moved up to March 3, presidential candidates will likely focus on California voter engagement for the month of February to capture votes, making our state more powerful in influencing the primary results.

 

RESEARCH

The California Budget and Policy Center released a report on the racial wealth gap in California and key policy actions that would address the gap. They also released a helpful guide on how policy proposals move through the policy bill process and/or state budget process.