Posts Tagged: mail-in

News

CA120: The early vote and the roller coaster of Election Day

An image of California voting materials. (Photo: Jason Raff, via Shutterstock)

As has been reported in Capitol Weekly, the early vote has been dominated by Democratic voters. This is in direct contrast to every other election in California history in which Republicans have over-performed in the early returns, leaving Democrats to play catch-up in the late mail and Election Day vote.

News

An early-voting survey of the ballot propositions

A voter drops off his ballot. (Image: vepar5, via Shutterstock)

Capitol Weekly’s tracking poll of by-mail voters has been running since Oct. 13 and reflects the ballooning numbers of early returns. This electorate, as reported in a prior CA120 article, overwhelmingly leans Democratic, with a significant number of likely Republican voters still expected to turn out on Election Day. As a result, the findings on ballot measures explored in this initial report skew to the left.  For experienced poll watchers, this is the opposite of the early exit polling that often skews Republican.

News

Before Election Day, votes come in

Illustration of a California voter casting a ballot. (Photo: Vepar5, via Shutterstock)

Before Election Day, fewer than one in every five California voters have cast their ballots. About 11.8 primary election million ballots were mailed during the past month — 5.3 million to Democrats and about 3.1 million to Republicans, according to figures compiled by Political Data, a firm that markets campaign information.

News

For three counties, vote-by-mail is only option

Vintage Illustration of Mr. ZIP, modified by Tim Foster/Capitol Weekly

Increasingly, California voters use the mailbox, not the ballot box. But in three of California’s 58 counties — Plumas, Alpine and Sierra — there was no other choice but mail-in voting. And they like it that way.

Analysis

CA120: Hey, why avoid the ballot photo op?

Former California Gov. Ronald Reagan and wife Nancy voting in the 1980 presidential general election. (Photo: Associated Press)

There are few more iconic images in American politics than the candidate and spouse exiting the polling booth on Election Day. The sun is shining, the vibrant political family is in full bloom and democracy is in the air. But, in modern elections, this is changing

News

In California, Election Day really is Election Month

U.S. Senate election, 2012

In little more than a decade, mail-in or “absentee” voting for statewide elections quadrupled, from 4.4 percent in 1978 to 18.4 percent in 1990, reflecting in part legal changes making it easier to vote absentee. Since the 1990s, mail-in ballots have increased exponentially. In the 2008 primary, 58 percent of the voters cast mail-in ballots, the first time in a California statewide election that mail-in ballots represented more than half the vote. In primaries since then, mail-in voting has risen steadily to a remarkable 65 percent in 2012. In the November 2012 general election, mail-in ballots accounted for about 51 percent. (Above: 2012 U.S. Senate election map/Kurykh, Wikimedia))

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