Voters and potential voters at a political rally. (Photo: Joseph Sohm, via Shutterstock)A hefty chunk of the new voter registrations for California’s June 7 presidential primary election occurred during a 48-hour period this week, stemming from a Facebook effort urging people to sign up, according to the state’s elections officer.
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
Image by Tim Foster, Capitol WeeklyANALYSIS: Nobody likes to feel like they are just a number. But to many modern campaigns, that’s exactly what we are. Whether we know it or not, the big campaigns for statewide ballot measures have assigned us a number. Ted Cruz has assigned us a number, and so have Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
The California coast along Redwood National Park, north Humboldt County, (Photo: Don Forthuber, redwoods.info)A move to oust the executive director of the California Coastal Commission is under way, an effort that marks the most significant attempt against the commission’s ranking administrator in two decades. Commission Chair Steve Kinsey wrote a letter to Executive Director Charles Lester, saying the 12-member panel “will consider whether to dismiss you” at the commission’s February meeting.
Voluminous data displayed on a computer monitor. (Photo: Dimitri Nikolaev)Data wizard Paul Mitchell and Capitol Weekly are joining forces to regularly explore contemporary issues of importance to our readers in a new column called “CA120.” Gun control, the environment, education, state budgeting and, of course, California elections. On occasion, we hope to offer profound insight. And at other times, we’ll use the data just to have fun.
Changing Proposition 13, the landmark, tax-cutting ballot initiative that California voters approved in 1978, is the goal of a constitutional amendment aimed at next year’s ballot. The plan by two Senate Democrats – Holly Mitchell of Los Angeles and Loni Hancock of Berkeley – would allow commercial and business properties to be regularly reassessed for tax purposes, with an exemption for properties worth less than $500,000. Under current law – Proposition 13 – those properties are only reassessed when there is a change in ownership.
ANALYSIS: The Supreme Court is set to announce a decision in an Arizona redistricting case that could upend the California Redistricting Commission’s congressional lines and return to the legislature the responsibility for conducting each decennial redraw. Some prominent leaders in redistricting reform are preparing for this eventuality and urging the Legislature to stand down, allowing the current lines to be carried forward until 2022 and giving reformers a chance to develop a new method for independent redistricting of Congressional lines that wouldn’t conflict with the court’s decision in this case. This, however, may not be possible or even necessary.
Elementary school students in a California classroom. ((Photo: Monkey Business Images)All kids deserve an equal chance to succeed. Unfortunately, many achieving African-American and Latino students in California schools are being unfairly denied advancement to the mathematics courses critical to their educational and career success. Despite earning the grades and assessment test scores that show promise of their ability to benefit from instruction in higher math, too many are not getting into the classes they need and can handle.
The state Capitol, Sacramento. (Photo: David Monniaux)Election 2014: Revised term limits and the top-two primary system — which pits candidates against each other regardless of party affiliation — appear to have lessened the likelihood of such contentious battles, according to one analysis. That’s because it all comes down to timing.
A view toward the Bay Bridge, via Chinatown. (Photo: Christian Mehlfuhrer)ANALYSIS: Los Angeles County is home to more than 26% of all Californians. But when it comes to running for statewide office, being from Los Angeles may be more of an obstacle than a political advantage. While the people may be in Los Angeles, the largest chunk of the state’s voters – those who actually cast ballots — come from the nine counties in the San Francisco Bay Area.