Ventura County voters go to the polls in a California general election. (Photo: Spirit of America) We’re never actually out of election season. Not even in off-election years like this one. Gov. Jerry Brown has set the dates for special elections in three Senate districts to fill vacancies left by officeholders who won congressional seats in 2014.
OPINION: The latest Medi-Cal renewal process jeopardizes health coverage for tens of thousands of California’s most vulnerable families. The renewal forms are long, confusing and complex. Some forms were mailed out in English, regardless if the Medi-Cal enrollee indicated that English was not their primary language.
A plan crafted by Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper to carve California into six states would do a lot more than change the lines on a map. It would have a profound effect on California’s health care system, which is now in a dramatic transition because of the Affordable Care Act.
Ventura County voters go to the polls in a California general election. (Photo: Spirit of America) OPINION: I now believe the turnout this November will be closer to 45% than 50%. In the previous 8 governor primaries (1982-2010) the average turnout was 39.2% and in those eight General Elections the average turnout was 59.0%, thus, on average an increase of 19.8% from the Primary to the General.
Opinion: One day soon, the voters will vote to return to the system that worked fine for decades, where each party’s nominee goes onto the November ballot. In fact, Prop 60 (guaranteeing that) passed with 68% of the vote (Nov 2004) while on the same ballot was Top Two (Prop 62) which the voters rejected with a 53.9% No vote.
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.
The state Capitol, Sacramento. (Photo: Wikimedia)Election 2014 An early tally shows that fewer than one in five of California’s registered voters cast ballots in this week’s primary, continuing a downward trend that has bedeviled the state’s elections. A county-by-county report from the secretary of state’s office noted that 3.24 million people voted out of the 17.72 million registered, or about 18.3 percent. When compared with the total number of eligible voters in California, those who actually cast ballots dwindled to 13.34 percent.
A California voter casts a ballot. (Photo: Vepar5)Election 2014: As California voters head to the polls, state elections officials report a continued surge in the percentage of registered voters with no party preference and further erosion in the percentages of voters registered with the Republican and Democratic parties.
Headquarters of the state controller, Sacramento. (Photo: Coolcaesar)ELECTION 2014: California’s “top two“ primary system is creating an odd dynamic – a Democratic party primary within an open primary. In the race for state controller, the top three candidates are Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin, a Republican, and Democrats Betty Yee and John Pérez. Yee is a member of the Board of Equalization and Pérez served as Assembly speaker.
Tracks in the Napa wine country at St. Helena. Photo: Hank Shiffman.Thanks to newly redrawn district boundaries, Napa County has a chance to put its first lawmaker in the state capitol in more than a generation. The race to replace termed-out 4th District Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada, D-Davis, promises to be hotly contested, featuring family connections, Democrats going head-to-head and a scramble for campaign funds.