Posts Tagged: voters

News

Polling: Surprises lurk in those House seats

A view of the House of Representatives, with members and their visiting families. (Photo: Mark Reinstein)

A number of California’s Republican-held House seats face fierce challenges from Democrats, and the tally of votes in these tight races may not be completed for days, even weeks, following the election. That’s the message in Capitol Weekly’s survey of more than 20,000 mail-in voters across California who cast their ballots prior to election day.

News

Early balloting for state candidates, props

Voters at a political rally in Santa Monica during the 2016 election campaign. (Photo: Joseph Sohm)

A Capitol Weekly survey of California’s early vote-by-mail balloting shows Democrats Gavin Newsom and Dianne Feinstein ahead by double-digit margins in their races for governor and U.S. Senate, respectively. Regarding three of California’s most controversial ballot propositions, the most closely divided was Proposition 6, which would repeal the state’s newly imposed fuel tax: 42 percent opposed the repeal, 38 percent favored it.

News

DiFi, Newsom up; gas tax repeal, rent control down

The state Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: Adonis Villanueva, via Shutterstock)

PPIC Survey: In the closing weeks of the fall campaign, Gavin Newsom holds an 11-point lead among likely voters in the governor’s race and Dianne Feinstein is ahead by 16 points in the U.S. Senate election. Two closely watched ballot measures—one to repeal the recent gas tax increase and another to expand local authority to enact rent control—are trailing.

Recent News

CA120: Voter registration: The 2018 spike is not what it seems

Photo illustration of of highway alerting people tom coming elections. (Image: Jim Vallee, via Shutterstock)

Earlier this year, the state established a new system that could fundamentally change the relationship between Californians and their voter registration. In a series of changes—most notably the way that voter sign-ups are done at the Department of Motor Vehicles—California has entered an era of nearly automatic voter registration.

Opinion

CARB’s bait-and-switch on climate change

A natural gas power plant near Ventura. (Photo: Richard Fitzer, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: When California’s signature climate change program was nearing its expiration date, there was serious debate about whether to extend it. This program, called Cap-and-Trade, reduces carbon emissions but it also increases the costs of gas, electricity, and numerous other necessities. That’s a significant problem in a state known for high taxes, onerous regulations, and the worst small business climate in the country.

Big Daddy

Big Daddy: Season of the Witch

FEATURE: With Sacramento hunkered down for Jerry Brown’s final bill signing, the political mind drifts to Washington where it is always the Season of the Witch. The politics of the time casts its pall across all three branches, with partisan control over the levers of government hanging in the balance.

Opinion

Women’s role suffers in merging local treasurer, controller offices

The California state Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: Adonis Villanueva, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: The leadership of the California Association of County Treasurers and Tax Collectors (CACTTC) is comprised of five elected women and two men, thus reflecting the success of women in elected office. Representing the concerns of CACTTC, we find it ironic that at a time when gender balance in politics is front-and-center, the office to which historically more women than men are elected is being eroded through consolidation of treasurer-tax collector with auditor-controller without voter approval.

Opinion

Trump admin has declared war on the environment

The deeply forested landscape in Humboldt County, where environmental protection is a critical issue. (Photo: Ethan Daniels)

OPINION: The resignation of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt was met with a collective sigh of relief across the nation. Pruitt, one of President Donald Trump’s most loyal foot soldiers in the Trump Administration’s ongoing war on environmental quality, environmental justice, and environmental health, had overseen some of the most egregious rollbacks of environmental protections in history during his brief and troubled tenure in office.

News

Money crunch at stem cell agency

A liquid nitrogen bank containing a suspension of stem cells. (Photo: Elena Pavlovich, via Shutterstock)

California’s stem cell agency gave away $14 million this month, which could be described as less than a drop in its $3 billion bucket. But the talk at the agency’s awards meeting July 19 was not about largess. Instead it was about the lack of cash, lack of time and the need to split “babies” and “buckets.”

Opinion

Investment target: ‘Transformative Climate Communities’

A community with rooftop solar panels, a leading source of renewable energy. (Photo: Roschetzky Photography)

During the past June primary elections, the process of how the Legislature should allocate funds from California’s climate change program was front and center in Proposition 70. Voters were loud and clear in rejecting that ballot measure — which was born out of a nefarious deal with the oil industry. Now, the question of what those funds should be invested in still hangs in the balance, as the Legislature will soon decide on the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) budget for the coming year. 

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