Election Guide to the California Primaries
Are you ready to vote? Here’s what you need to know beyond the ballot. When to Vote: Polling places are open Tuesday, June 5 from 7:00 A.M. – 8:00…
By Daniel Rothberg • • 1 min readAre you ready to vote? Here’s what you need to know beyond the ballot.
When to Vote:
Polling places are open Tuesday, June 5 from 7:00 A.M. – 8:00 P.M.
Where to Vote:
Find your polling place and a sample ballot here.
What are the main issues?
Proposition 28 (Limits on Legislators’ Terms in Office)
Proposition 29 (Imposes Additional Tax on Cigarettes for Cancer Research)
Measure H (L.A. County Hotel Occupancy Tax Continuation Measure)
Measure L (L.A. County Landfill Tax Continuation Measure)
Want more? Curious about the judges, Congress, Assembly and other ballot items? Smartvoter.org lists all the candidates. And did you know New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is spending $500,000 to raise a tax on tobacco products and that $46.8 million is being spent to defeat it? Follow the money in this year’s elections.
What about Berman vs. Sherman? Reps. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman, both Democrats, will face each other at the polls Tuesday in a highly contested race to represent the 30th Congressional District. Sherman is leading in the polls 31.7 percent to 24 percent, according to a USC Dornsife poll. Still, 23 percent of those surveyed have not decided who to vote for in a primary race that many expect will continue into the fall. More here.
Top-Two Primary: Under the new system, voters can select candidates of any party affiliation in the primary. So, if you’re registered as a Democrat, you can vote as a Republican and vice versa. KCET explains: “The top two candidates can even be from the same party, so it’s now possible to receive a general election ballot with a choice of two Democrats, for instance, and no one else.”
More to come as we look to November: Human Trafficking. The Death Penalty. Taxes. Those three issues may have little in common with each other. Each, however, is the subject of an initiative that has qualified for the California ballot in November. The Secretary of State’s website has the details about those and other statewide measures.
Still want more? You can find all of KCRW’s election coverage online here.