Elections

A week before Election Day and anxiety over the postal service’s ability to ferry voters’ ballots to county election administrators on time has ratcheted up yet again. Here are the reasons the alarm bells are ringing anew: Back in May, the United States Postal Service’s top lawyer advised voters across the country to put their […]

In a stark scene of what the electoral process in California can look like in 2020, masked voters last Monday cast early ballots in an El Dorado County elections office powered by a generator after dry winds and fear of wildfires triggered an electricity shutoff. This year, thanks to back-up generators and the promise of […]

State law caps the amount donors can give to a legislator’s campaign — but these special interests can spend as much as they like mounting their own campaigns to praise or trash candidates. And the money interest groups are pouring into these  “independent expenditure committees” has reached dizzying heights. So far more than $31 million of […]

Gig companies embark on a last-minute spending blitz after a court rules that drivers should be paid as employees and labor groups question campaign tactics.

It was a succinct appraisal of the state of mind of county election officials grappling with the new normal of voting in the year of a pandemic, disinformation and threats of voter intimidation. Across California, officials have been training workers at polling places and vote centers in new protocols, acquiring equipment to protect voters and […]

Some county registrars lock up equipment and threaten dismissal to protect California’s early votes from being tallied before election day.  The state legislature changed election law this year so election officials could scan ballots as they come in, to deal with an expected crush of ballots well before election day. Officials wanted to be sure […]

For California sports fans, walking through the doors of the Staples Center or Levi’s Stadium isn’t an option this year. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local health departments barred fans across the country from attending games. But this November, counties and teams across California are allowing access to stadiums again – this […]

With more than a quarter of the ballots processed, early returns show California Democrats are turning out in proportionately far higher numbers than Republicans and independents.  About 32 percent of registered Democrats — upwards of 3.2 million — have already voted in the November general election, according to Political Data’s ballot tracker. In comparison, 23 […]

Amid the torrent of campaign ads churning through the postal system this season, the slate mailer stands out as a perennial — and many say unseemly — California political tradition that dates back to at least the 1950s. Though new restrictions may be on the way. You’ve seen these before: A group, often with an […]

For the first time, Californians can track their mail-in ballots from the point they’re printed to the moment they’re accepted by their county elections office. Ballot tracking, now available in parts or all of a dozen states, has become a particularly useful option this year, when many voters are anxious about election security.  As of […]