Elections

As President Trump and his supporters moved to stop the counting of mail-in votes in key battleground states yesterday, local activist groups greenlighted rallies in several Bay Area cities. Their message was simple: count every vote. Anxious, scared, but cautiously optimistic, hundreds of protesters peacefully gathered in parks and plazas in the aftermath of an […]

Even if the Republican loses, Latino supporters highlight the need for Democrats in control in California to be inclusive of an important voting block with differing views on small businesses, health care and immigration.

California prepared for the worst but voters largely were masked and socially distanced, and unrest was limited to isolated protests.

The Golden State will gain a strong ally in the White House and new national influence with a Californian as Joe Biden’s second-in-command.

Over the last three decades, Californians have swung from “tough on crime” conservatism to a more lenient, less punitive approach to criminal justice. Based on the results of this year’s election, it doesn’t look like the pendulum is swinging back anytime soon. Already the state had gradually eased up on sentencing standards, made it easier […]

Election Day in Vallejo and Benicia offered a new feature: free bus service from the suburban residential areas into polling stations scattered across the two small cities in Solano County on the edge of the San Francisco Bay. From 6:30 a.m. until the polls closed last night at 8:00, the county bus service, SolTrans, provided […]

California’s app-based corporate luminaries such as Uber and Lyft just waged the most expensive state ballot measure campaign in U.S. history — and it paid off big time, allowing those companies to thwart the will of all three branches of California government.  By approving Proposition 22, voters allowed those companies to avoid a 2019 California labor […]

Just five days ahead of Election Day, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra issued a bulletin to law enforcement about state laws that prohibit voter interference and intimidation.  But how likely is it that voters will face threats, or even violence? And where?  California has been identified as one of the states with a “moderate” risk […]

Today’s the day, and CalMatters has a contingent of Votebeat reporters deployed around the state to bring you round-the-clock coverage of the 2020 Election. More than 11.2 million Californians voted early. Everyone else will cast their ballots in person today and we will be watching how that works, from the count, to any voting interference, […]

Buckle in for a long count, remember that margins and geography matter, look for these clues — and prepare to wait days on close races.