Election 2024

From CalMatters’ state Capitol reporter Sameea Kamal:  California has taken a number of steps over the past decade to make voting easier: Mailing ballots to all registered voters, plus allowing early voting and same-day registration.  Yet, the electorate hasn’t shifted to match the state’s growing diversity: Frequent voters are far from representative of the majority […]

From CalMatters data reporter Jeremia Kimelman: As California’s 2024 election gets more crowded by the day, some ballot measure campaigns are already building their war chests for the costly fight to come, raising more than $60 million since January. Last year, nearly $700 million was spent, mostly by companies, to sway voters on seven November […]

Three of the biggest housing bonds in state history are bound for the 2024 ballot. But with no shortage of crises facing the state, California can only borrow so much and voters may succumb to “bond fatigue.”

After California legalized medical marijuana in 1996 and then recreational cannabis two decades later, one might think that for many patients, the state would be a sanctuary for seeking treatment.  But as CalMatters’ state Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff explains, those who rely on cannabis to treat pain, seizures, glaucoma and other ailments say that despite […]

California voters will face a slew of ballot measures next year, all of which are essentially replays of old ideological clashes.

In a presidential year, California’s 2024 primary is in March instead of June, and the state is the biggest prize for the Republican nomination. Over the weekend, the state GOP changed the rules in a way that appears likely to boost former President Donald Trump and to make California the delegate “mother lode of the […]

As California's budget faces years of operating deficits, politicians may be tempted to borrow money to cover them, but that would be a misuse of the state's bonding authority.

At the state Capitol, legislators meet in specific groups on environmental issues, mental health and renters’ rights and also gather around their common identities. As my colleague Sameea Kamal reported recently, there are more than 20 caucuses at the Legislature. Add another one — the End Poverty caucus. As first reported by Politico, it is […]

The most sweeping bills to change California elections got shelved in the Legislature. Instead, lawmakers are focusing on ballot measure language, local redistricting, voting integrity and campaign finance tweaks before the 2024 election.