Golden State's analyses and recommendations
By now you have received your ballot for the Nov. 3 election (if not, check with your county registrar ASAP). And your phone is blowing up with campaign text messages and political ads, while your email and snail mailboxes are filling up with slick appeals.
A bigger rainy-day fund? Supermajority votes? Billions in bonds? You might need help schlepping through the nine-page ballot, and Golden State has got you covered. We spent months working on deeply reported analyses of state and local ballot measures – all of which are absolutely free for anyone to read and share.
Golden State staff
In addition, we asked several contributors, all journalists or independent commentators, to share their ballot picks for all the statewide propositions and their explanation about why they are voting that way. See the quick guide below, and click here to see the individual guides.
Golden State staff
Newspaper endorsements
There are still a few good editorial boards working out there, but you’ll need a subscription to read their endorsements. Many have introductory offers for a month or so that are reasonable and certainly worth the cost of reading the endorsements alone.
San Francisco Chronicle: The editorial board for the Bay Area’s largest newspaper has endorsed in statewide, local and judicial races and still has a few contests left to weigh in on.
Support our election coverage. Golden State’s reporting and analysis on all 14 propositions on the Nov. 3 ballot is free to read, but not to produce. You can help us by making a tax-deductible gift. It’s the smartest donation you can make this election cycle.
Sacramento Bee: The nearly 170-year-old editorial board for the capital city’s newspaper of record lost its remaining members during last month’s layoffs – but not before the journalists on the board finished reporting and writing endorsements for the Nov. 3 election.
Bay Area News Group: The editorial board for several newspapers around the Bay Area including the San Jose Mercury News and East Bay Times endorsed in statewide and local races.
Southern California News Group: The editorial board for 11 newspapers across Southern California – including the Los Angeles Daily News, the Orange County Register and the Pasadena Star-News – endorsed in statewide, congressional and California legislative races, in addition to L.A. city and county contests and many other municipal races across Southern California.
What about those judges?
Voters in L.A. County will be asked if they want to retain two sitting justices on the California Supreme Court, Joshua Groban and Kellie M. Evans, and 18 justices of the 2nd District Court of Appeal. There are no challengers here, just an up-or-down vote for each one.
The Chronicle’s editorial board recommends keeping the two Supreme Court justices as well as the justices on Bay Area ballots for 1st District Court of Appeal since none has faced any disciplinary action. The Los Angeles County Bar Association recommends retaining the two state Supreme Court justices and those on the 2nd District Court of Appeal.
Voters will also be asked to select one of two candidates for each of the four L.A. County Superior Court judge seats on the ballot.
It was a sad day when editorial writer Robert Greene left the L.A. Times nearly two years ago. He led the editorial board’s coverage of judicial elections for years. It was the only place you could find such thorough and utterly reliable endorsements for these little-known races.
The L.A. Times was wise enough to enlist independent journalist Jon Regardie to put together detailed explanations (not endorsements, however) of the Los Angeles Superior Court races for the June primary.
Share your voting guide with Golden State
Do you put together a bespoke voting guide for friends and family? Do you swear by the recommendations from the guy at the hardware store? Share with us the guides that help you navigate elections in California and Los Angeles, and maybe we’ll pass them on to our readers. You can reach us by replying to this newsletter or emailing forum@golden-state.org.
