Assemblymember Lowenthal Proposes a New “California Social Media Users Bill of Rights”
Groundbreaking Resolution Developed in Partnership with California Initiative for Technology and Democracy (CITED) Urges Protections for Children and Voters
Millions of Californians returned ballots early, but some polls still saw long lines
Jonathan Mehta Stein of Common Cause California described Riverside County as “a mess,” early in the evening, saying voters were waiting 45 minutes to two hours at about 10 locations. Voters in Riverside were still in line after 8 p.m.
A few glitches, but election day has generally gone smoothly in California
Even those who were registered found themselves delayed by other problems, including an “antiquated” check-in process to ensure they hadn’t voted twice — something every county must do this year, but that only Riverside did by hand, said Jonathan Mehta Stein of California Common Cause.
Here’s what we’ll know — and what we won’t — on election night in California
In California, mail ballots can arrive up to 17 days after the election (though they still have to be postmarked by Nov. 3).
So how to approach the evening? “Patience, patience, patience,” said Jonathan Mehta Stein, executive director of Common Cause California, a nonprofit focused on election transparency and democracy. “We’re trying to tell everybody that a long vote count means we’re doing everything we can to count every eligible vote,” he said. “It’s a feature, not a bug, of our democracy.”
SCCOE Trustee Joe DiSalvo Used Public Resources to Solicit Campaign Contributions
Sean McMorris, a consultant with good government agency California Common Cause, says the state law “is clear that public resources cannot be used ‘for campaign activity, or personal or other purposes.’ While using a government email account for re-election fundraising might fall within the minimal use exception in the law, depending on the circumstances, it likely violates the letter and certainly the spirit of the law,” he said. “That said, many would agree that an elected official using their government email to fundraise for...
"In California, a ballot can get to an elections office up to 17 days after Election Day and still be counted," Stein explained. "So just because you're close to Election Day, doesn't mean you have to abandon USPS as an option. You just have to make sure that your ballot is postmarked by Election Day."
$220 million! On one California proposition fight? Here’s who’s spending big on the 2020 Election
Uber, Lyft and other tech companies have raised roughly $200 million on Proposition 22.
All the spending — especially after 2010’s Citizens United ruling gave big corporations and unions the right to spend huge sums — rubs some people the wrong way.
“So now you have a situation where, if money is speech, speech isn’t free,” said Sean McMorris of California Common Cause, an organization that has called for more transparency in elections. “You have more money, more speech.”
$220 million! On one California proposition fight? Here’s who’s spending big on the 2020 Election
All the spending — especially after 2010’s Citizens United ruling gave big corporations and unions the right to spend huge sums — rubs some people the wrong way. “So now you have a situation where, if money is speech, speech isn’t free,” said Sean McMorris of California Common Cause, an organization that has called for more transparency in elections. “You have more money, more speech.”
The US Eliminated Nearly 21,000 Election Day Polling Locations for 2020
Common Cause California Executive Director Jonathan Mehta Stein, who helped negotiate the plan, told VICE News that he hoped the combination of expanded voting options would help tamp down voting lines on Election Day and before, “But we can’t be certain of that” until the election happens. “We’re concerned about voters who are displaced by the COVID pandemic and voters who are displaced because of the wildfires. There are a lots of people who’ve been pushed out of their homes in 2020,” said Stein.
How California Officials Are Prepping for Potential Election Unrest
“We need people to understand that if it takes days or weeks to count ballots, that is a sign that we are doing everything we can to count every eligible vote," Jonathan Mehta Stein, executive director of California Common Cause said. "It is not a sign of fraud or manipulation. It is democracy working. It is not a sign that democracy is broken.”
