 | | The results from the state’s 12 ballot propositions offer one lesson: The California voter is complicated.Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images |
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Proposition 16, the high-profile measure that would have reversed a longstanding state ban on affirmative action failed, even in deep blue California in a year defined by demonstrations over racism at the heart of all kinds of systems and institutions. |
But Proposition 17, which will give people who are on parole for felony convictions the right to vote, passed, and Proposition 20, which would have increased penalties for some kinds of misdemeanors, failed — suggesting that there is support for racial equity measures if they hinge on criminal justice reforms. |
And although homelessness and housing instability were dominant issues facing the state even before the pandemic made them worse, voters soundly rejected Proposition 21, which would have expanded cities’ ability to implement rent control. |
Those are just a few examples, but you get the idea: The California voter is complicated. |
“The way I explain it,” said David McCuan, a political-science professor at Sonoma State University and an expert on the state’s ballot initiative system, “is the California voter is a paradox wrapped in a contradiction that presents a dilemma.” |
While some of the most important ballot propositions were still too close to call as of early Thursday morning, Mr. McCuan said that the way things were shaping up, the rate of passage — five or six out of a dozen propositions — was pretty typical for the state in recent history, since about 2012. |
Vote totals so far, he said, have showed that there wasn’t significant “roll-off,” meaning that voters didn’t simply skip propositions they didn’t know much about. |
Instead, he said, it suggests that voters were “selective” about the ballot measures they gave the green light. So issues and messages had to cut through a lot of noise to get serious consideration. |
But how do obscure residential property tax rule changes, as laid out in Proposition 19, gain more traction with voters than higher profile changes to commercial property tax rules aimed at better funding ailing schools and local governments, as laid out in Proposition 15? Both were supported by Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state’s Democratic Party. |
(Both are still too close to call, but Proposition 19 was ahead while Proposition 15 was trailing as of early Thursday.) |
Of course there isn’t one single explanation and no two voters are alike. |
But Mr. McCuan said that in the absence of clear partisan priorities, voters are left to gauge for themselves which initiatives reflect their values. |
And in the privacy of the (proverbial) voting booth, what he referred to as a kind of “Jekyll and Hyde” California voter often emerges. |
The California voter has “historically wanted good roads, good schools.” |
At the same time, Mr. McCuan said, “there’s this notion of, ‘Don’t tax me, tax the person behind the tree.’” |
In other words, California voters may, by and large, want well-funded schools and infrastructure and adequate housing for all. They simply aren’t willing to tax themselves to pay for those things. |
That may explain support for Proposition 19, which would give Californians who are 55 or older a property tax break when buying a new home, and opposition to Proposition 15, which would raise property taxes for some commercial property owners. |
Then in some cases there’s just a lot of money. |
Proposition 22, the measure that gig companies like Uber and Lyft spent more than $200 million to get passed, bombarding voters with push alerts, mailers and ads assuring voters that drivers preferred to remain independent contractors rather than employees, “set a new threshold,” Mr. McCuan said. |
“The money is important because it was so massive that it framed the debate,” he said. |
Nationally, Mr. McCuan said, Proposition 22 will serve as a lesson — a playbook for other big companies seeking to shape regulation, for labor groups fighting them and for lawmakers who will be buffeted by both sides. |
“I think it becomes a recipe, if you will,” he said. “And in that sense, it is very Californian.” |
Read more about election results |
 | | Drivers and other gig workers urging voters to reject California’s Proposition 22 outside Uber’s headquarters in San Francisco last month.Jim Wilson/The New York Times |
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- The passage of Proposition 22 caps a yearslong battle over the future of labor. More could be ahead. [The New York Times]
- Sara Jacobs, who beat out another Democrat, Georgette Gómez, for her San Diego seat, will be the youngest California representative in Congress at age 31. She’ll join a growing corps of millennials in Washington. [The San Diego Union-Tribune]
- Representative Devin Nunes won a 10th term in Congress by about seven percentage points. Before 2018, he won by 30 percentage points or more. A close ally of President Trump, Mr. Nunes raised more than $23 million for his campaign, sent voters a 90-page book he wrote accusing Democrats of being socialists and hasn’t held an open town-hall event in a decade. [The Fresno Bee]
- The House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, of Bakersfield, cruised easily to another victory, but the race between the Republican David Valadao and Representative T.J. Cox in a neighboring district is, as it was in 2018, much too close to call. [The Bakersfield Californian]
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Read more about the race between Mr. Valadao and Mr. Cox in the state’s 21st Congressional District. [The New York Times] |
- Sacramento voters rejected stronger rent control in the city and also defeated a measure that would have created a “strong mayor” system. Here are top takeaways from local races. [The Sacramento Bee]
- The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, seen as the most powerful local governmental body in the country, will be all women for the first time in history. [The Los Angeles Times]
- Irvine is poised for a major change in leadership after the election. The council, if the results hold as more votes are counted, would be relatively new, but would also include Larry Agran, a longtime Irvine politician who has been a champion for years of a plan to build a veterans cemetery in the city. [The Orange County Register]
- San Francisco often votes the opposite of much of the state. These charts show how that played out in this election. [The San Francisco Chronicle]
- Social media companies made it through Election Day. But more challenges with misinformation are looming. [The New York Times]
- Protests over ballot tallies swept through cities across the country, including Los Angeles. [The New York Times]
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Jill Cowan grew up in Orange County, went to school at U.C. Berkeley and has reported all over the state, including the Bay Area, Bakersfield and Los Angeles — but she always wants to see more. Follow along here or on Twitter, @jillcowan. |
California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley. |
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