Smooth and simple or problematic? California, tell us your experience voting
CALmatters is a Sacramento-based nonpartisan, nonprofit journalism venture committed to explaining how California's state Capitol works and why it matters. It works with more than 130 media partners throughout the state that have long, deep relationships with their local audiences, including Embarcadero Media (publisher of the Palo Alto Weekly, Mountain View Voice, Pleasanton Weekly and The Almanac in Menlo Park and their websites.)
Here are the most recent stories reported by CALmatters' team of journalists:
Is it too late to mail in your ballot? Here’s why you don’t need to panic
A week before Election Day and anxiety over the postal service’s ability to ferry voters’ ballots to county election administrators on time has ratcheted up yet again. Here are the reasons the alarm bells are ringing anew: Back in May, the United States Postal Service’s top lawyer advised voters across the country to put their […]
Tue, Oct 27, 2020 4:41 pm
When power is transferred—literally—in an election
In a stark scene of what the electoral process in California can look like in 2020, masked voters last Monday cast early ballots in an El Dorado County elections office powered by a generator after dry winds and fear of wildfires triggered an electricity shutoff. This year, thanks to back-up generators and the promise of […]
Tue, Oct 27, 2020 1:57 pm
For some working Bay Area parents, only one solution to virtual school: drop their job
It’s a hot Monday afternoon and Alma Jimenez’s AC is running full speed in the room where her 7-year-old son, Abraham, “goes” to virtual school in their Concord apartment. Jimenez sets up the video call and sits a few feet away, ready to intervene if Abraham loses focus, as she knows he will. She will […]
Tue, Oct 27, 2020 1:06 pm
Amid pandemic, fighting San Francisco’s first-in-the-nation ‘overpaid CEO tax’ may be least of big business’s worries
“During a normal year, they would have fought it,” said San Francisco supervisor Matt Haney, who introduced the measure.
Tue, Oct 27, 2020 12:51 pm
Cash blitz: Who’s spending the most to influence your vote for California’s Legislature?
State law caps the amount donors can give to a legislator’s campaign — but these special interests can spend as much as they like mounting their own campaigns to praise or trash candidates. And the money interest groups are pouring into these “independent expenditure committees” has reached dizzying heights. So far more than $31 million of […]
Tue, Oct 27, 2020 12:33 pm
Podcast: Cutting through social media noise, and a record amount of cash for propositions
This week, Nicole and Elizabeth focus on false information on social media and the record amount of cash going into this year’s ballot measures.
Tue, Oct 27, 2020 9:23 am
Lawsuits and labor backlash: Prop. 22’s cutthroat final days
Gig companies embark on a last-minute spending blitz after a court rules that drivers should be paid as employees and labor groups question campaign tactics.
Tue, Oct 27, 2020 5:40 am
Five ballot propositions that would affect students
Hundreds of thousands of college and university students are among the Californians expected to cast votes between now and November 3. The number of 18- to 24-year-olds registered to vote in California has climbed by 24% since the last presidential election, and students are finding creative ways to inspire their peers to vote amid the […]
Tue, Oct 27, 2020 5:32 am
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■ Particulates matter: 10 questions for a Stanford researcher on the health hazards of wildfire smoke
