Home Writing Projects Setup CV
Voter Guide

California voter guide: November 2016

My recommendations for the November 2016 California election.

My recommendations

Races

US Senate Kamala Harris

Propositions

Prop 51 NO Prop 52 NO Prop 53 NO Prop 54 YES Prop 55 YES Prop 56 YES Prop 57 YES Prop 58 YES Prop 59 YES Prop 60 NO Prop 61 YES Prop 62 YES Prop 63 YES Prop 64 YES Prop 65 YES Prop 66 NO Prop 67 NO

Like most of the country, I’ve spent way too much time thinking about Presidential politics over the past seeming eternity of an election cycle. In the last week, I decided to change that and focus on California’s ballot propositions. For many of the propositions, I went straight to the voter guide. The background and analysis provides interesting information on how the state government works in general (the arguments for and against were less helpful). This includes funding sources and polls, which I combined with Dem/GOP endorsements and my own position in this spreadsheet. Props also to the nonpartisan ballot.fyi, which summarizes them in a much more digestible and research-linking way; if you consult only one resource, this is the one I’d recommend.

With 17 measures on the state ballot, plus 25 in my city of San Francisco, I admit this process has made me a bit cynical of direct democracy. It’s been a serious time investment, for which I imagine relatively few have the appetite. As a result, I’m generally sympathetic to the position that propositions should be a last resort after exhausting normal legislative processes, and therefore a default vote should be no. I still voted for over half the propositions this year, though that’s less than the polls suggest and less than the Democratic Party (my affiliation) endorsed.

I spent more research on the propositions which were closest in the polls: 62 (-13%), 67 (+15%), and 51 (+18%); and least on those with the largest poll spread: 54 (+57%), 61 (+51%), and 53 (+48%).

Reviewing my responses, I found that:

  • I voted for 65% of the propositions (11 of 17)
  • I agreed with 73% of the CA Democratic Party’s recommendations (11 of 15; they had no stance on 61 and 65)
  • I agreed with 24% of the CA Republican Party’s recommendations (4 of 17)
  • I agreed with polls’ majority position for 53% of propositions (8 of 15; 55 and 65 lack polls)

While some of the matters would be better ignored (59) or decided by the Legislature (51), I’m generally excited for the opportunity to vote on these issues this year, and I look forward to hearing the results. If the polls are indicative, progressives will have some reason to celebrate.