California voter guide: June 2018

California’s 2018 primary election is on Tuesday, June 5.

Despite 60% of Californians registering as Democrats (of registered voters with a party preference), there are serious divides on fundamental issues such as housing. As I’ve become more involved in the housing debate---including two recent trips to Sacramento and multiple San Francisco Planning Commission meetings---I’ve seen how this affects all levels of government: state and local, and legislative, executive, and judicial. As housing ties to many other issues such as poverty and children, many of these decisions hinged on my view on this issue.

Housing was not the only controversial issue at stake in this election: transportation, energy, teacher reforms, pensions, healthcare, and the environment all have Democrats coming down with different perspectives. On many of these issues I tend to favor reform, not because I believe there’s inherently anything wrong about the status quo, but because on these particular issues the weight of evidence bears against it.

My default vote for ballot measures is “no.” I spent several hours researching these, and only feel comfortable making my choices after that investment. Whenever possible, I believe in giving legislators---who have significant investigatory resources---the power to make the best legislation and funding decisions, and similarly giving agencies the power to enact those laws.