5 ms·

My California ballot, 2020 (by Scott Alexander)

26 points by savanaly 6y ago

savanaly 6y ago
I don't even live in California, but I enjoyed reading this anyways, especially the National Races and State and Local Races sections as the candidates are described so colorfully.
rllearneratwork 6y ago
I happily voted NO on Prop 16. Please go and read the proposition text - this is some crazy stuff. I literally could not believe that this is actually is on the ballot. Currently the government and public institutions cannot discriminate against or grant preferential treatment to persons on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in public employment, public education, and public contracting. A vote Yes would remove this ban.
hnburnsy 6y ago
Does CA typically have this many statewide ballot measures? The state voter guide must be huge and cost millions to mail out.
- matmann2001 6y ago
  It's been fairly typical the past few elections at least. Not sure how much we're paying for the voter guides, but I do know they are effectively useless. You get like a paragraph summary of the measure that offers no nuance, and maybe a sentence or two of hyper-biased For and Against statements. Considering how loaded these ballot measures can be, the guide almost always falls short of providing sufficient information to make an informed, educated vote.
  - hnburnsy 6y ago
    Thanks, just looked at the SOS site and the CA voter guide is 112 pages long... https://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2020/general/pdf/complete-vig.pdf https://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2020/general/pdf/complete-vig.pdf
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    > Not sure how much we're paying for the voter guides, but I do know they are effectively useless. You get like a paragraph summary of the measure that offers no nuance, and maybe a sentence or two of hyper-biased For and Against statements. That's just the “Quick Reference” section at the front. In the main body, the summary of, for example, prop. 14 is page 16 through about the midpoint of page 20, considerably more detail than a paragraph. The for-and-against arguments are about a page and a half. And, of course, the full text of the measure is also included.
    - matmann2001 6y ago
      Ahh perhaps I am mistaken and only remembered the Quick Reference. Do you know if midterm election guides also include all of that?
      - dragonwriter 6y ago
        > Do you know if midterm election guides also include all of that? Midterm (or even primary) elections have the same kind of material on ballot props; they differ only in which candidates are up for election and which stage of the election they are in, but that's not really germane to statewide ballot props.
  - shostack 6y ago
    Are there any good neutral sites that break these down (including funding sources)?

26 points by savanaly 6y ago

I don't even live in California, but I enjoyed reading this anyways, especially the National Races and State and Local Races sections as the candidates are described so colorfully.

rllearneratwork 6y ago

I happily voted NO on Prop 16. Please go and read the proposition text - this is some crazy stuff. I literally could not believe that this is actually is on the ballot. Currently the government and public institutions cannot discriminate against or grant preferential treatment to persons on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in public employment, public education, and public contracting. A vote Yes would remove this ban.

hnburnsy 6y ago

Does CA typically have this many statewide ballot measures? The state voter guide must be huge and cost millions to mail out.

matmann2001 6y ago
It's been fairly typical the past few elections at least. Not sure how much we're paying for the voter guides, but I do know they are effectively useless. You get like a paragraph summary of the measure that offers no nuance, and maybe a sentence or two of hyper-biased For and Against statements. Considering how loaded these ballot measures can be, the guide almost always falls short of providing sufficient information to make an informed, educated vote.
- hnburnsy 6y ago
  Thanks, just looked at the SOS site and the CA voter guide is 112 pages long... https://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2020/general/pdf/complete-vig.pdf https://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2020/general/pdf/complete-vig.pdf
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > Not sure how much we're paying for the voter guides, but I do know they are effectively useless. You get like a paragraph summary of the measure that offers no nuance, and maybe a sentence or two of hyper-biased For and Against statements. That's just the “Quick Reference” section at the front. In the main body, the summary of, for example, prop. 14 is page 16 through about the midpoint of page 20, considerably more detail than a paragraph. The for-and-against arguments are about a page and a half. And, of course, the full text of the measure is also included.
  - matmann2001 6y ago
    Ahh perhaps I am mistaken and only remembered the Quick Reference. Do you know if midterm election guides also include all of that?
    - dragonwriter 6y ago
      > Do you know if midterm election guides also include all of that? Midterm (or even primary) elections have the same kind of material on ballot props; they differ only in which candidates are up for election and which stage of the election they are in, but that's not really germane to statewide ballot props.
- shostack 6y ago
  Are there any good neutral sites that break these down (including funding sources)?