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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

by 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)?

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)?