Election March 2023 Progressive Voter Action Guide
If you have not voted yet, please do so.
Critical local elections with lasting impacts have been decided by as little as two votes, so your vote really can matter. If your mail in ballot is post marked March 5th and received by the 12th, it will count. If you don’t have your mail in ballot, you can go to an In Real Life polling place, ideally in the precinct you are registered to vote in, and vote with a provisional ballot (the ballot for the location you are registered in will have all the races on it you are registered to vote in, other polling places have a computer with all ballots in California in it).
Once again, we're facing arguably the most important election in our lifetimes to date.
It will be decided by mostly by turnout, but also by how much cheating and dirty tricks are prevented.
Young people, brown people, and democrats don't bother to vote as much as old, white, republicans. Besides voting yourself, broadcast the call for everyone you know to vote, donate—even if you never have before—and take action for critical races around the country.
In California, we should vote, but the most critical actions we can take are to donate and help with calls to get out the vote in other states where democracy is quite literally on the ballot, with among other things, control of the senate, the house, and elections in swing states are in play.
Republicans are using formerly obscure offices like Secretary of State to suppress voting, the supreme court to tilt the playing field their way, and take over school boards to misinform children.
Focused on Santa Barbara, CA. You can figure out much about other local races by checking the sources.
Explanation is given only where the choice was not obvious, or the effect of particular interest.
On this page
VOTE-early in person, on election day, or drop your mail-in ballot in a drop box.
- RIGHT NOW Confirm your voter registration is current—in California, or anywhere else in US. Not tomorrow…do this now, while there is capacity to process any changes.
- Sign up NOW for tracking your mail in ballot (link for California)
- VOTE—drop your mail in your ballot in an OFFICIAL drop box, or turn it in at a polling place—having your vote counted by election day, rather than after will help reduce chaos.
More info
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Registration deadlines
- In person during early voting: Oct 10 - Nov 7
- In-person at voting location on Election Day: Nov 8
- Online: Oct 24 by 11:59 pm. PDT
- By mail (postmarked by): Oct 24
Voting deadlines
- Early voting: varies by location
- Return ballot by mail (postmarked by): Nov 8
- Return ballot in person: Nov 8 by 8:00 pm. PST
- California starts sending ballots to all active registered voters: Oct 1
- A complete guide to how to vote, by mail or in person, early or on Election Day
Endorsements
Focused on Santa Barbara, CA. You can figure out much about other local races by checking the sources.
Explanation is given only where the choice was not obvious, or the effect of particular interest. Some of these democrats are not great, but all are better than their republican counterparts.
- ~~~~~ Progressive Voter Guide March 2023 ~~~~~ There isn’t a lot on the ballot and this election isn’t that much of a head scratcher. U.S. President: Joe Biden Optional: leave this one blank as an implicit call for an open democratic convention U.S. Representative, 24th Congressional District: Salud Carbajal State Senator, 21st District: Monique Limón Member of the State Assembly, 37th District: Gregg Hart County Supervisor, 1st District: Das Williams Das has been a reliable champion of progressive causes. I have had extensive, direct experience with him showing up early on to seed support for causes and events that really benefitted from juice from someone of his stature, including building code reform at the state and local levels, Quail Springs permitting, better water management in the County, etc. If loyalty in politics counts for anything…I feel Das deserves our votes. County Supervisor, 3rd District: Joan Hartmann Measure A: Yes California Prop. 1: No Note: I agreed with the Independent’s endorsements, which exactly match mine above, except they declined to endorse Das Williams or his competitor. My direct experience working with Das for over a decade makes him the clear favorite.Governor
GAVIN NEWSOM (Democratic) - Lieutenant Governor
ELENI KOUNALAKIS (Democratic) - Secretary of State
SHIRLEY N. WEBER (Democratic) - Controller
MALIA M. COHEN (Democratic) - Treasurer
FIONA MA (Democratic) - Attorney General
ROB BONTA (Democratic) - Insurance Commissioner
RICARDO LARA (Democratic)—corrupt, but likely less so than the republican - Board of Equalization 2nd District
SALLY J. LIEBER (Democratic)—whole board should be abolished per SF chronicle, but as long as we're stuck with it Sally better than the Republican - United States Senator Full Term
ALEX PADILLA (Democratic) - United States Senator
Partial/Unexpired Term
ALEX PADILLA (Democratic) - United States Representative
District 24
SALUD CARBAJAL (Democratic) - Member of the State Assembly
District 37
GREGG HART (Democratic) - All judges = yes—read rationale from SF Chronicle
- Chief Justice of California Patricia
Guerrero
YES - Associate Justice of the Supreme
Court Goodwin Liu
YES - Associate Justice of the Supreme
Court Martin J. Jenkins
YES - Associate Justice of the Supreme
Court Joshua P. Groban
YES - Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal,
2nd District, Division 1 Frances
Rothschild
YES - Associate Justice, Court of
Appeal, 2nd District Division 2
Judith M. Ashmann
YES - Associate Justice, Court of
Appeal, 2nd District Division 3 Luis
A. Lavin
YES - Associate Justice, Court of
Appeal, 2nd District Division 4
Audrey B. Collins
YES - Associate Justice, Court of
Appeal, 2nd District Division 4
Brian S. Currey
YES - Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal,
2nd District, Division 5 Laurence
D. Rubin
YES - Associate Justice, Court of
Appeal, 2nd District Division 5
Lamar W. Baker
YES - Court of Appeal,
2nd District, Division 8 Maria E.
Stratton
YES - Associate Justice, Court of
Appeal, 2nd District Division 8
John Shepard Wiley Jr.
YES
- Associate Justice, Court of
Appeal, 2nd District Division 8
Elizabeth Annette Grimes
YES
- Chief Justice of California Patricia
- State Superintendent of Public
Instruction
TONY K. THURMOND
- Goleta Union School District
Governing Board Member Trustee
Area 1
RICHARD MAYER
- PROPOSITION 1
YES—enshrine California's existing abortion rights into the state Constitution, a necessary protection - PROPOSITION 26
NO—this gaming measure contains other hidden elements that belong in the Legislature, not the ballot box - PROPOSITION 27
NO—Studies show that online gaming is particularly ripe for addictive behavior, suggesting a heavy investment will be needed for problematic gaming prevention.
- PROPOSITION 28
YES—Studies routinely show the benefits of art and music education. California voters should fund it.
- PROPOSITION 29
NO—Over 80,000 people in California rely on dialysis to survive. This measure would put their health at risk for a game of political hardball. - PROPOSITION 30
YES—The clock is ticking to decarbonize California. For all its flaws, Prop. 30 is a crucial effort to meet the urgency of the moment.
- PROPOSITION 31
YES—Voters should reject Big Tobacco’s attempt to override sound public policy
sources below
Donate
Donate to progressive candidates as if your life depends on it. We’re going all out on donations this year. Make an account at Act Blue (links below) so you donate again and again with a few clicks, each time it sinks in deeper how mission-critical this election is. The number of people donating make a difference as well as the amount of $, so even if you have little $ these are worth supporting...
- Stop the most dangerous election deniers running to oversee our elections!—Your contribution will be split evenly between Adrian Fontes, Jocelyn Benson, and Cisco Aguilar, running to defeat 3 republican election deniers. Politico describes Republican Jim Marchant this way: "Even by the standards of election conspiracy theorists, Marchant has adopted extreme policy positions." Marchant is running for secretary of state in the battleground state of Nevada, where he'd be the state's top election official. In his words, he's running to "control the election system."
And it's not just Nevada. Marchant is the "ringleader" of election deniers across the country who are running for secretary of state, including Mark Finchem in Arizona and Kristina Karamo in Michigan (while there are others, these three are the most dangerous). They call themselves the "America First Secretary of State Coalition." They are running for one reason: to install Donald Trump in the White House in 2024, no matter the will of the voters. And all three races are absolutely down to the wire. Note: Act Blue will BURY you with political emails and texts. Best to use a dedicated gmail that's just for deflecting spam. I have not been tipping act blue until they cool it with the email excess. - 2022 End Game: Statewide Final Fifty!—donate to up to 50 Democratic candidates running for statewide races at once, including:
- 16 Governor races
- 13 Secretary of State races
- 12 Attorney General races
- 8 State Supreme Court races
Each category includes some at-risk incumbent Democrats as well as Republican-held seats. Most are considered swing races, but a few are long shots. Note: Act Blue will BURY you with political emails and texts. Best to use a dedicated email that's just for deflecting spam
Activism
- Contact everyone you know in swing states, and suggest they contact everyone they know,
- Find those few remaining voters and let them know—
- Drop off their ballot if they have not yet mailed it—too late for mail!
- They can check online if their vote has been recieved...if it has not they can vote with a provisional ballot
- If they are not registered they can still vote with a provisional ballot in some states if they are eligible
- Why they really, really should vote if they are not planning to— until they hear this is the one time in their life to try it out; they don't have to ever vote again if they don't like it
- especially ones who may not have voted, and also suggest they contact all their friends, too. You may know someone who just turned 18, or 80, and is bewildered by the whole thing and may need just a little nudge to get them to the polls or to be inspired to vote
- Find those few remaining voters and let them know—
- Indivisible—Effective local actions around the country
- Phone bank—with Move On
- Phone bank now through Indivisible. Phone banking tutorial
- Wellness check
- Listen, don't interrupt
- Make empathic connection
- End on positive note
- Record notes/ outcome in phone bank software
Stay informed
- Voting With Your Middle Finger: Two Views On The White Working Class—This is the best explanation yet for how the *%@# anyone could have voted for Trump. Listening to this made me a better person.
News is vital for democracy...subscribe to support reporting and research!
- The Daily—free podcast from New York Times...usually in depth on one topic. "The Base pt 1" is illustrative of the republican mindset.
- New York Times, Washington Post—Middle (note: reality has a liberal bias)
- Rachel Maddow—Middle left
- Santa Barbara Independent—Local
- Democracy Now—Far left
Sources
I find the State voter guide pretty useless; it's just competing sales pitches, which are often totally misleading. More instructive is who is supporting what, and why:
- Voter's edge
- CA Sierra Club
- SB Democrats
- SF green party
- LA times
- Progressive Voter's guide
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OPPOSITE DAY:
Sometimes when it is confusing which way to vote, it can be helpful to see what the opposition is thinking. Here's evangelical Christian's recommendations, which are especially helpful for the judiciary:
http://www.electionforum.org/
https://conservativevoter.org/
http://www.christianvoterguide.com/