Occasional blogging, mostly of the long-form variety.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

CA Ballot Propositions (Fall 2008)

As I've written before, because California isn't a battleground state, we don't get many national political ads, but every election, we're absolutely deluged by ballot proposition ads. Most are fairly well made from a technical standpoint (the benefit of being in a film industry state), but some are simply propaganda, ranging from the clumsy to the slick. Here's some information for voting.

The California Secretary of State's voter guide online has the specific ballot language, fiscal impact, arguments for and against, and links to the for and against websites. Click on the individual ballot measures in the left hand column for more information. If nothing else, I find it useful to see who's for and against different measures.

On Which Way LA?, a local NPR show, host Warren Olney leads discussions on individual measures, inviting proponents for each side on. Scroll through to find a specific discussion.

The Los Angeles Times and Sacramento Bee don't have comprehensive guides up yet, but do offer some stories on individual measures.

Perhaps of most use to liberal Californians is Calitics, a site for progressive California politics. Here's a snapshot of their endorsements:


(Click the image for a slightly larger view.)

The actual entry explains their positions, and other posts in their endorsements category go further in depth.

I plan to cover some of the other propositions in greater depth myself (especially Prop. 8), but here's a start.

(Cross-posted at The Blue Herald)

6 comments:

Fran said...

I have been posting on No on 8 a lot. As always, there are many ballot initiatives, which I remember from my own Californian years.

Jess Wundrun said...

When we were in CA last month all the ads were against prop 7.

It's funny to read the brief descriptions of the propositions then the progressive view and then to imagine someone's campaign take in a few years.

Batocchio VOTED NO for runner's victims rights. Batocchio HATES victims! Batocchio VOTED NO for Picken's natural gas plan. Batocchio HATES flame grilled food!

(No I did not read any of the descriptions, why do you ask?)

Anonymous said...

I feel like kicking myself hard right now. I just mailed my absentee ballot in earlier today, I had to make guess work on many of the propositions and a half-hearte google search turned up nothing. If I had only come here earlier I could have saved myself the worry.I voted correctly on everything up until I reached the prop after 8, at least I voted no on 8.

Batocchio said...

Fran, yes, you have! I'll make sure to link something of yours when I get to my post on that one.

Jess, you got that right. Interesting, though, I see a bunch of No on 7 ads but it seems mostly it's Yes on 8 ads for me. Maybe it's just that those are those most appalling, so they stick with me.

Watchdog, d'oh! Sorry, I should have posted this earlier as it is. There are always so many ballot measures and some of the ads are so deceptive, it really can take some work to research them all. In the past, the LA Times has had a good overview section that at least listed who was for and against each measure, and maybe they still will, but they didn't as of this posting. I don't think local news stations do a great job on these measures, either. None of that makes things any easier for concerned voters.

Comrade Kevin said...

In Alabama, we have useless constitutional amendments. Though I live far away from Franklin County, I still have to vote on an amendment pertaining only to it.

Ever four years we have another eight amendments the whole state must vote on, and without home rule, this is what it boils down to.

pissed off patricia said...

We have an issue on the ballot here in Florida that would prevent life partners from having rights. The only ad I have seen against it is a great one. I have not seen one ad supporting it. I'm hoping that's a good sign.