Campaigns & Elections News
Campaigns & Elections
Price becomes latest 'progressive prosecutor' tossed from office amid anti-crime outcry
Voters appeared to deliver big wins to the efforts to recall both Alameda County D.A. Pamela Price and Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, following on successful efforts elsewhere to oust other progressive leaders whose policies have been blamed for spike in crime
Campaigns & Elections
Property tax raising Prop 5 appears headed to defeat, per preliminary election results
As of Nov. 7, 56% of California voters had voted "No" on Proposition 5, a measure promoted by California Democratic state lawmakers to make it significantly easier for local governments to amass new debt and raise property taxes in the name of infrastructure improvement and affordable housing
Latest News
Campaigns & Elections
Newsom, 'soft-on-crime activists rebuked: California overwhelmingly OKs Prop 36
Despite opposition from Gov. Gavin Newsom and other powerful California Democrats and left-wing activists, voters in California overwhelmingly approved Prop 36 to undo progressive criminal justice reforms and restore the ability of cops and prosecutors to address California's sustained crisis of drug and property crime
Campaigns & Elections
Polls in Bay Area, elsewhere in CA show big support for Prop 36, despite Dem leaders' opposition
Prop 36 would restore to police and prosecutors powers to address property and drug crimes that had been stripped by away 10 years ago by Prop 47, which helped to fuel California's current crime problems and was strongly supported by Kamala Harris
Campaigns & Elections
CA appeals court: Prop 5 ballot language won't mislead voters into OKing easier property tax hikes
A California state appellate court overruled a Sacramento County Superior Court judge who had agreed the ballot language drafted by the California Attorney General's office for Prop 5 could dupe voters by providing a description that left out crucial details
Campaigns & Elections
Republicans can't sue Google for diverting their get-out-the-vote emails to spam folders, judge says
The Republican National Committee's effort to revive its lawsuit against Google, which it accused of diverting its emails to spam folders for political reasons, has failed, even though the RNC noted the diversions appeared to suddenly stop after the lawsuit was filed in 2022
Campaigns & Elections
California election authorities can't bump Fong from race to replace McCarthy in Congress, appeals panel says
A California state appeals court has ruled California Secretary of State Shirley Weber misinterpreted the state's election laws in attempting to block Republican State Assemblyman Vince Fong from the ballot in the contest to replace former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy
Campaigns & Elections
Disability rights advocates say California must allow voters with 'print disabilities' to vote electronically from home
A group of California voters who are blind or otherwise have "print disabilities" have joined with disability rights advocate organizations to sue the state of California, claiming California's vote-by-mail program discriminates against them because they must print and mail their completed ballots
Campaigns & Elections
Prop E appears poised to pass, giving police more ability to fight crime in SF
The ballot measure would loosen restrictions on officers' ability to pursue criminal suspects; allow for police leadership to have a greater say in future policy changes; and enable police to use tech, including drones and surveillance cameras, to patrol in high-crime areas.
Campaigns & Elections
Families circulate California ballot petitions to hold fentanyl dealers accountable
Signature gathering is underway for a new ballot measure that would make fentanyl dealers accountable for their crimes while saving people from a drug that has become a leading cause of overdose deaths.
Campaigns & Elections
California High Court tells appeals panel to revisit whether Santa Monica's at-large voting weakens Latinos at the polls
State Supreme Court has ordered an appellate court to reexamine its decision that an activist group failed to show Santa Monica's at-large voting system "dilutes" Latino voting power, saying the lower court did not undertake a "searching" evaluation of the issue.
Campaigns & Elections
Appeals panel agrees citizen-led ballot measures can pass with only simple majority
On remand, state court to consider whether pillow tax referendum had municipal backing
Campaigns & Elections
Appeals panel says San Francisco allowed to let noncitizens vote in school board elections
Ruling overturns dismissal of Proposition N ordinances as unconstitutional
Campaigns & Elections
Chronicle wants $80K from Shahid Buttar after failed defamation lawsuit
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - The publisher of the San Francisco Chronicle wants a failed Congressional candidate who sued it for defamation to pay its attorneys fees.
Campaigns & Elections
Business groups welcome referendum on fast food labor law; Enough signatures secured to let voters weigh in
A referendum to overturn a California law that aimed to regulate wages and workplace conditions in the fast food industry has received enough signatures to qualify for the November 2024 statewide ballot, the Department of State said
Campaigns & Elections
Google to GOP: No political bias determines what is Gmail spam
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Legal Newsline) - Google is defending its spam-filtering technology as it fights a lawsuit brought by the Republican National Committee that complains its political emails are sent to recipients' spam folders.
Campaigns & Elections
Hoover tops Cooley in District 7 Assembly race; Other races also stoked by voter frustration with education policy, spending
The California Secretary of State’s release of certified election results on Dec. 16 showed several races from the Nov. 8 election that were decided by a small number of votes.
Campaigns & Elections
California’s certified election results show fewer votes for Newsom than 2021 recall
After five weeks of counting, the certified Nov. 8 election results show the number of people voting for California Gov. Gavin Newsom was roughly 1.5 million votes behind the number who voted for him in last year’s recall.
Campaigns & Elections
Voters hope for action on inflation, crime, energy policy, homelessness
As California and other states continue counting votes from the Nov. 8 midterms, questions persist about how those elected will work to address crime, inflation, homelessness and other issues that voters have consistently ranked as top priorities.
Campaigns & Elections
Race for Third Congressional District pits Northern California’s Kevin Kiley against Kermit Jones
In the wide-open race in California’s newly drawn Third Congressional District, a lawmaker with lifelong ties to the area is vying for the seat, hoping to defeat a challenge from a physician who has worked in Washington, DC, serving as a White House fellow during the Obama-Biden administration, and is new to this area.