A VOTIVATOR is a person who researches candidates and propositions for every election, and votes every time - and lets her/his friends and neighbors know about his/her voting choices. Copying a trusted votivator's votes is an honorable way to participate in democracy. Over time, people who follow votivators can become informed votivators themselves!
Rituals to use and spread, to encourage people to vote:
Ask someone you are encouraging to vote: "With which hand will you vote in the upcoming election?" With both of your hands, clasp that hand, look the person in the eyes, and say: "May love guide your hand to vote for the common good."
A silent or spoken ceremony for individuals, in the ballot box, after filling out an absentee ballot at home, or when putting the absentee ballot into the mail.... Salute your ballot and say aloud or silently: “I thank God for all the Americans who risked their lives defending my sacred right and duty to vote.”
Remember to wave the flag - put one in front of your house on voting day, and wave one when you march/demonstrate.... The American flag belongs to us. If we are to have any hope of bringing this nation together again with shared values and larger purpose, political progressives must wave the flag.
Put a "Christians for" bumpersticker on the yard sign or on your bumper next to the candidate of your choice.
Sources of info for California voters:
I always read the LA Times endorsements – and take them seriously, even though I don’t always agree with them. The LA Times’ list is particularly useful for making choices about judges – about which there is very little information, which is a real problem. For judges, to be sure the candidates are even qualified to serve, it’s good to look at the local bar association’s report: LA COUNTY BAR EVALUATIONS . Here's a way to compare judge candidates to find out which ones better support criminal justice reform from the ACLU...
https://www.votesmartjustice.org/candidates?state=CA&congress_district=28&assembly_district=50&state_senate_district=24
Next Ten/ California Choices is a statewide organization that is a coalition of “good governance” groups. I admire their perspective – this site is full of good analysis, particularly of the ballot propositions.
https://votesmart.org – good source of non-partisan info about candidates .
Easy Voter Guide. Breaks down the Propositions clearly, lists pros & cons. Defines offices that affect all of California. 5 languages available.
https://www.easyvoterguide.org/
Voter’s Edge California. Neither supports nor opposes political parties, ballot measures, or candidates for public office.
https://votersedge.org/ca
League of Women Voters of California Education Fund: https://lwvc.org/vote/elections/ballot-recommendations
COOL TOOL: Use your address to get a personalized ballot. Get info on candidates, measures, and who supports them.
https://votersedge.org/ca?fbclid=iwar0pmwy0mr7_isjw_9bkoemwwhz4kgjvitj1hmojkflgwaxgiiklc1yez2i
https://www.easyvoterguide.org/
Voter’s Edge California. Neither supports nor opposes political parties, ballot measures, or candidates for public office.
https://votersedge.org/ca
League of Women Voters of California Education Fund: https://lwvc.org/vote/elections/ballot-recommendations
COOL TOOL: Use your address to get a personalized ballot. Get info on candidates, measures, and who supports them.
https://votersedge.org/ca?fbclid=iwar0pmwy0mr7_isjw_9bkoemwwhz4kgjvitj1hmojkflgwaxgiiklc1yez2i
My choices for 11/6:
Governor: Gavin Newsom. He's got huge shoes to fill. I have a hard time imagining life after Jerry Brown, but, sigh - here we are. The state faces huge challenges which Gavin has been able to avoid discussing much because he's so far ahead in the polls. His feet must be held to the fire, from day one, about the state pension fund crisis, the bullet train confusion, and the tough choices coming re: health care... for starters.
Lieutenant Governor: Ed Hernandez - much more seasoned than his fellow Democrat opponent.
Secretary of State: Alex Padilla. Doing a fine job, fighting the Trump/Republican efforts at voter suppression.
Controller: Betty Yee. She's destined for greater things in state government - impressive. She's taking the lead on making proposals to rationalize the state's antiquated and inefficient taxation systems.
Treasurer: Fiona Ma - also destined for greater things - She also is taking the lead in making proposals to improve the state's systems of financial investment.
Attorney General: Xavier Becerra. He is our state's leader in the fight against the excesses of the Trump administration. 28 lawsuits and counting!
Insurance Commissioner: Ricardo Lara, a state senator. His opponent, Poizner, ran for governor as a Republican in 2010 on an anti-immigrant platform- but this leopard is trying to change his spots by recently registering as an independent and swearing-off his previous rhetoric. Poizner was a capable insurance commissioner when he had that role before - but I don't trust him anymore, after his run for governor.
Board of Equalization: Tony Vasquez. This candidate is qualified but not squeaky-clean. But his Republican opponent claims to be a fierce defender of Prop 13 - and that is a big problem for me.
US Senator: Dianne Feinstein. So she's old. So maybe she retires before her term is out. Meanwhile, till then, she's an awesome senator. She's a leader and a fighter against the Trump agenda. And she is my heroine for preserving so much of the California desert.
Member of Congress: Adam Schiff. His high-profile these days is well-deserved.
State Senator: Ben Allen. Doing a fine job -
State Assembly: Laura Friedman. Also doing a fine job.
Superintendent of Public Instruction: Tony Thurmond. Both candidates are worthy, but Tuck is way too cozy with the charter school movement, which is harming our public school system. Charters need much more oversight. Regular schools need to be protected from the de-funding and depopulation that charters have inflicted on them. I think Thurmond will deliver more than Tuck on these fronts.
County Assessor: Jeffrey Prang. Doing a fine job.
Sheriff: Jim McDonnell - incumbent. I wavered on this one. Serious reform is needed in the department, and he's delivering on it - but slower than we would like to see. But he has momentum and now is not the time to lose it by changing leadership.
State Measure 1: Yes - bonds for affordable housing projects. It's far from adequate to the task of meeting the demand -- we're 500,000 housing units short of what is needed in the state today - but this little bit will help.
State Measure 2: Yes - makes Prop 62 mental health funds available for housing projects for homeless mentally ill. Fits with the smart public policy trend toward "housing first" for the homeless - once they have stable housing, it's vastly easier for mental health, etc, treatment to "stick".
State Measure 3: No - Bonds for needed water infrastructure. This is a mash-up put together by special interests, particularly agri-business. It's a grab-bag of funding for disparate projects, assembled to create "sweeteners" that appeal to a variety of constituents. Most of the goals are reasonable, but this should be broken up into separate bills in the Legislature or separate ballot initiatives. Back to the drawing board!
State Measure 4: Yes - Bonds for construction for children's hospitals. This is needed because so many children in these hospitals have their care funded by Medi-Cal, which pays rates that are not high enough for hospitals to use for capital construction and repair.
State Measure 5: No. Portability of property tax for senior or disabled homeowners, enabling them to keep paying the same tax rate when they buy other properties - even more expensive ones - elsewhere in the state. This would benefit my wife and me, if and when we sell our house, but I think it just adds to the worsening disparity between those who can afford to own homes and those who cannot. Schools and local governments would lose money if this passes. What we need is a major overhaul of Prop. 13 from 1978 - a disastrous ballot initiative that has distorted taxation and land use ever since it passed.
State Measure 6: No. Voting yes would eliminate the gas tax increase that funds road repair and construction, which was necessary because of increased fuel efficiency reducing the in-flow of gas tax revenue. Contrary to Republican rhetoric, God will not miraculously repair roads for us. We actually have to pay for them.
State Measure 7: Yes. Daylight Savings Time should be over for good! What time is saved? Time to keep our clocks steady, year-round.
State Measure 8: No. Controls pricing, etc, for kidney dialysis. I'm going with the recommendation of the LA Times on this one. The two companies targeted by this proposal are indeed villainous, raking in millions in bloated profits. But this proposal is too blunt of an instrument. More targeted legislation is needed to correct their predatory practices and get prices for dialysis out of the stratosphere.
State Measure 10: Yes. This allows for local jurisdictions to impose substantial rent control ordinances. I do not believe in rent control. It is bad public policy, generally. It creates artificial incentives for people to "stay put" in their housing when otherwise it makes no sense for them to do so. It discourages the already-inadequate incentive for developers to build rental housing. It does nothing to make housing more accessible or affordable. It is a bad idea, in most cases. But the Costa-Hawkins act was an outrageous power-grab by landlords to deny local governments the ability to make these kinds of decisions. Rent control should be a local decision, not a state matter. Let local governments find out the hard way, if they must, that rent control is counterproductive.
State Measure 11: Yes. Another issue that should have no business appearing on our ballot - but alas, here it must be. Just as public ambulance operators must do, this bill would require private ambulance workers to respond to emergency calls even when they are "on break".
State Measure 12: Yes. Banning cages/close confinement for farm animals. A refinement of Prop 2 ten years ago, which banned certain kinds of cages for hens.
County Measure W: Yes. W for water. Part of the ongoing county/city effort to capture what little water falls from the sky and make the best use of it.
City Measure B: Yes. Allows LA City Council to create a City-owned bank. This could be a model program that could lead to something I firmly believe to be necessary: a State Bank of California, which would make better use of state funds and serve lots of different social benefits. This idea has its great risks. Such a bank would need to be independent of city politics - insulated from temptation to use it as a cash-cow, like we do with our DPW. The state bank of North Dakota is a long-standing, well-run operation that should be emulated.
City Measure E: Yes. Cleans up the recent ballot initiative that lines up city elections with state elections, reducing costs and hopefully increasing voter turnout.
School Measure EE: Yes. Does the same thing for LAUSD.
Judges: I'm going with the LA Times on these choices. YES to Supreme Court justices Carol Corrigan, Leondra Kruger -- YES to Second District Court of Appeal judges Anne H. Egerton, Carl H. Moor, Dorothy C. Kim, Gail R. Feuer, Halim Dhanidina, Helen Bendix, John L. Segal, Lamar W. Baker, Luis A. Lavin, Martin J. Tangemen, Thomas Willhite, Victoria G. Chaney, Victoria M. Chavez, Arthur Gilbert, Elwood Lui, Nora M. Manella and Patricia A. Bigelow. Superior Court: #4 Alfred Coletta, #16 Sydne Michel, #60 Holly Hancock, #113 Michael Ribons.
Website: MINDFULCHRISTIANITY.ORG Weblog: MUSINGS Follow me on twitter: @jtburklo
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Sr Associate Dean of Religious Life, University of Southern California