Election Day Today
Californians bring a blessed end to this year's election season today, and voters get a chance to surprise in what the Los Angeles Times calls "the closest California campaigns in decades."
Senate incumbent Barbara Boxer and her Republican challenger Carly Fiorina exchange barbs about being out of touch with Californians' real needs, and both need to push for their base's turnout to try to win; Boxer tries to weigh down Fiorina with the mantels of Bush and Palin; Jerry Brown says we all need to love each other moving forward--while mocking his GOP opponent for governor Meg Whitman for having too many pictures on her campaign web site and not enough substance; and despite polls indicating otherwise, Whitman insists she'll win and makes cold calls to votersselling herself.
CaliforniaWatch gives the outlines of where Whitman's world-record $160 million of personal cash spenton her campaign went.
Prop. 19 on adult legalization of marijuana possession and growth (and the possibility of locally-approved sales) needs young people to get out and vote; and a Field poll predicts that overall, only 55 percent of Californians who could vote will bother. Huffington Post thinks Prop 26 (changing the rules on how certain local fees on businesses can be levied to require a 2/3 majority of legislative votes) is a sneaky way to achieve the same goals as Prop 23 (which would overturn existing laws aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions)--making it harder to enforce environmental laws.
While in the modern media age most citizens have more than enough easy access to means to make up their mind, for those who like to roll newspaper old school, see the Daily News' endorsements, including yes on Fiorina, Brown, Maldonado, and Cooley; and no on the most talked-about propositions, 19 and 23.
And if the elections of the day are not sufficient for you, and you want to get ready to participate in the next round of City Council elections in L.A., it's time to register your intent for the March 8 contest.
As a gauge as to how interested Daily News readers are in the election, as of 7:30 a.m. this morning not a single election-related story was among the site's top 10 viewed.
Google can help you find your polling place if you don't know.
If you care about where the money is coming from and going in state races, the California Secretary of State's office will let you know.
Image taken by Flickr user yukihiro.m. Used under user Creative Commons license.