Voter Guide

To residents of South Los Angeles and the Eastside, including the Cal State LA community, no election in recent memory has felt more important. The policy decisions under another Republican Donald Trump presidency would vary vastly from those under Democrat Joe Biden.

At the same time, it is often said that state and local government affects the daily lives of people more than the federal government because so many federal programs and dollars go through states, counties and municipalities.

That makes understanding the potential impacts of California’s 12 ballot measures that much more important.

This guide will help you navigate ballot measures on a range of issues, including broadening voting rights, addressing housing shortages, toughening laws on crime, increasing property taxes and allowing affirmative action.

Whether it’s due to the recession, the coronavirus pandemic or the racial reckoning — or all three — many Angelenos want to see changes. Those changes start in our own backyards, by making sure our voices and those of our neighbors and communities are heard.

-Meghan Bravo and Marisa Martinez

How to vote: Registration deadlines, voting by mail and filling out the ballot

So you want to make a difference this year by voting? That’s great, but there are some steps you should take to ensure you can do that such as registering in time and ensuring you have chosen the best way to vote while staying safe amid the coronavirus pandemic. Read more….

Cal State LA gym to open as a voting center

Cal State LA students and local community members will be able vote on campus for the upcoming national election. Read more…

Should part of LA County’s budget go to alternatives for incarceration?

A local ballot measure to fund programs to help incarcerated people may be gaining steam amid calls to end racism, help communities of color and defund the police. Read more…

Cal State LA students share who they are voting for in the presidential election

Students weighed in through interviews and an informal survey to say who they’re voting for and why. Read more…

Prop. 18

Some people feel it’s high time to let young voters have their voices heard during the election. Prop. 18 would revise the California constitution to allow 17-year-olds to vote in the primary election under some circumstances. Read more…

Prop. 15

Does COVID-19 pose the biggest threat to the economy and property values this year? Some business owners say the new Prop. 15 might. Read more…

Prop. 16

There may just be a way to create more diversity in universities and in the workforce. That’s what supporters of Prop. 16 say about the impact it could have. Read more…

Prop. 17

As the upcoming election draws near and people prepare to exert their constitutional right to vote, social media is abuzz over whether everyone is covered by that 19th amendment right. Read more…

Prop. 14

This measure would allow the state to issue $5.5 billion in general obligation bonds, mainly to fund stem cell research. The research would allow for the development of new medical treatments. Read more…

Prop. 20

Should some criminal activity that would be charged only as misdemeanors under current law, such as theft or fraud, be considered felonies? Read more…

Prop. 19

If seniors face losing their low property tax rate, they may never move out of homes that are too big for them, exacerbating housing shortages. That’s one argument for Prop. 19, which is on the November ballot. Read more…

Prop. 21

With a more scaled-back approach this time around, proponents of 2018’s defeated Prop. 10 are trying their hand again at rent control expansion. Read more…

_.Prop. 22

Prop. 22

Los Angeles residents who use rideshare apps to get to work, the doctor, the grocery store — or those who rely on the apps as an income source — would be affected by Proposition 22. Read more…

Prop. 23

Companies have their tactics for keeping workers from unionizing. Similarly, unions have ways of striking back. Some say Prop. 23 represents just that. Read more…

Prop. 25

What would happen if posting bail money was no longer an option? Read more…

Prop. 24

Would Proposition 24 improve the state’s privacy laws, which are already considered some of the strictest in the country? That depends on who you ask. Read more…

ASI and local nonprofit break down California propositions

Cal State LA’s Associated Students, Inc. (ASI), recently hosted the “Ballot Breakdown: Know Your Propositions” event to help students cast their vote for measures that will be on California’s ballot. Read more…

The Voter Guide was produced by students in the JOUR 3910 The University Times course with help and support from the University Times staff and editors, including developer Danny Rojas and contributing artist Amber Turner, a Cal State LA art program graduate this year.