Category Archives: 2020 election

2020 election, Local elections

Solano County gearing up for March 3 California Primary Election

John Gardner, Solano County’s assistant registrar of voters, offers reminders to prospective voters

Vallejo Times-Herald, by Richard Bammer, January 4, 2020

The California Primary is set for March 3 and voters are encouraged to be prepared.

The primary is a “party-based” election for presidential candidates, John Gardner, Solano County’s assistant registrar of voters, said in a press release issued Friday:

He advised voters to verify which party they are registered with by either calling the County Registrar, at 784-6675, or going online at https://voterstatus.sos.ca.gov. Any registration changes must be submitted by Feb. 17 for the upcoming election.

Gardner pointed out that voters registered without a party can select a “cross-over” ballot for either the Democratic, American Independent, or Libertarian parties. Voters can request these ballots over the phone, by e-mail, or in-person on Election Day at their assigned polling location.

Voters who are registered without a party can still vote for Republican, Green or Peace and Freedom party candidates by updating their registration to be registered with one of these parties. Again, the changes must be completed by the Feb. 17 deadline, Gardner said.

He added that his office is “starting to ramp up” recruitment of poll workers for the primary.

The County Registrar needs some 1,100 volunteer poll workers to fill a variety of slots both on Election day and prior to Election Day. Workers can assist voters at traditional polling places, or at curbside drop-off locations in and Fairfield and Vallejo.

More information can be found at the Registrar’s website, http://www.solanocounty.com/depts/rov/workers/default.asp, or by calling to speak to a poll worker team member.

Gardner encourages service, church and nonprofit groups to adopt polling locations.

“This can be a great fundraiser for organizations or a way to be recognized in the community you serve,” he wrote in the release.

Such groups can earn more $1,500 by adopting a location and volunteering a team of workers to assist with the election.

More information on adopting polling places can be found online at http://www.solanocounty.com/depts/rov/workers/adopt_a_poll.asp.

Good news for vote-by-mail voters — postage will not be required for your 2020 ballots.

Ballots can be dropped off at these locations:

    • At any of the seven city clerk’s offices during business hours;
    • At the Registrar’s office, 675 Texas St., suite 2600 (second floor), in Fairfield during normal business hours;
    • At any polling place on Election Day;
    • At two curbside drop-off locations from Feb. 27 to 29 and March 2, and 3 on the Union Street side of the County Administration Building in Fairfield during business hours; and at the California Maritime Academy Aquatic Center, 117 Maritime Academy Drive in Vallejo.

The County Registrar of Voters is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will be open on Saturday, Feb. 29, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Election Day from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., to provide election services to the public.

2020 election, Endorsements, Progressive Democrats of Benicia, Solano County Supervisor Monica Brown, U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson

Progressive Democrats endorse Mike Thompson and Monica Brown

Congratulations to Mike and Monica!!!
Endorsed by PDB for Reelection!!!

At our General Membership meeting on Nov. 12 2019, members met to consider endorsements for two races in the March 2020 Primaries. And the winners are …

Congressman Mike Thompson received the endorsement of PDB members for reelection to the U. S. Congressional District 5 seat, and incumbent Solano County Supervisor Monica Brown was endorsed for reelection as District 2 Supervisor.

Both Mike and Monica received 67.6% of the votes cast at the meeting.

During the meeting, we also heard from Jason Kishineff, who is running against Mike Thompson, and from two challengers for the District 2 spot – Rochelle Sherlock and K. Patrice Williams.

2020 election, California Politics, Presidential election, Trump

Huge spike in young voters in 2018 could be bad news for Trump in 2020

From The San Francisco Chronicle, submitted by Jack Kolk

By John Wildermuth, April 30, 2019
Elizabeth Conley / Houston Chronicle

Young voters turned out in huge numbers for the 2018 midterm elections, which could be bad news for President Trump and GOP hopefuls next year.

According to a new report from the Census Bureau, 36% of 18- to 29-year-olds turned in ballots in November, a 79 percent jump from the 2014 midterms.

A similar spike appeared in California among the youngest eligible voters, where turnout among 18- to 24-year-olds soared from 8% in 2014 to 27% last year, according to a study by the California Civic Engagement Project at the University of Southern California.

That trend is likely to continue into the 2020 election, and young people are the most reliably progressive voting bloc, said Paul Mitchell of Political Data Inc., which provides voter information to campaigns and other groups.

The 65% overall turnout in 2018 is likely to jump to 80% in November 2020, “and that new 15 percent isn’t going to be older, whiter and more conservative voters,” Mitchell said. “About 80% of the new voters are going to be younger and more progressive.”

Those are also the voters who dislike Trump the most. A March poll by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found that 75% of adults ages 18 to 34 disapproved of the job Trump was doing, compared with 67% of all the state’s adults.

The new voting numbers are a glimpse into a bleak political future for Republicans, at least in the short term.

“There was a blue wave in 2018, and the numbers suggest it might not have reached its peak,” Mitchell said.

Democratic turnout across the country was way up in 2018, which is one of the main reasons the party flipped 40 Republican-held seats in the House, including seven in California. New state voting and registration rules have become even more friendly to young California voters, Mitchell said.

A youth dance group performs during a Democratic Party election-night watch party in Beaumont, Texas, in November. Photo: Kim Brent / Beaumont Enterprise

Not only are more people being automatically registered via the “motor voter” program at Department of Motor Vehicle offices, but their registrations also are automatically updated when they file change-of-address notices.

“This has been most beneficial to the people who move a lot,” and in California, those are most likely to be young people, Mitchell said. Now, instead of falling off the voter rolls whenever they change addresses, those young voters stay registered.

The USC study found that 62% of citizens ages 18 to 24 were registered to vote in 2018, compared with 52% in 2014.

Voter turnout in 2018 also rose in ethnic communities, both nationwide and in California. In the state, four times as many Latinos ages 18 to 34 cast ballots in 2018 as they had four years earlier. And the growing number of young Asian American voters tend to be far more liberal than their GOP-leaning parents and grandparents, Mitchell said.

Combine those 2018 turnout numbers with the boost Democrats typically get in a presidential election that attracts plenty of occasional voters, and 2020 looks like a hard climb for the GOP in California, especially with Trump on the top of the ballot, Mitchell added.

But better times could be ahead for the state’s Republicans.

“You can assume that the increased turnout will carry forward to 2020,” Mitchell said. “But if there’s a Democrat in the White House, turnout numbers might fall off the cliff in 2022.”

The 2022 midterm election also will be the first with California’s congressional and legislative seats redrawn after the 2020 census, and no one knows what effect that might have on the state’s political landscape.

“With reapportionment and a possible Democratic president, 2022 could present an opportunity for Republicans,” Mitchell said.