(photo: Flickr/K. Latham)
Last June the statewide contest for controller was decided by less voters than it takes to fill a large lecture hall (481).
In the 2012 general election, Californians ages 18 to 24 made up 14 percent of eligible voters but only ⅓ of those actually cast a vote. Organizations like CALPIRG and Rock the Vote have been reminding millennials to #CareLikeCrazy and #TurnUpTheVote with Lil Jon and friends this November.
I know some things that young Californians should care about – including statewide measures that affect long-term spending and saving in our state. I am pretty sure that our parents won’t be the ones required to pay off the debts if today’s lawmakers don’t do a better job.
Prop 1 would finance sustainable water infrastructure (an urgent issue given the drought and climate change). Prop 2 would require lawmakers to be more careful with state money and avoid the deficits that contribute to tuition increases. Find out more on these all everything on your ballot at the google of election information: www.votersedge.org.
California Forward, a non-profit government reform organization, is proud to partner with Maplight and the League of Women Voters of California Education Fund to make it easy to share your voting preferences on social media and email on Voter’s Edge.
Once you are armed with information on your ballot, make sure your vote counts! A spooky non-Halloween-related fact from the June election is that OVER 90,000 Vote-by-Mail ballots were not counted.
The number one reason: the ballots arrived late. So, if you Vote by Mail, you must drop off your ballot in person at a polling place at this point, in the county where you are registered to vote if you miss that window.
Vote by Mail ballot envelopes also must be signed, so make sure you sign (just like you did when you registered).
Make sure your voice and vote counts.
Caroline Vance Bruister is California Forward’s Partnership for Public Accountability Director and a graduate of University of California Santa Barbara (#gaucholoco)
