• What are the differences between the California State Voter Information Guide (VIG) and the County Voter Information Guide (VIG) that every registered voter receives before each election?

    • If you are a registered voter in California, then you will receive two information resources by mail:

      • Your State Voter Information Guide contains information about federal and statewide candidates and statewide ballot measures. The State Voter Information Guide is only mailed prior to a statewide election.

      • Your County Voter Information Guide (previously known as a “sample ballot”) contains a sample of your ballot and information about local candidates and ballot measures, and, for some counties, the location of your polling place. A County Voter Information Guide is sent prior to statewide and local elections. 

Information Source: https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/publications-and-resources/state-county-vig

  • WHY DOES VOTING IN LOCAL ELECTIONS MATTER?

  • HOW DOES THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WORK?

    • According to the Constitution, the U.S. House of Representatives makes and passes federal laws. The House is one of Congress’s two chambers (the other is the U.S. Senate), and part of the federal government’s legislative branch. The number of voting representatives in the House is fixed by law at no more than 435, proportionally representing the population of the 50 states. ( source: House.gov )

    • Learn More at House.gov HERE

  • WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF ELECTIONS?

    • There are three basic types -- primary, general and local. In addition, "special elections" can be called which are limited to one specific purpose, e.g., filling a vacancy.

    • More information from the League of Women Voters of California HERE

  • WHY DO STATES HAVE DIFFERENT ELECTION RULES? (2022)

    • Source: Ballotpedia

      • Election rules vary widely among states because states, rather than the federal government, play the primary role in creating policy on elections administration. State legislatures and ballot measures create many of the rules governing ballot access, voter registration, and vote counting.[1]

        A Congressional Research Service report described the states' role in setting elections administration policy in the following way:

        “States typically have primary responsibility for making decisions about the rules of elections (policymaking). Localities typically have primary responsibility for conducting elections in accordance with those rules (implementation).[1][2]”

      • READ MORE HERE

  • HOW DO CALIFORNIA PRIMARY ELECTIONS WORK?

    • California Statewide Primary: A top-two primary system, in which all candidates appear on the same ballot. The top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, move on to the general election.

      • Most of the offices that were previously known as "partisan" are now known as "voter-nominated" offices. Voter-nominated offices are state constitutional offices (Governor, Lt. Governor, Treasurer, Secretary of State & Attorney General), state legislative offices (senate & assembly), and U.S. Congressional offices (Senate & Congressional Representatives)

      • The only "partisan offices" now are the offices of the U.S. President, Vice President and  Political Party County Central Committees /County Councils.

        NOTE: Non-partisan offices: All County offices, special district offices, town council offices, judicial seats, and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Have different election requirements - LEARN MORE

    • Presidential Primary: If you are registered to vote with a political party, you will be given a ballot for that party in a Presidential primary election.

      If you are unaffiliated with any party (sometimes called “no party preference” or "decline to state"), you will be given a nonpartisan ballot, containing only the names of all candidates for nonpartisan offices and any ballot measures to be voted upon at the primary election. You may be able to request the ballot of one of the political parties at the polls or on your vote-by-mail ballot request form. Each political party has the option of allowing decline-to-state voters to vote in their Presidential primary.

    • Learn more:

  • HOW DOES THE FILIBUSTER WORK (in the U.S. Senate)?

    • The Senate tradition of unlimited debate has allowed for the use of the filibuster, a loosely defined term for action designed to prolong debate and delay or prevent a vote on a bill, resolution, amendment, or other debatable question. Prior to 1917, the Senate rules did not provide for a way to end debate and force a vote on a measure. That year, the Senate adopted a rule to allow a two-thirds majority to end a filibuster, a procedure known as "cloture." In 1975 the Senate reduced the number of votes required for cloture from two-thirds (67) to three-fifths (60) of the 100-member Senate.

    • LEARN MORE AT Senate.Gov

    • BALLOTPEDIA: The Filibuster & Reconciliation in the U.S. Congress

  • WHAT IS A STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS (SOTU)?

    The U.S. Constitution requires the president to give Congress a State of the Union, which is a report that addresses a president's legislative proposals and other plans for the country. There is no requirement stating what form or how often the report occurs; however, it normally occurs annually in the last week of January.

    SOURCE: https://www.usa.gov/presidents

  • Historical State of the Union Messages from the National Archives

    Article II, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution requires that the President ". . . shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." Like many precedents, President George Washington first established the practice of reporting to Congress once a year. Washington gave his first annual message—what is now known as the State of the Union—to Congress on January 8th, 1790. He addressed Congress in person in the Senate Chamber of Federal Hall in New York City (the temporary seat of government at that time). LEARN MORE

  • WHAT IS RANKED CHOICE VOTING?

    (From Ballotpedia) A ranked-choice voting system (RCV) is an electoral system in which voters rank candidates by preference on their ballots. If a candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, he or she is declared the winner. If no candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes is eliminated. First-preference votes cast for the failed candidate are eliminated, lifting the second-preference choices indicated on those ballots. A new tally is conducted to determine whether any candidate has won a majority of the adjusted votes. The process is repeated until a candidate wins an outright majority.[1][2] More from Ballotpedia

  • WHAT IS APPORTIONMENT?

    Apportionment is the process of determining how many seats each state gets in the U.S. House of Representatives.

    There are 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, and every 10 years, census results are used to calculate how many seats each state gets.

    On April 26, 2021, the Census Bureau delivered 2020 Census state population counts that will be used for apportionment. Learn More

    What is Apportionment? (US Census YouTube video)

  • HOW IS THE U.S. GOVERNMENT ORGANIZED?

    • U.S. Constitution

      The Founding Fathers, the framers of the U.S. Constitution, wanted to form a government that did not allow one person to have too much control. With this in mind, they wrote the Constitution to provide for a separation of powers, or three separate branches of government - Legislative, Executive & Judicial.

      Each branch has its own responsibilities and at the same time, the three branches work together to make the country run smoothly and to assure that the rights of citizens are not ignored or disallowed. This is done through checks and balances. A branch may use its powers to check the powers of the other two in order to maintain a balance of power among the three branches of government.

  • LEARN MORE HERE

  • https://www.usa.gov/espanol/

  • WHAT IS REDISTRICTING?

    • Every 10 years, after the collection of the decennial census data, states redraw their state and congressional district lines. These districts determine how communities are represented at the local, state, and federal levels. The redistricting process is fundamental in influencing how our government works for us. 

    • In California, Assembly Bill 849 (2019), also known as The Fair and Inclusive Redistricting for Municipalities and Political Subdivisions (FAIR MAPS) Act, requires cities and counties to engage communities in the redistricting process by holding public hearings and/or workshops and doing public outreach, including to non-English-speaking communities.

    • Redistricting determines who appears on your ballot, where you can vote, and can influence whether your elected officials respond to your needs.

    • Redistricting is how we make sure our voices are represented equally by creating districts that have nearly the same number of people in it. To create districts of equal population, we use the census. One of the first steps for fair maps is to ensure we have an accurate and complete count of the census.

    • Redistricting is vulnerable to gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is the intentional manipulation of the redistricting process by the people in political power to keep or change political power. This can happen in a number of ways, such as by consolidating communities into one district, which gives that community only one representative in the legislature. Or by dividing the community across districts and ensuring that the community is always the minority and less likely to be adequately represented by their representatives. Gerrymandering often protects incumbents and reduces the competitiveness of districts which can lead to depressed voter turnout when voters lose faith in their ability to effect change. Two common forms of gerrymandering are racial gerrymandering and partisan gerrymandering.

  • 10 Things You Should Know About Redistricting

  • More info on this website at https://www.marinlwv.org/redistricting2021home

  • WHAT IS GERRYMANDERING?

    • Gerrymandering is the intentional manipulation of the redistricting process by the people in political power to keep or change political power. This can happen in a number of ways, such as by consolidating communities into one district, which gives that community only one representative in the legislature. Or by dividing the community across districts and ensuring that the community is always the minority and less likely to be adequately represented by their representatives. Gerrymandering often protects incumbents and reduces the competitiveness of districts which can lead to depressed voter turnout when voters lose faith in their ability to effect change. Two common forms of gerrymandering are Racial Gerrymandering and Partisan Gerrymandering.

  • WHAT IS RACIAL GERRYMANDERING?

    • Racial Gerrymandering is the intentional manipulation of the redistricting process to reduce the political power of a certain racial group. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 protected voters against racial gerrymandering by requiring states to prove their changes to voting systems, including redistricting, do not have a discriminatory effect. Today, we still often see it show up when states draw maps.

  • WHAT IS PARTISAN GERRYMANDERING?

    • Partisan gerrymandering is when districts are drawn in a way to give an unfair advantage to one political party, group, or incumbent. In 2018, the Supreme Court had the opportunity to set federal standards when states draw their districts that could ultimately curb partisan gerrymandering. Instead, the Supreme Court ruled to allow states to make their own determinations about partisan gerrymandering practices. We know that oftentimes, partisan gerrymandering is used as a way for politicians to get away with racial gerrymandering.

  • WHAT IS THE PEOPLE POWERED FAIR MAPS (TM) PROGRAM?

    • People Powered Fair Maps™ is a national redistricting program of the League of Women Voters focused on creating fair political maps nationwide in all 50 states + D.C. In June of 2019 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Rucho v. League of Women Voters of North Carolina that no fair test exists for courts to determine when partisan gerrymandering has gone too far. As a result, federal courts will be hands-off in the redistricting process even when new district lines are drawn to intentionally decrease the voting power of voters based solely on their political party. People Powered Fair Maps was launched in September 2019 to create fair and transparent, people-powered redistricting processes that eliminate partisan and racial gerrymandering nationwide.

    • People Powered Fair Maps Overview

    • More information

  •  HOW DOES IMPEACHMENT WORK?

    • Impeachment does not mean removal of an elected official from office. Impeachment is the process of bringing charges against a sitting member of the government, including the President, Vice President, and other federal “civil officers.” Impeachable offenses for public officials are outlined in the Constitution as "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” 

      The process of impeachment involves three steps, though the process may end at any one of the three steps, depending on how the body in question votes: 

      1. An investigation in House committees 

      1. A vote of the House to pass articles of impeachment 

      1. A trial and vote in the Senate to convict the official 

    • LEARN MORE HERE