LOS ANGELES - Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Thursday to require county officials to mail a ballot to every registered voter for the November election, cementing into law the Democratic governor’s earlier order to mail out ballots statewide in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
SACRAMENTO — California will take the unprecedented step of mailing a ballot to every active registered voter this fall after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Thursday intended to protect the November election against potential disruption by the coronavirus pandemic.
AB860 will also require county officials to count any ballot that is received within 17 days of the election, as long as it’s postmarked by election day. That’s two weeks longer than under current law, which sets a cutoff of the Friday after the election.
The San Diego County Office of Education, along with the California Department of Education, announced a free suicide prevention training program Wednesday available online to middle and high school staff and students throughout the state.
As California inches closer to the November election, new survey results suggest that nearly three-quarters of likely voters support a move to mail-in ballots opposed by President Donald Trump and Republican leaders.
The Public Policy Institute of California’s latest survey, which polled 1,706 adults statewide in late May, shows an “overwhelming majority” support such a policy.
Voters’ views differ by political party, however.
Making it safe to vote during a pandemic shouldn’t be a partisan issue. But Republicans, including and especially the president, are turning it into one.
On Monday, the U.S. Census Bureau will reopen several Bay Area field offices it shuttered amid the coronavirus pandemic, which also put a stop to most census outreach and forced a months-long delay for the 2020 count.
Starting on Memorial Day, field offices covering most of Marin, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties will reopen to allow census staff to drop off a questionnaire at any home that doesn’t have a traditional mailing address — that’s mostly in rural areas and places that rely on P.O. boxes.
Local lawmakers awed at the depth of the severe spending cuts proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in the revised California budget racked by COVID-19, while echoing calls for federal support to help the state weather the economic storm.
Assemblymen Kevin Mullin, D-South San Francisco, and Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto, along with state Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, acknowledged the painful decisions ahead of the July budget deadline.
San Mateo County’s elected leaders, including those from local, state and federal offices are standing with the API Caucus in San Mateo County against racism and xenophobia.
Those pledging to support actions against hate crime and assaults on Asians include U.S. representatives Jackie Speier and Anna Eshoo, state Sen. Jerry Hill and assemblymen Kevin Mullin, Marc Berman and Phil Ting. According to U.S. Census 2018 and 2019 estimates, some 30% of San Mateo County’s 766,570 residents are of Asian heritage, compared with 15.3% for all of California, according to a press release.
Assemblyman Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) is proposing that every California voter get a ballot in the mail, in case the coronavirus outbreak requires physical distancing during the November election.
"It's critically important that we create a system that provides maximum safety and reliability for voters and for the people who volunteer at the polls," Berman said.
Under the proposal, which Berman plans to introduce as Assembly Bill 860, limited in-person voting would still be available.
By Marc Berman
What if I told you that, in exchange for just a few minutes of your time, you could personally generate from the comfort of your home thousands of dollars for your community? And, if you have a spouse and two kids, that the amount would increase to tens of thousands of dollars? Sounds like a pretty good deal, right?
It is — and all you have to do is answer nine questions. That is the power of the national once-a-decade population count known as the Census.