Election November 2018 Voter Guide, Endorsements, and Activism
(Guía Progresiva de Votaciones Noviembre 2018)
The most important midterm election in our lifetime.
It will be decided by turnout.
Young people, brown people, and democrats don't bother to vote as much as old, white, republicans. Besides voting yourself, broadcast the call for everyone you know to vote, donate to combat voter suppression, and do phone or text banking for critical races around the country.
Every race matters. Republicans are using obscure offices like "secretary of state" to suppress voting, and to tilt the playing field to the rich.
Republicans are coming for your health care to pay for tax cuts for the rich...
Encouraging exploitation of workers and destruction of the earth's life support systems by billionaire donors.
On this page
Endorsements
Focused on Santa Barbara, CA. You can figure out much about other local races by checking the sources.
Explanation is given only where the choice was not obvious, or the effect of particular interest.
=State=
- Governor Gavin Newsom
- Leutinant Governor Ed Hernandez
- Secretary of State Alex Padilla
- State Controller Betty T. Yee
- State Treasurer Fiona Ma
- Attorney General Xavier Becerra
- Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara
- Board of Equalization Dist. 2 – Malia Cohen
=United States Senator=
- Kevin de León Diane Feinstein was great, but it's time for someone younger and more agressive.
=United States Representative=
- 24th District: Salud Carbajal
- 25th District: Katie Hill
- 26th District: Julia Brownley
=Member of State Assembly=
- 37th District:Monique Limón
- 38th District: Christy Smith
- 44th District: Jacqui Irwin
- 35th District: William Ostrander
=Judicial=
- JCarol A. Corrigan: NO
- Leondra R. Kruger: YES
- Victoria G. Chaney:NO
- Helen Bendix: YES
- Elwood G. Lui:YES
- Victoria M. Chavez: NO
- Luis A. Lavin: YES
- Halim Dhanidina: YES
- Anne H. Egerton: YES
- Nora M. Manella:YES
- Thomas Willhite: NO
- Doris C. Kim: YES
- Carl H. Moor: YES
- Lamar W. Baker: YES
- Arthur Gilbert: YES
- Martin Tangeman: YES
- Gail R. Feuer:YES
- John Segal: YES
- Tricia A. Bigelow: NO
=School=
- Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony K. Thurmond
- Santa Barbara Community College District Trustee Area 5 Marsha Croninger
- Santa Barbara Unified School District Governing Board Member: Ismael Ulloa, Rose Muñoz
=State Measures=
- Prop. 1 – Yes
- Prop. 2 –Yes
- Prop. 3 – No
- Prop. 4 –Yes
- Prop. 5 – No
- Prop. 6 –No
- Prop. 7 –Yes
- Prop. 8 –Yes
- Prop. 9 – Removed by Court Order
- Prop. 10 –Yes
- Prop. 11 –Yes?
- Prop. 12 –Yes
=County Measures-Santa Barbara=
- Measure G ‘good’ method: YES
- Measure H ‘horrible’ method: NO
=City Measures-Santa Barbara =
- Measure B Santa Barbara Election Consolidation—Yes.
This will improve turnout, which will lead to more progressive outcomes. - Measure C Succession—Yes.
=Carpenteria =
- X Carpinteria Sales Tax Yes
- Carpinteria City Council Gregg Carty, Al Clark, and Brad Stein
=Goleta=
- Mayor Paula Perotte
- Water board Kathleen werner, Matthias Eusterbrock
Activism
Volunteer for a phone bank shift any time between now and the election, for example. The races listed are crucial for the balance of power. If democrats regain the House of Representatives, they will have the power to investigate Trump, get his tax returns
Indivisible—Effective local actions around the country.
Donate
Donate to support Native American voting in North Dakota—The battle to win back the Senate may be decided in two majority Native American counties in North Dakota, where the State is going all out to suppress the Native vote in a way that sounds more like 1850 than 2018. If democrats gain the senate, they will stop Trump from appointing any more Supreme Court justices, the disaster that Gabe mentioned.
Register to Vote: CA Registration Deadline = Oct 22nd.
Make it easier on yourself going foward by voting by mail (deadline to switch to vote by mail=Oct 30th, 7 days before election).
Help your 16-17 year old kids pre-register to vote; they will automatically be registered when they turn 18.
Stay Informed
Voting With Your Middle Finger: Two Views On The White Working Class—This is the best explanation yet for how the *%@# anyone could have voted for Trump. Listening to this made me a better person.
Washington Post—Middle (note: reality has a liberal bias)
Rachel Maddow—Middle left
Democracy Now—Far left
Sources
I find the State voter guide pretty useless; it's just competitng sales pitches, which are often totally misleading. More instructive is who is supporting what, and why:
SB Independent
https://www.independent.com/news/2018/oct/04/2018-election-endorsements/
https://www.independent.com/news/2018/sep/27/school-board-races-loaded-candidates/
Noozehawk
https://www.noozhawk.com/article/democratic_party_of_santa_barbara_county_makes_endorsements
SB Sierra Club
https://www.sierraclub.org/los-padres/santa-barbara/november-2018-general-election-endorsements
SB Democrats
http://www.sbdems.org/
https://www.cadem.org/vote/body/CDP-2018-Endorsements-Official-18-08-31.pdf
Excellent Summary of everyone’s diverse Ballot Proposition
Recommendations
https://www.californiachoices.org/
Summary of Ballot Proposition Recommendations From Green Party of California
http://cagreens.org/elections/2018-fall
LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/endorsements/la-ed-endorsement-wrapup-20181019-story.html
Judges
My voters guide for Democrats in LA County
OPPOSITE DAY:
Sometimes when it is confusing which way to vote, it can be helpful to see what the opposition is thinking. Here's evangelical Christian's recommendations, whcih are especially helpful for the judiciary:
http://www.electionforum.org/
https://conservativevoter.org/
http://www.christianvoterguide.com/