When a September poll signaled that California voters were ready to approve a tough-on-crime ballot initiative that reversed decade-old criminal justice reforms, Gov. Gavin Newsom claimed to be surprised.
“I was wondering what state I’m living in,” he told reporters. He’s living in a state that isn’t nearly as deep blue as it seems.
The November election results revealed the Golden State to be red with a fringe of blue and splotches of purple. If that sounds more like a bruise than a map, it captures the mood of the electorate very well.
Battered by some of the nation’s highest taxes, utility bills, gasoline prices, housing costs, insurance rates, and grocery receipts — and suffering from public policies that seem to encourage crime, drug use, homeless encampments, and business departures — California’s residents are fed up.
And took their frustrations to the voting booth.
On Nov. 5, voters in and around Vice President Kamala Harris’ hometown of Oakland threw out Mayor Sheng Thao and Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price in separate recall elections.
In Los Angeles County, voters ejected hyper-progressive District Attorney George Gascón.
Both cities are suffering from surges in crime and homelessness.
In San Francisco, voters tossed Mayor London Breed by a 13-point margin and replaced her with a more moderate Democrat, Daniel Lurie, who vowed to end the “perception that lawlessness is an acceptable part of life.”
Some Californians suspect that lawlessness may have infected the state’s elections.
A week after the polls closed, only about 80% of the vote had been counted.
What takes so long?
The Golden State takes a particularly expansive-yet-labor-intensive approach to voting. The California Code of Regulations, Section 20991, requires counties to accept mail ballots for seven days after Election Day.
No postmark is required as long as “the voter has dated the vote-by-mail ballot identification envelope or the envelope otherwise indicates that the ballot was executed on or before Election Day.”
The window for delivering mail ballots to county offices finally closed on Nov. 12.
California mails a ballot to every active registered voter, about 22 million in all. In-person voting is also available, and no ID is required.
In fact, when the city of Huntington Beach amended its charter earlier this year to require voter ID, Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber filed a lawsuit to strike down the requirement.
Then Newsom signed Senate Bill 1174, forbidding any city in California from passing its own voter ID mandate.
“The implementation of voter identification laws in municipal elections conflicts with California’s established, well-balanced methods of ensuring election integrity across the state,” the new law declared.
Not everyone is convinced.
Last week, as Newsom called an emergency special session of the legislature to “Trump-proof” the state’s “California values,” the president-elect posted on his Truth Social account that he “will be DEMANDING THAT VOTER I.D., AND PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP, ARE A NECESSARY PART AND COMPONENT OF THE VOTING PROCESS!”
A recent Gallup poll found that 83% of Americans support a requirement for proof of citizenship to register and 84% support requiring a photo ID to vote.
Trump’s support has grown in California. His share of the popular vote was 31.6% in 2016 and 34.3% in 2020. This year it hit 40% before falling back to 38.2% as more ballots were counted.
Still, that’s a double-digit increase.
Republican US Senate candidate and former Major League Baseball All-Star Steve Garvey did even better in his campaign against Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff. Garvey scored 41% of the statewide vote. Only 25% of registered voters are Republicans.
Garvey’s campaign announced in September that it was spending at least $5 million on television, radio, and digital ads targeting California’s Latino community.
“This all-in Latino community strategy is unprecedented in statewide campaigns in California, by either Democratic or Republican candidates,” the campaign said.
Garvey’s effort may have helped Trump, whose nationwide support from Latino voters was 45% according to NBC exit polls, up 13 points from 2020.
California seems more liberal than it is because the legislature is 77% Democrat. Because of this, there’s little to stop the state’s looniest leftist proposals from becoming what Newsom is fond of calling “national leadership.”
But when ordinary Californians vote on ballot measures, the results are often neither loony nor leftist.
Voters rejected Propositions 5 and 33 last week, which would have unleashed extravaganzas of property tax increases and rent control ordinances, respectively.
They also said no to eliminating work requirements for prison inmates.
And the popular tough-on-crime measure, Prop. 36, sailed to victory with 69% of the vote despite Newsom’s opposition.
“Sounds like the voters know where Newsom is. He’s in their way.”
Susan Shelley is a columnist and editorial writer for the Southern California News Group and vice president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. On X.com @Susan_Shelley.
