Presidential Primaries & Caucuses
Primaries and caucuses are two ways that people help states and political parties choose presidential nominees. Learn how they work and the differences between the processes by viewing https://www.usa.gov/primaries-caucuses.
No Party Preference Voters
No Party Preference (NPP) is the selection for voters who do not want to be associated with a particular political party. Many voters mistakenly assume that registering with the American Independent Party keeps them independent from a political party. They only way to register in idependent of a political party in California is by registering as NPP (No Party Preference) or Decline to State.
Voters Choice Act
The Voter’s Choice Act was passed into law in 2016 and first implemented in 2018 in Nevada County and in 4 other California counties. Counties participating in The Voters Choice Act (SB 450) must: 1) mail every active registered voter a ballot; 2) expand in-person early voting; and 3) allow voters to cast a ballot at any vote center within the county. Counties must also conduct robust voter education, engage with community partners, and share their plans for administering elections.
This gives Nevada County voters to choose how, when, and where to cast their ballot. Voters may cast a ballot at any one of our county’s vote centers, which may open as many as 10 days before an election. Voters are not assigned a single polling location; rather, they may visit any vote center.
To learn more about the Voter’s Choice Act, please click here.
How the Judicial System Works
California Budget Process
The State Constitution requires the Governor to submit a budget proposal in the form of a Budget BIll to each house of the legislature no later than January 10 of each year. Although the State Constitution requires that the Budget Bill must be passed by the Legislature no later than midnight, June 15 each year, that deadline is rarely met.
The non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) prepares the “Analysis of the Budget Bill” and publishes it at the end of February. At that same time, the LAO provides an overview of the state’s fiscal picture and identifies major policy issues confronting the Legislature as it works with the budget committees throughout the budget process.
In May, the Governor submits a revision to the original proposed budget, known as “May Review”, taking into account any revised general fund revenues.
The Legislative subcommittees approve, reject, amend or add language to the bill. When the budget is agreed upon by each house, it is sent to the Governor for approval. The Governor is then allowed to apply line-item veto power to reduce or eliminate expenditures or language before approving the budget bill, which places the budgeti into effect.
For more detail see the Explanation of State Budget Process provided by LWV of California.
Campaign Contributions
The most telling way to find out who is supporting or opposing a candidate or ballot proposition is by tracking who is contributing money to the campaigns FOR & AGAINST. Cal-access.sos.ca.gov is provided by the California Secretary of State to provide access to the most current reported financial contributions to candidates and ballot propositions during elections.
Top-Two Primary
With the passage of Prop 14 in June 2010, California voters enacted a Primary Election process for certain offices that includes a single ballot, rather than multiple ballots seperated by political party. In a top-two primary, all candidates from all parties who are running for the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. House, and statewide offices are listed on all ballots regardless of the political party affiliation of the voter. The candidates who are the top two vote-getters advance to the general election, regardless of their partisan affiliations. Consequently, it is possible for two candidates belonging to the same political party to run against each other in the November election. Primary Elections for president and political party officers are partisan and not affected by Top-Two process.
Citizens Initiative Ballot Measure Process
California Ballot Initiatives must be submitted to the State Attorney General along with a $2,000 deposit, refundable upon qualification for the ballot. After a 30-day public review period, the measure is subject to change according to suggestions from citizens and proponents.
The attorney general drafts a title, summary, and a unique identifying number. Signatures may then be gathered from registered California voters. The number of signatures needed to place a measure on the ballot is either 8% (for a constitutional amendment) or 5% (for statue or referendum) of the total number of votes cast for the governor in the preceding election. For elections between 2023-2026, a constitutional amendment requires 875K signatures and otherwise 34K signatures are required. California allows signature gatherers to be paid but does not require circulators to be state residents.
If two or more measures conflict, the measure receiving the greatest number of affirmative votes in the election supersedes the other.
More details on the process and laws governing the initiative process are here.
How to Evaluate a Ballot Proposition
To determine if the measure is seeking changes that are consistent with your ideas about government and if you think the proposed changes will make things better or will cause more problems than it will resolve, you can ask youself these questions:
- Who is really supporting and opposing the measure? Check where the money is coming from at Cal-access.sos.ca.gov to determine the motivations behind the measure.
- Is the measure written well? If it creates conflicts in law or is ambiguous, it will require court resolution to uphold and interpret.
- Does the measure create its own revenue source or does it earmark, restrict or obligate government revenues? Weigh the benefit of securing funding for the measure’s program against the cost of reducing overall flexibility in the budget.
- Does the measure mandate a government program or service without addressing how it will be funded?
- Does the measure deal with one issue that can be easily decided by a YES or NO vote or is it a complex issue that should be thoroughly examined in the legislative arena?
- If the measure amends the Constitution, does it really belong in the Constitution or would a statute accomplish the same purpose? All constitutional amendments require voter approval; what we put into the Constitution would have to come back to the ballot to be changed.
- Be wary of paid advertising that is more emotional than factual.
