There's a lot at stake in this election. Besides electing our future leaders, Californians will vote on statewide initiatives that will strongly impact our civil liberties and civil rights. While the American Civil Liberties Union is nonpartisan and does not endorse candidates, we do weigh in on ballot measures that affect our civil rights and civil liberties.
Register to vote in the November election [https://www.letmevoteca.org/how-to-vote/register-to-vote/], and have your voice heard on the following California propositions:
You can download a printable sheet here.
YES on 55 | Tax Extension – Extends Prop 30’s personal income tax increases on incomes over $250,000 for an additional 12 years. Will raise $8-11 billion a year to fund K-12 education and community colleges. An additional $2 billion a year will go to health care for low-income children, seniors, and their families.
YES on 57 | Allows judges, not prosecutors, to decide whether to try certain juveniles as adults in court and increases parole and good behavior opportunities for felons convicted of nonviolent crimes.
YES on 58 | Gives local communities control over how to teach bilingual education and helps students learn English more effectively and allows for all students to learn a second language.
YES on 62 | Repeals the outdated, costly and failed death penalty in California and makes life without the possibility of parole the maximum punishment for murder.
YES on 64 | Makes marijuana legal for adults 21 and over, representing a significant step forward in drug law reform in California. The initiative would remove criminal penalties for marijuana use, cultivation, and sale and in doing so, also eliminate substantial collateral consequences that flow from arrests and criminal convictions, essentially ending the state's devastating war on marijuana
NO on 66 | Would move complicated death penalty appeals from the state Supreme Court to local county courts, forcing the state to hire hundreds of unqualified attorneys to try death penalty cases before inexperienced judges. It would increase the risk that California will execute an innocent person—an irreversible mistake—because it removes protections for those who have been wrongfully convicted.
If you haven't registered to vote, it is not too late. Register to vote in the General Election by October 24 [https://www.letmevoteca.org/how-to-vote/register-to-vote/].
Please don't forget to vote on November 8. Polls open at 7:00 a.m. and close at 8:00 p.m.
Our democracy and our civil liberties are counting on you.
Download our ballot initiative voting guide here.
