The California Chamber of Commerce is urging its members to vote in today’s election.
There are a number of critical down ballot legislative races where CalChamber has been involved that will set the course of the legislature for the next decade.
The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. In order to be counted, vote-by-mail ballots must be returned to an elections official in the voter’s county of residence no later than 8 p.m. today. Ballots received after the polls close cannot be counted regardless of postmarks.
This is the last election cycle to replace members elected under the old term limits law that limited service to six years in the Assembly and eight in the Senate. Over the past two election cycles, more than 80% of the Assembly is now comprised of members who are eligible to serve until 2024/2026. And the class of 2016 will be eligible to remain in office until 2028 so the short-term nature of politics has long-term implications for California’s business community.
California’s voter rolls grew by almost 650,000 in the final six weeks of registration, according to the June 3 report released by Secretary of State Alex Padilla. And three of every four new voters were Democrats.
The deadline to register for Tuesday’s election was May 23.
Of the 646,220 people who registered in the final rush —between April 8 and May 23 — 76% became Democrats. Per the report, 72.29% of eligible California citizens are registered to vote.
For more voter information, visit the website of the secretary of state at http://www.sos.ca.gov/.
