I agree that the young voters voice was mission from this last election. That is unfortunate they do not see their vote counts. What is taking away the motivation of our young people. This group continually refreshes all of us so we stay on top of what is all new in the world.

IMHO nothing is really legal at the state level, if federal law takes precedence. Anyone that has gotten even just a traffic ticket has come to have respect for the law.

Don't claim to have answers, would suspect this is a barrier. Hard to feel like your totally safe.

Thanks, Charles.

Prop 19 lost 46-54 Tuesday by around a half a million votes, and those lack of votes can be attributed to: youth voter apathy, funding problems, and a powerful attack from the front and the rear, among other factors. An exit poll done by Edison Research of 2,200 precincts Tuesday found just 10 percent of voters considered Prop 19 their number one issue. Paid for by the Los Angeles Times, the Edison poll showed half of voters thought the governor's race was the main event. Even among young voters, Prop 19 came in third in importance.

Read our full analysis here.

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/LegalizationNation/archives/2010/11/03/why-prop-19-lost-apathy-cash-fear-loathing

Great qeustion. I have looked and can't find anything either.

Go Here.

http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/registration-status/index.htm

Go to http://california.evoter.com/ - if you enter your address, you'll see every candidate and race on your ballot (including judges and ballot measures). Candidates can post profiles and organizations can show their endorsements (you can highlight the ballot). You check off your choices and print it out to take to the polls with you as a voting guide.

Just go to your county registrar of voters. Most of them have a computer look-up that you can use there. If they don't, a registrar's clerk can look it up for you.

Redman2010,
We'd love to be able to do more in-depth pieces on many of the topics and candidates on the November ballot, but we don't have the resources.

It's not going to help the economy that much except in cities that actually vote to regulate it themselves. Seeing how many cities are trying to shut down the medical dispensaries, I dont think their are going to be that many that will accept the legalization of weed totally. Not to mention the court costs once it goes to court. Which it will because prop 19 goes against United Nation treaties and the fact that the President of Mexico has already written to Obama and the head of the DEA to fight it if it goes through. We are talking about huge headaches in California for the right to have an ounce of weed on you which is now legal anyways thanks to the Governator.

It's partly controversial because Measure J, a $95 million construction bond, would pay for the replacement of Anna Yates Elementary School, and that school was just renovated two years ago at a cost of $9 million.

We will have a story about Measure J in this week's paper.

I think it's a safe bet that Whitman would not defend Prop 19 if it passes and that Brown would. Brown refused to defend Prop 8 because he concluded that it violated the US Constitution. Although he opposes Prop 19, his office has yet to make the same assertion about it.

The fate of Prop 19 also will be in the hands of the new attorney general. And LA County DA Steve Cooley has already strongly indicated that he believes Prop 19 will be illegal if it passes. SF DA Kamala Harris, by contrast, likely will defend it if she's elected.

There is only one judicial race in Alameda County. It features Victoria Kolakowski, a former defense attorney and currently an administrative law judge, against John Creighton, a county prosecutor. Both candidates appear to be well-qualified. In the June primary, the East Bay Express endorsed Kolakowski, noting that recent judicial appointments have been dominated by ex-prosecutors, and that she will bring a fresh perspective to the court. Kolakowski won the most votes in that primary, and if elected, she also will be the first transgendered superior court judge in the nation.

Nice summary, Samuel. One minor correction: If Prop. 27 gets more votes, the power to draw Congressional districts will go back to the state Legislature, which traditionally has done that job.

I think that the ultimate outcome of prop 19 is anyone's guess. Should prop 19 pass, I do think you're right that neither Brown nor Whitman would vigorously defend it. However, who's to say that the federal government would be vigorous to overturn prop 19? I don't see the Obama administration trying to make a huge issue of this because doing so risks alienating a big part of the liberal base. I understand that the DOJ is an independent agency, but don't be surprised if it prioritize other matters that conveniently comports with the political sensitivities of the Obama administration.

It appears to be a mixed bag. The fact that she's an outsider, who has never held political office before, could have been an advantage in this anti-incumbent year, particularly among independent voters who are fed up with the status quo. However, that's likely being offset by the fact that she was fired from HP and that her tenure with the company is generally considered to have been a failure.

Governor Schwarzenegger and the Legislature agreed in August to remove Prop 18 -- the huge water infrastructure bond -- from the ballot. The governor said he didn't think the measure would pass in 2010 and believes it will have a better shot at winning in 2012. The $11 billion bond measure had come under intense criticism in part because it would have allowed the transfer of publicly-financed water storage facilities to private interests.