With no end in sight for the Covid-19 pandemic, the November elections are shaping up to be an unprecedented test of the nation’s voting system. So, on this edition of KCBS In Depth, as election officials surge vote by mail systems and harden polling places, we take a closer look at the effort to create a socially distanced election. Then in the second half we speak with a longtime election reform advocate about what voters need to know to make sure their votes do indeed get counted this fall.
There are more than 100 days until Election Day. But with major changes ahead for how Californians will vote and a lot of misinformation floating around, elections expert Kim Alexander believes people should get prepared now.
A non-profit that works to improve the election process in the Golden State is $25,000 richer this weekend.
And KCBS Radio reporter Melissa Culross tells us the California Voter Foundation will be using that money to help people cast their ballots in November. (Full Audio)
Following the harrowing scenes of voters braving long lines and exposure to the coronavirus during Wisconsin’s primary election last week, there is a renewed discussion of the importance of vote-by-mail options.
Kim Alexander is president of the California Voter Foundation (CVF), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization she re-founded in 1994 and dedicated to improving the voting process to better serve voters, online at www.calvoter.org. CVF is a longtime leader in advancing the responsible use of technology in the democratic process, by pioneering online voter education, online campaign finance disclosure, and voter-verified paper ballot records and auditing requirements for computerized voting systems.
Combined with more than half a million votes that the registrar has received through the mail, that would already represent a 13% turnout for L.A. County, if all the votes cast so far are counted.
The new system has its advantages, says Kim Alexander of the California Voter Foundation, a voter outreach and research nonprofit. She said there have been bumps as the new system has been rolled out, but called the vote centers “a good fail safe for a place like Los Angeles where we have millions of voters.”
Chuck Yates arrived at his Palm Springs polling place on Super Tuesday, prepared to vote by paper ballot as he always has. But things didn’t go as he had planned.
“I showed up, I gave my name and they said, ‘you voted by mail,’’ he said. “I said, ‘no, I didn’t.’”
A poll worker handed him a provisional ballot, which he begrudgingly filled out.
Many voters in Los Angeles County had to stand in line for hours to vote on Super Tuesday. There were reports of glitchy equipment and confused staff, even though L.A. County was using new touch screen machines that were supposed to make voting faster and more convenient.
Guest: Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation (audio)
For the first time since passing a 2017 law moving California's primary election date from June to March, the state's nearly 20 million registered voters are able to cast their ballots on Super Tuesday. California is one of 20 states allowing same-day voter registration where citizens can cast a provisional ballot. We'll take your voter registration and Election Day questions and we'll check in on how smoothly the voting process is going in the Bay Area.
California Voter Foundation President Kim Alexander is celebrating 25 years since the organization was ‘relaunched’ in 1994 – she sat down with John Howard and Tim Foster of the CW podcast to talk about the history of CVF and what her top concerns are a quarter century after the kickoff. (listen here)
California Voter Foundation President Kim Alexander is celebrating 25 years since the organization was ‘relaunched’ in 1994 – she sat down with John Howard and Tim Foster of the CW podcast to talk about the history of CVF and what her top concerns are a quarter century after the kickoff. (
