Federal Election Day could become a holiday in California, and to get the process going, Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced today that Roy Benson, the proponent of a new initiative, can begin collecting petition signatures for his measure. more ›

Reaction to the killing of two couples at the hands of Somali pirates aboard the SoCal-based yacht The Quest has been widespread among Americans. Jean and Scott Adam are being remembered as "gentle and adventurous" Christian missionaries who loved sailing, and were passionate about their faith, according to the Daily Breeze. more ›

With 100% of the precincts counted, a picture is emerging to illustrate just what parts of California favored passing Proposition 19, and legalizing recreational marijuana. This map, published by the Secretary of State, shows that although the vote was not heavily weighted in one direction, with 53.9% of the vote for opposed and 46.1% of the vote in favor, just a handful of counties had a majority Yes vote. Los Angeles County, however, was not one of them, and the vote split was very similar to the statewide rate, 47.4% in favor to 52.6% opposed. more ›

Last night Jerry Brown was named Governor, Barbara Boxer retained her Senate seat, and Gavin Newsom won the Lt. Governor's race. While who will take Brown's job as Attorney General still remains too tight to call, the rest of the state-level contests have been declared, and, when applicable, in favor of the Democrats. more ›

November 2nd is a big election day for California. Residents will vote on nine propositions and for a number of elected officials, most notably Governor, Attorney General and U.S. Senate. Currently, 16.99 million Californians are registered to vote, but are you? Monday, October 18th is the last day to register. If you need, the Secretary of State's office has put together an informative webpage on registering. more ›

Thursday was the deadline for any propositions to quality for the November 2nd ballot. When all was said and done, California ended up with ten that will surely be debated over the coming months. more ›

A fifth measure qualified for California's November ballot today, Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced this afternoon. If approved by voters, the state could no longer make a habit of raiding tax revenues that fund transportation projects and services in cities and other local jurisdictions. For a local example... more ›

A new initiative that would increase the tax on alcohol was cleared for signature gathering today by the Secretary of State's Office. And it's not a modest tax increase, it's huge. Tax on a six-pack of beer would increase from 6-cents to $6.08. And say goodbye to two-buck chuck--a tax on a 750 ml bottle of wine would go from 4-cents to $5.11. And the tax on a 750 ml bottle of distilled spirits would increase from from 65-cents to $17.57. more ›

80 initiatives and referenda and are out and about around the state with advocates trying to collect enough signatures so they can qualify for an upcoming election ballot. You might see people at farmers markets asking you to support... more ›

A myriad of groups who oppose banning gay marriage (and who rather not have the fight happen on November's ballot) are suing Secretary of State, Debra Bowen alleging that the signature gathering process to put the proposal on the ballot was flawed (it's now known as Prop 8). One reason Daily Kos explains is that "the description of the proposed initiative in the petitions that were circulated for signature was materially misleading and materially misstated the effect of the proposed initiative to the electors signing the petitions to qualify the measure for the ballot." more ›