Civilized Conversation of San Diego

This is always one of CivCon's most popular mtgs. We quickly go over statewide (+ local if time) ballot propositions to learn/discuss their meaning and pros and cons. Feel free to bring your ballot guide or sample ballot to mark up.

Some of them are complex, important and controversial; others much less so. For example, Prop 39 would require proof of a govt-issued ID to vote, and 40 41 42 all concern a one-time (40) or never ever (41 42) wealth tax on billionaires. Other props are straightforward bond measures, etc.

There are 14 of them! 1-5 and 37-45. So, DavidG needs volunteers to do simple 5-minute intros for some of them. I will do #1 and 2 to get us started, and also 4, 40, 41, and 42. John Mattes will cover #39 and 45. That leaves six.

It’s not hard to do it. Each prop’s intro should briefly describe:
1. Who's behind it (inc. the big $) and how it got on the ballot.
2. What the prop would do/not do + what voting Yes and NO mean.
3. Basic pros and cons.
4. If you want to, maybe add larger contexts, misleading ads, or other things we maybe should know.

ALL of this info is readily available on the sources I list below, even the money, back stories, and major endorsements. To further help you, I estimated how easy the unassigned ones are to research [R] and how controversial they are [C]. IMO:
Research easy: 5 38. Medium: 3 37. Harder: 43.
Controversy small: 37. Medium: 3 5 38 43. Big: Already covered.

You may have heard that all the White House's big plans to blatantly steal the election in November have been thwarted. The "SAVE Act" did not pass. The Supreme Court blocked the U.S. Postal Service from refusing to deliver mail-in ballots to entire states that refused to turn over their voter rolls to the Trump Administration's hastily built, secretive, and probably deliberately incomplete national voter database. Some red states have refused to do last-minute gerrymanders. And so forth.

Don't believe the battle for a free and fair election is won. Many, many schemes to suppress Democratic votes and rig the counting of ballots are in the works. No longer the big, nationwide stuff, it seems. But enough shenanigans in key places to affect the outcome and further humiliate the USA in the eyes of the world,

Democrats may have a big enough lead now to be beyond the "margin of steal." Still, the gap could narrow, the U.S. Senate is a 50/50 proposition, and many key state and local offices are up for grabs. Suppressing votes and messing with the counting and certifying could help Republican candidates just enough to minimize (or even prevent) the damage voters are poised to inflict on the GOP. Many loyal 2020 election deniers and other MAGA folks that fear "communism" hold key election supervision jobs in exactly the places where they can cause the most harm,

And there may be wildcards. The FBI director last week told a public congressional hearing that its agents WILL show up at polling places to protect voting "integrity." ICE agents, too, probably, will be out and about. (Putting armed agents - govt or non-govt - at polling places is flatly illegal, BTW.) Does Pete Hegseth still have a job because he is the only Secretary of Defense that would obey orders to send troops to polling places and to cities to "maintain order," especially if violence by some protesters provides an excuse?

Don't rule out even nuttier stuff. Mysterious power blackouts in blue cities in red states. Or hacked voting machines. Or court ordered overturns of results.

The last one would be after the election which, IMO, is when the real danger begins. There will be lawsuits over every little nitpicked and imaginary thing, appealed endlessly. Most analysts I read doubt that on January 5th the outgoing GOP-controlled Congress would dare to refuse to seat new members over trumped up allegations that they were fraudulently elected. But with MAGA and President Trump threatening and demanding they do it, who knows?