Tag: voter

California Statewide Direct Primary — 2018 A

Joe AuBuchon

Yesterday, the Official Voter Information Guide for the June primary election arrived in the mail. While I will have several sets of comments to make about this in the future, today’s post will deal with just a few points of information.

The election will take place on Tuesday, June 5, 2018.

Polls will be open from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm on election day. (If you are in line when the polls close, you still get to vote.)

May 7, 2018 is the first day to vote-by-mail.

May 21, 2018 is the last day to register to vote. You are eligible to vote if you are:

  • a U. S. citizen living in California
  • at least 18 years of age
  • registered where you currently live
  • not currently in state or federal prison or on parole for the conviction of a felony
  • not currently found mentally incompetent to vote by a court

The California Secretary of State’s Website — http://www.sos.ca.gov/ — gives you access to election information:

  • The Voter Guide
  • Registration information and status
  • Find polling place or vote center on Election Day
  • Get vote-by-mail ballot information
  • First-time voters
  • Research campaign contributions and lobbying activity (follow the money):
  • Watch live election results after poll close on Election Day

Register to Vote

Register to Vote: http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voter-registration/

There is something that is new this year, at least I’ve never seen it before: Pre-registration for 16 and 17 year olds. If you are 16 or 17 years old, you may pre-register and on your 18th birthday you will automatically be registered to vote. Just go to: http://www.RegisterToVote.ca.gov and click on the “Pre-Reigster to Vote” button and complete the information requested.

All of the above information, and more (96 pages of it) is available in the Voter Guide.

Remember, we live in a representative democracy. In a representative democracy a nation’s citizens elect people to govern for them. If you want a say in electing these people, you need to be registered to vote and then actually vote.

We are taught that as citizens we have a right to vote. Well, along with the right to vote I believe that we have a duty. I believe that we have a duty to educate ourselves about the issues and candidates and then to cast our votes accordingly.

Whether you are a centrist or you lean to the left or right of the political spectrum; whether you believe we are on the correct track politically or believe we are going to heck-in-a-handbasket; if you wish your opinion to be heard by the powers-that-be, you need to vote.

Of course, if you favor candidates and policies that are opposed to those I espouse and don’t vote, I won’t cry about it.

But, I will say: “If you don’t vote and things don’t go the way you want, don’t complain. You had your chance.”

Election 2016 — Reading Level

Joe AuBuchon

Election 2016

California Voter Guide Reading Level Analysis

In my previous post I stated that I was thinking of doing an analysis of the reading level of the California Voter Information Guide. Well, I’ve carried through on my threat.

election voter information guide for californiaI am not a reading teacher nor a statistician, but I have used the Grammar Analysis tools available in various editions of MS Word to analyze the textbooks I have used as well as many of my assignments, tests and notes to both students and parents.

This involves either the typing or a Copy/Paste of the text to be analyzed into a MS Word document and then running the Spelling and Grammar check on the selected text.

MS Word gives you two measures of reading levels: (and, no, they do not move in lock-step with each other)

  • The first, Flesch Reading Ease, gives a number which indicates how easy or difficult the text is to read. A high number indicates the text is easy to read and a low number indicates that the text is difficult to read.
  • The second, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, gives a number which indicates the grade level difficulty of the text.

As an example, the text above has a Flesch Reading Ease number of 57.3 and a Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level of 11.1 with my edition of MS Word. (Word for Mac 2011)

In doing my analysis I used the on-line edition of the 2016 California Voter Information Guide which is available at: http://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/

The MS Word document I created to do the analysis came to some thirty-two pages in length and I am not going to post it to this blog.

Analysis — The California Secretary of State’s Letter to California Voters

  • Flesch Reading Ease:                        47.6
  • Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level:         9.9

Analysis — Quick Reference Guide to Proposition 51 (School Bonds)

  • Flesch Reading Ease:                        36.2
  • Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level:         10.9

Analysis — Quick Reference Guide Proposition 64 (Marijuana Legalization)

  • Flesch Reading Ease:                        32.6
  • Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level:         11.6

Analysis — Analysis of the Legislative Analyst of Proposition 51

  • Flesch Reading Ease:                        36.2
  • Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level:         12.0

Analysis — Analysis of the Legislative Analyst of Proposition 64

  • Flesch Reading Ease:                        30.7
  • Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level:         12.0

Analysis — Argument in Favor of Proposition 51

  • Flesch Reading Ease:                        41.6
  • Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level:         10.6

Analysis — Argument Against Proposition 51

  • Flesch Reading Ease:                        48.3
  • Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level:         9.7

Analysis — Rebuttal to the Argument in Favor of Proposition 51

  • Flesch Reading Ease:                        58.2
  • Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level:         7.4

Analysis — Rebuttal to the Argument Against Proposition 51

  • Flesch Reading Ease:                        52.1
  • Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level:         8.3

Analysis — Argument in Favor of Proposition 64

  • Flesch Reading Ease:                        30.8
  • Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level:         12.0

Analysis — Argument Against Proposition 64

  • Flesch Reading Ease:                        38.5
  • Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level:         12.0

Analysis — Rebuttal to the Argument in Favor of Proposition 64

  • Flesch Reading Ease:                        33.5
  • Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level:         12.0

Analysis — Rebuttal to the Argument Against Proposition 64

  • Flesch Reading Ease:                        39.2
  • Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level:         11.4

Analysis — Text of the first three paragraphs of Section 2 of the proposed law (Prop 64)

  • Flesch Reading Ease:                        19.5
  • Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level:         12.0

Analysis — Kamala D. Harris Candidate Statement (Senator)

  • Flesch Reading Ease:                        45.8
  • Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level:         11.5

Analysis — Loretta L. Sanchez Candidate Statement (Senator)

  • Flesch Reading Ease:                        41.2
  • Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level:         12.0

Analysis — California Voter Bill of Rights

  • Flesch Reading Ease:                        62.9
  • Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level:         8.6

Conclusion

As I stated earlier I am not a credentialed reading teacher nor am I statistician. I am an American citizen and voter with an interest in our current election and our nation’s future.

election bannerThe above “analysis” is not scientific; it is personal. I have taken what I believe to be representative sections of the Voter Information Guide and subjected them to an easy to use and verify reading level analysis. Other tools and sections may (and probably will) give different results.

If you are interested in the California Voter Information Guide, it is available at: http://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/

If you are interested in analyzing reading levels, there are numerous articles available on-line via any search engine.

If you wish to analyze any of the California Voter Information Guide for yourself, MS Word’s Grammar Check is easy to use. I do not know the status of reading level checks available on other currently available word processors.

If you are concerned about the “average” American being able to read the California Voter Information Guide you might start here: https://nces.ed.gov/pubs93/93275.pdf   —   It’s a 2003 document and I don’t know if there is a more recent study available.

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You might just enter: “average reading level of the American voter” or something like it into your search engine.

And, please, remember that your vote counts just the same as that of Mr. Trump or Mrs. Clinton (and just the same as that person you think is an idiot who lives down the street) so: VOTE!election - register to vote

Best Wishes for an “interesting” election season. Ho, ho, ho . . .

Election 2016

Joe AuBuchon

A few thoughts on the 2016 Presidential Election

Yesterday, my copy of Orange County’s Sample Ballot & Voter Information Pamphlet arrived containing quite a bit of information.

The beginning was devoted to how, when and where I can vote. I’ve been voting Absentee / Vote-by-Mail for the last few elections. I can fill out my ballot at home in peace and quiet, without any lines, and drop my ballot at my neighborhood fire station, which is just a couple of minutes of walking down the street. I used to drop it off at the polling place in the auditorium of the school at which I was teaching.Election Cats

One page showed the endorsements of the Democratic, Republican, and American Independent parties on the Senatorial, Congressional and State Legislature races.

Another explained items concerning the Presidential (party-nominated offices), California Top-Two Primary and County or Local Offices (nonpartisan).

Then came a page listing party name abbreviations (e.g.: DEM – Democratic) and also listing candidates for the State Senate and State Assembly districts in Orange County.

The next page listed the Voting Service Centers (6) where you could drop of your Vote-by-Mail ballot, get a replacement ballot or receive other voter assistance.

Next, several pages of candidate statements for those running for Congress and state and local offices.

Section 7 contained six pages on Measure O — a bond issue ($63,000,000) for repairs and upgrades for the Fountain Valley School District.

Election CatsThe Sample Ballot / Practice Ballot followed; three pages in length and fourth blank page — “This page left intentionally blank”

Page 34 contained a plea to volunteer on Election Day; page 35 had a copy of the Voter Bill of Rights and then a final page asking if my information was correct.

The back cover had my mailing address, my polling place, a postage paid postcard so I could volunteer and in the lower right hand corner a paragraph on how to sign up for a “paperless” Sample Ballot.

Oh, yeah, I should get my Vote-by-Mail Ballot sometime next week — they begin to get mailed out on the 11th (Tuesday).

Now I’m waiting for my copy of the California State Voter Guide — maybe I can then figure out how to vote on the seventeen (17) state propositions without having to depend on the always too rosy / too gloomy / too deceptive / too self-interestry television commercials and newspaper endorsements.

While reading following the baseball and football games last night (and having the late-evening news on in the background) Smoke and Mist kept me company — thus, the gratuitous cat pictures in today’s post.