Election Day, turnout predictions, and local thoughts on Prop 36
Good afternoon and happy Election Day eve, though, “happy” is far from the mood of the country, and Election Day is more likely to be Election Week, or maybe even Election Month.
The only thing Tuesday still guarantees is the deadline to cast your ballot. If you haven’t done so, Santa Cruz County Clerk Tricia Webber recommends dropping the mail-in ballot off at the county’s election office, voting in person or hand-delivering the ballot to your local post office and watching an employee postmark it. Ballots must be dropped off by the time polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Night. Personally, I enjoy the tradition of voting in person on Election Day, so perhaps I will see you there.
On Friday, I spoke with Webber about the energy surrounding this election, which she believes could swell into one of the highest voter turnouts the county has seen. The 2008 presidential election between Barack Obama and John McCain remains the high-water mark for local voter participation, when 86.7% of registered Santa Cruz County voters cast ballots. The second-highest turnout, 86%, happened four years ago. Although Webber stopped short of predicting a record turnout, she said the participation rate could reach the mid-80s this year and challenge 2008.
As of 1:46 a.m. on Monday, the California Secretary of State reported Santa Cruz County’s early voting turnout at 42.6%.
Andrew Goldenkranz, chair of the local chapter of the Democratic Central Committee, also foresees a local turnout rate in the mid-80s.
Deep blue Santa Cruz County has experienced a sort of political left brain drain this election cycle as many locals shifted their energy toward turning out battleground-state voters for Vice President Kamala Harris. Goldenkranz recently spent four “intense” days in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, to help a ground-game campaign operation move the needle for Harris. Former Santa Cruz mayor Don Lane has been camped out in Flagstaff, Arizona, since September to assist a campaign operation focused on motivating Harris voters. The local DCC has also pitched in to fund a weekly, nine-bus caravan of Central Coast Democrats to Reno, Nevada, focused on the same thing.
“The energy this year has been pretty distinctive from previous elections,” Goldenkranz said of the work of blue California’s election-time diaspora. “The transition of vanloads of people to now busloads of people [traveling to get the vote out in other states] is pretty new. We’re not worried about our congressional or state legislature elections, so we’re in a position to send resources out. There’s always been some of that, but they’ve really cranked it up this year.”
However, this outsourcing of focus comes with trade-offs. In Santa Cruz, the Measure Z campaign pushing for a 2-cents-per-fluid-ounce tax on most sugar-sweetened drinks has largely failed to motivate donors. Outside of a $20,000 donation from the American Heart Association, the Campaign for a Healthier Santa Cruz had raised only about $19,800 as of Oct. 19, while racking up expenses of more than $43,000. By comparison, the Measure Z opponents, backed by the monied American Beverage Association, have spent $1.7 million in donations from four big U.S. soda companies, to defeat the measure.
Santa Cruz City Councilmember Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson acknowledged the fundraising struggle, calling it “harder than I anticipated.”
“People are focused on the national election, as they should be,” Kalantari-Johnson said. “That’s where they’re sending their resources.”
OF NOTE
Prop 36 prospective: Proposition 36, the statewide ballot initiative that would increase penalties for theft and drug crimes that Prop 47 loosened 10 years ago, has divided state lawmakers and local officials. Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state’s top Democrats have come out strongly against the bill, arguing that a surgical legislative package is the solution for reform, not a blunt-force ballot initiative.
Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley believes that even in his city, where progressive politics are central to its sense of self, Prop 36 will comfortably pass despite its ethos as a law-and-order initiative.
“The legislature failed the electorate on these issues,” Keeley said. “The body politic is clear that the current arc of the law is not doing enough to address certain crimes. This isn’t going to be close in the city of Santa Cruz.”
If Santa Cruzans say yes to Prop 36, as he predicts, Keeley said it will mark not only a “big moment” in the city’s history, but also one for self-reflection on its progressive identity.
POINTS FOR PARTICIPATION
Workbench’s latest proposal for Santa Cruz’s Westside: Local developer Workbench’s New FMali project proposes a 220,000-square-foot, six-story mixed-use development with 120 residential units at 831 Almar Ave., right behind the Almar Shopping Center, home to the Parish Pub, Wingstop and Ace Hardware. The developer and city planning staff will host a virtual community meeting Monday at 6 p.m. to gain feedback on the proposal. Those interested can join the Zoom call by following this link.
Scotts Valley considers new hourly charges for pickleball, basketball court rentals: The Scotts Valley City Council meets Wednesday and will decide whether to implement a new set of recreational fees. Among the highlights of these new charges include a $7-per-hour fee for pickleball courts and a $12-per-hour fee for its basketball courts. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. on Nov. 6.
ONE GREAT READ
In Conversation: Quincy Jones by David Marchese for Vulture (2018)
Quincy Jones, the one-of-one music producer and personality, died this morning at 91. Jones, father of actress Rashida Jones, was behind some of the greatest pop hits of the 1970s and 1980s, perhaps most famously Michael Jackson’s iconic album run of “Off the Wall,” “Thriller” and “Bad.” A jazz musician at heart, he also helped produce, compose and/or arrange legendary albums from Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Dizzy Gillespie, Donna Summer and Frank Sinatra.
Jones also provided one of the more memorable interviews when he sat down with Vulture’s David Marchese in 2018 for a blunt and honest career retrospective, where he dished on everyone from Michael Jackson to the Beatles and the Trumps. As a jazz fanatic, Jones has given me some of my favorite albums, and yet, when I learned of his death this morning, I immediately thought of both his 1962 album, “Big Band Bossa Nova,” and his comments on Ringo Starr in this Vulture article.