California’s annual local and primary elections are on June 7th, 2022. While these elections do coincide with finals at UCSB, there are various options, such as mailing in or dropping off your mail-in ballot to remain civically engaged. In particular, this local election is paramount to the future of various counties, solidifying political candidates for midterm elections as well as determining general political party preferences of the area.
Local and primary elections have historically had a low voter turnout. The Bipartisan Policy Center reports that the, “turnout of all eligible voters in 2018 was 19.9 percent. That compares with 14.3 percent in 2014 and 18.3 percent in 2010”. Following the record-high voter turnout for the presidential election in 2020, where 66.8% of citizens 18 years and older voted, I hope to see more local voters in the booth coming soon.
Amongst a multitude of national headlines in state legislatures like Oklahoma, Texas, and Tennessee, rights of various minority groups in the country are being displayed —ultimately emphasizing why more media emphasis should be in place regarding local elections. If anything, these local elections emphasize what hangs in the balance in terms of our rights, whether that be in regards to gun violence or women’s rights.
Different reforms in sectors of the police, education, courts, and infrastructure are all reliant on the individuals who are voted into office during local elections. The stakes of local elections affect our lives to the same extent as federal elections do, although it may not seem that way in the media or politics. As Matthew Gross states,“Whether it is the guarantee of having healthy drinking water or the benefits of maintained streets and bridges, infrastructure is a concern that should remain on the forefront of voters’ minds as they consider the candidates of a city-level election.” All of these municipal issues may seem relatively easy to brush over because they are not nation-wide headlines, they still entail large consequences if they aren’t maintained to standard.
Ballots will also contain candidates for positions of Judges, District Attorneys, and County Sheriffs. These positions play titular roles in the community in terms of criminal justice and system reform. According to American Progress, sheriffs are “typically the only members of local law enforcement elected by the people they will serve; therefore, the policies they implement should ultimately reflect the will of the people”. These positions are only a few out of the multitude of candidates you can vote for.
Your primary election ballot will include candidates for: U.S. Senate, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Controller, Treasurer, Attorney General, Insurance Commissioner, Member of State Board of Equalization, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, U.S. Representative in Congress, State Senator, State Assembly Member, as well as other local candidates.
So while there are smaller positions that are important, other national candidates like Senate and House of Representative positions are politically imperative for the midterm elections which will take place on November 8th, 2022. CalMatters offers an amazing voter guide, filled with in-depth information about each position, candidate, and much more election guidance.
To reiterate, primary elections will take place on June 7th, where you can either vote in person by 8 p.m. at your nearest polling station or your vote-by-mail ballot must be dropped off by this date to be received by June 14th.
If you aren’t registered to vote yet, I highly encourage you to do so —even dramatically speaking for the sake of democracy. Below are the links to sign up if you are a California resident as well as the locations for polling places in Santa Barbara.
Register to vote: https://registertovote.ca.gov/
Polling Locations: http://www.smartvoter.org/2022/06/07/ca/sba/polllist.html