Californians confident in vote by mail + Flavored tobacco ban on hold + Prop. 15 and Newsom
Good morning! Here’s hoping you’re staying cool. Here’s the news.
POLL FINDS VOTERS CONFIDENT WITH VOTE-BY-MAIL
Californians trust the state’s vote-by-mail system, according to a new survey released by the Institute of Governmental Studies and the Othering & Belonging Institute, both at UC Berkeley.
The online poll surveyed more than 8,300 people in both English and Spanish to investigate “the prevalence of Californians’ shift to VBM ballot use, reasons for trust or mistrust in mail-in voting, and misinformation about the voting method.”
The survey found that 67.2% of Californians who have voted in the past said that they cast a vote-by-mail ballot most of the time. Of the remaining third, 37% said that they have used a vote-by-mail ballot at least once in the past.
Of those surveyed, 84% said that they were confident in the security of their ballot when voting by mail, compared to 93% who said the same about voting in-person.
“This is encouraging news. It shows that people aren’t buying the far right’s claims that mail-in voting leads to fraud,” john a. powell, director of the Othering & Belonging Institute, said in a statement. “And more importantly, it shows that Blacks and Latinxs aren’t cynical about voting. With large majorities of Black and Latinx voters saying they will vote in November, the data suggest they are confident, willing, and eager to vote despite being repeated targets of voter suppression.”
Relevant: Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said Tuesday he plans to suspend cost-cutting changes to the U.S. Postal Service, but Californians experiencing mail delays and Democrats in Congress say they remain worried about the system’s preparedness for November’s election.
We heard from Californians who are worried about getting medication and a postal union leader who said mail is backing up the West Sacramento processing plant.
“I have great fear that my vote won’t count, at this point I think a few of us will get together to go in person to make sure we’re counted,” said Jeannette Rosenthal, 77, of Modesto. “I’m not sure if I can trust the mail right now.”
DeJoy’s announcement didn’t stop Attorney General Xavier Becerra from joining a lawsuit against the Trump administration, either.
Read more in our report by Kate Irby and Maria Heeter.
LAWMAKERS REPORT SWEDISH MATCH TO THE FDA
Lawmakers and advocates alike are holding their breath as they await the fate of SB 793, the bill banning the sale of (most) flavored tobacco products in California.
The Assembly Appropriations Committee placed the bill in suspense during Tuesday’s hearing. We’ll know by Friday whether it will advance to the Assembly floor.
SB 793 has undergone some modifications since it first was introduced. Hookah, pipe and fancy cigar smokers can breathe easy, knowing that exemptions have been put in place for their particular vice.
So far, the bill language contains no such exemption for Snus and ZYN, produced by the company Swedish Match North America.
Swedish Match has lobbied hard for exemptions for its products, pointing to the fact that Snus has a “Modified Risk Tobacco Product” designation from from Food and Drug Administration and arguing that ZYN doesn’t even contain tobacco, just pharmaceutical grade nicotine.
Now, three lawmakers behind SB 793 (Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo; Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Santa Rosa; and Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento) are firing back at Swedish Match, sending a letter of complaint to the FDA asking the company to immediately cease and desist from making “illegal cessation claims” about their products.
“There is absolutely no reason to exempt Swedish Match snus and ZYN from SB 793,” Hill said in a statement. “The company has neither sought nor obtained FDA approval to market these products for cessation. To state otherwise, or even imply it, is misleading and illegal.”
GROUPS CALL ON GOV TO OPPOSE PROP 15
A coalition of business groups are calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom to pick a side on Proposition 15: Their side.
“Governor Newsom, as a small business owner you understand the determination it takes to run a company and create jobs. The COVID-19 pandemic has decimated that dream for countless entrepreneurs. Prop 15 will make that dream unattainable,” said Cedrick White, president and CEO of the Antelope Valley Black Chamber of Commerce and owner of White’s Concrete Construction, in a statement. “In the midst of a historic economic downturn, now is hardly the time to raise property taxes and rents on small businesses.”
The opponents of Prop 15 quoted Newsom’s own remarks at a recent press conference, where he said “You can’t be pro-job and anti-business” and asked him to “put those words into action” by opposing Prop 15 immediately.
They argue that the ballot measure, if approved by voters, would raise property taxes on commercial property by $11.5 billion a year, leading to higher rents for small business tenants, many of whom are owned by women or minorities.
Prop. 15 is the so-called “split-roll” initiative that would require commercial property worth more than $3 million to be assessed at market value instead of purchase price. Since 1978, California law has set assessments at purchase price and restricted property tax increases.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“A century ago, women were granted the right to vote. Today, 37.5% of #CALeg Senators are FEMALE. We’re making progress.”
- Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, via Twitter.
Best of the Bee:
As President Donald Trump said Democrats had “intentionally” caused California’s blackouts, managers of the state’s struggling electricity grid predicted that more than 2 million homes and businesses could lose power Tuesday, via Dale Kasler.
California Latinos’ influence at the voting booth often trails their share of the state’s population. They make up the state’s largest ethnic group, but they tend to vote in lower numbers than other communities. Language barriers and a lack of political engagement sometimes suppress Latino turnout, candidates and researchers say, via Kim Bojórquez.