Support the California Voter Foundation and better elections!

It's the time of year when nonprofits are asking for donations. There are many worthy causes

out there, and I'm hoping folks find the California Voter Foundation to be one of them. Contributions are tax-deductible, much needed and appreciated! To learn more about what CVF accomplished in 2015 and what we plan for 2016 (including a new Proposition Song!) take a look at our year-end report and appeal. Please donate online today!

Just released: VoteCal policy brief

For many years I have been monitoring the State of California's efforts to modernize its statewide voter registration database.With support from The James Irvine Foundation, I'm pleased to share the new policy brief that the California Voter Foundation published today, VoteCal and the Struggle to Modernize California's Statewide Voter Registration Database.

This policy brief chronicles the story of the VoteCal project, which got underway in 2006 and is still in development today. The good news is that the project is currently on track, on schedule and within budget. Read more in the policy brief or in today's CVF news release.

"Learn to Jam!" pamphlet to debut at Strawberry Music Festival

I'm very excited to share the new "Jamiquette" poster that is one side of the "Learn to Jam!" pamphlet I developed at the urging of Pete Seeger, with help from Susan Webb and Anthony Montanino. It will be available at the Strawberry Music Festival starting Thursday, May 21, at the Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley.

Since these are not easy to read in this image below, here is a link to the 20 Tips online: http://kimalex.blogspot.com/2014/01/learn-to-jam-20-tips-for-making-music.html

This festival also marks the first time I will be teaching my new "Learn to Jam!" workshop at a music festival. Hope to see you there, and wish me luck!

Working towards restoring election funding to the Calif. state budget

One reason for California's abysmal voter turnout is the fact that voter turnout is not a priority for our political leaders. After all, the system worked just fine as-is for them.

Through the California Voter Foundation, I've been working with folks from a number of different organizations to urge our legislators and governor to demonstrate their commitment to improving the election process in California by restoring funding to the budget to pay for programs the state funded up until 2011, when the financial crisis hit the state hard and lots of programs got cut.

Now that the state is back in the black, it's time to start paying counties the funds that they are, by law, entitled to receive from the state when it imposes new programs on counties. See the April 24, 2015 edition of CVF-NEWS for an update on our recent victory, getting $77.4 million restored to the budget in the Senate's budget subcommittee to pay for election mandates. Also covered in this edition are two bills CVF is supporting - SB 365/Pavley and AB 477/Mullin - to implement recommendations stemming from our 2014 vote-by-mail study.