With only five days to go until election day, most Californians have their minds made up on how to cast their vote for president. But you’re not just voting for Commander in Chief – there are also state and local races, judges, and whole pages of ballot measures with verbose and confusing names.
How are we supposed to make sense of them all?
Sure, you’ve got that official voter information guide they mailed with your ballot, but at 142 pages, it’s a longer and dryer read than Of Mice and Men.
Former L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who’s now the director of the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, joined KNX News’ daily political show Countdown 2024 to give us the Sparknotes on two of the most crucial local measures.
Listen here:
Two county supervisors have stopped by Countdown 2024 to argue for and against Measure G, expand the size of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors and create an elected county CEO. In Yaroslavsky’s opinion, the county government needs an overhaul.
“I was in that system for 20 years. I didn't think it worked,” he said. “I think the best example I can give you is, I wasn't there then, but during the pandemic where you have a public health director who had to account to five supervisors because there is no one person who's accountable to all the people of the county. So you had some supervisors who wanted a more restrictive regimen, some who wanted a less restrictive regimen, and the public health director had to negotiate with the Board of Supervisors.”
Yaroslavsky also touted the importance of Measure A, which would increase the sales tax by a quarter of a cent to fund homelessness services.
“I know there's a lot of frustration, I feel it sometimes myself, about the pace at which we're dealing with the homeless problem in our region,” he said. “But there is progress being made, and progress isn't made without having the resources to do it.”
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Listen to the full episode above to hear Loyola Marymount law professor Jessica Levinson discuss the judges on the ballot, and catch new episodes of Countdown 2024 live at 2:30 p.m. every weekday through Election Day.
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