ballot initiatives

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  5/13/2021
  

  The Trouble With the Gavin Newsom Recall

  by Ron Brownstein

  California's Recall law can allow a relatively small number of petitioners to initiate a recall of an elected official, and for that official to be removed even if he or she gets more votes than any alternative candidate. This isn't what the Progressive Era architects of the law intended, says San Jose State historian Glen Gendzel. 

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• 10/11/2020
  

  Corporate Money Turns Democracy Upside Down in California Initiative Process

  by James Thornton Harris

  Intended as a tool to circumvent the power of big business in the state legislature, California's ballot initiative process has become yet another channel for the political influence of big money.

• 
• 9/6/2020
  

  Will California Voters End a 24-Year Ban on Affirmative Action?

  by James Thornton Harris

  Voters in November may reverse California's constitutional ban on affirmative action, which was passed by ballot measure in 1996. The state's electorate has changed considerably in a quarter century and passage seems likely.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  8/21/2020
  

  A Detailed Look at the Downside of California’s Ban on Affirmative Action

  Ending racial preferences in a state university system harmed Black and Hispanic students while doing little to lift whites and Asian-Americans, a study asserts.