Oerdin goes over his mail in ballots.

[Dinner]

I have in front of me my two mail in ballots ( one is state and local races with the second being propositions). I will go over each item and discuss how I am leaning and maybe hear what other folks think. Let us start with the state ballot.

Governor: I really dislike Gavin Newsom as he is such a supporter of the sanctuary state law which releases illegal alien felons back on to our streets instead of having them deported as they should be. Even Obama supported deporting illegal aliens who committed non-immigration related felonies but now the state Dem party wants to let felons go instead of deporting them back where they came from. I just can't support that. Cox will not win and I have no third party options so I guess I will have to vote for Cox (Republican) on this one. Newsom will still win but I am hoping it is close enough to make him think twice before going too crazy.

Lt. Gov: Two Dems on the ballot. There positions seem almost the same so I guess I will have to decide based on other factors. Ed Hernandez is a life long politician where as Eleni Koukalakis is a Businesswoman who never ran for office before. As that is all I have to go on I will vote for the lady who is an outsider.

Sec of State: Incumbent Padilla seems to have done ok though he has been intensely partisan while Meuser (Republican) has no experience beyond being an activist. Meuser raises good points that the state has more registered voters than actual people in it even counting children who cannot vote though I doubt that translates to any actual fraudulent voting. Yes, it is bad that L.A. County has 144% more registered voters than eligible population but the reality is those are mostly dead people who's names haven't been removed or people who have moved. I will reluctantly vote Padilla as R's haven't given a decent alternative.

Controller: Yee (Democrat) has done a seemingly good job without a hint of scandal so I will vote to reelect her.

Treasurer: This person also site on both of the state pension systems boards as well as is the state treasurer. Dems make up most of the board so having it's chief be a Republican might be a good idea or at least slow down bad politically motivated decisions. Otherwise the candidates are the same though Greg Conclon (Republican) has decades more experience as a CPA and accountant than the young Ms Fiona Ma (Democrat). I am leaning towards voting for Conclon.

Attorney General: Yes, Xavier Becerra was appointed AG in order to give him a leg up in this race; he at least has a good resume. You can't say the same about Steven Bailey (Republican). Voting Becerra.

Insurance Commissioner: Life long politician Ricardo Lara (Dem) or no party private business person Steve Poizner? that is pretty much all the information I have on that race. Screw it, I am going with the outsider who is not a life long politician. It helps that the local paper also endorsed Steve Poizner.

State Board of Equalization member 4th district: A Republican who wants to use this position to derail the state high speed rail project or a Dem who says he want's to eliminate the board of equalization all together. I think I will go dem.

U.S. Senator: Voting Feinstein as De Leon is the piece of crap who wrote the sanctuary state law and originally wrote it to include rapists and murderers as well but dropped those after he got to much blow back from his own party.

U.S. Rep 53 CA: Susan Davis (the dem incumbent) is a life long politician and kind of a wallflower, those are strikes against her. That said, Republicans need to lose the house for what they have done so I will vote for her.

State Assembly 78th district: Todd Gloria (D-Incumbent) is another career politician and not even a very good one. I will be voting for Maggie Campbell (Republican) just hoping for a change. It is a long shot but it is all the influence I have.

Next we have 17 yes or no votes on judges. I have no idea who these people are or if they are any good. I might vote yes to all or I might vote no for all just because.

Superindentent of Public Instruction: No clue. One is an "educator and state legislature" while the other is "Schools Improvement Director". Where is the none of the above option?

The local community college district board of trustees districts A, C, and E: Again no clue on these three races.

School District Board of Education both District B and C: No clue.

County board of Supervisors: Two tired and worn out hyper partisan career politicians both of whom termed out and who are only looking for a place to eat up some more government cheese. They both suck.

End of first ballot.

[Dinner]

Next up all 24 state and local propositions and initiatives. This is long and painful.

Prop 1: Bonds for Housing Assistance Program: $4 billion supposedly to fund rental assistance programs for the poor but 1) the prop doesn't actually require the money to be spent on this and it can be redirected to the general fund with a simple majority vote (which Dems always do) plus it will cost about $6 billion to repay. I am voting no.

Prop 2: Takes money from the state mental health system and redirects to house homeless people with mental illnesses. This is not new money and simply cuts the state mental health system budget by $2 billion and uses the money for housing vouchers instead. The definition of who qualifies is extremely vague plus unlike the original bond sale which specifically locked that money up for ONLY the state mental health system this little slight of hand can also be redirected to the general fund with just a simple majority vote in the legislature. No, thank you.

Prop 3: Bonds to fund water projects throughout the state. I am a yes. This is what bonds are supposed to be for.

Prop 4: Bonds to pay for expansions at various children's hospitals. Voting yes.

Prop 5: Allows baby boomers to keep their Prop 13 property tax giveaway even if they sell and move. Not just no but **** no. Boomers can pay their damn taxes just like everyone else and they are already killing the younger generations with their free loading. No additional give away. This prop was designed by Republicans to encourage old people to turn out to vote and nothing more.

Prop 6: Repeal the gas tax increase: It not only repeals the $0.12 gas tax increase (which got increased for the first time since 1994) but it also makes it almost impossible to ever increase it again no matter what. No, no, no, a thousand times no. The gas tax needs to stay up with inflation and 24 years of inflation has eaten into it so it was time to bump it up so it stays at the same value.

Prop 7: Allows legislature to repeal daylight savings time. No, they can't be trusted so keep things as they are.

Prop 8: Price controls for Kidney Dialysis Clinics. Feel good nonsense. Competition brings down prices while price controls just result in shortages, see Venezuela.

Prop 9: Removed from ballot as court said it was unconstitutional.

Prop 10: Allow local governments to enact rent control: No, no, no, a thousand times no. Retarded people vote for garbage like this. Put price controls on housing and no one will build housing. The reason prices are high is because NIMBYs block every development under the sun. We have thousands of acres zoned for high density residential but NIMBYs block it, local politicians pee their pants and cave, and so supply never increases. Increase supply, you idiots, don't try to enact price controls because then absolutely nothing will get built and all the rentals will either disappear or turn into substandard pig stys.

Prop 11: Requires private ambulance companies to respond to emergency calls even if it is on their lunch break. Yes.

Prop 12: The PETA proposition which changes the standards for cages for livestock yet again for the fourth time in six years. It is retarded and enough is enough. We already have the largest enclosure requirements and PETA just wants to keep changing standards every year hoping to put farmers out of business.

County Measures:

Measure A: "Clean up" County charter. Which seems to mean let special interests and partisan politicians edit it however they want. Voting no.

Measure B: Says that three of the five county supervisor spots can only be elected by folks not in a city. No, not interested. One man, one vote, not some people getting more votes.

Measure C: Prevents pension funds from being redirected by politicians for other purposes. Voting yes.

Measure D: No more special elections and instead all elections will be held at the same time as General Elections. Voting yes as local Republicans love to have weird ultra low turn out special elections on odd dates specifically so they can pass garbage.

City Measures:

Measure E: Give $3 billion in publicly owned land free of charge to a politically connected developer free of charge other than a promise, which isn't really a legally binding promise, to maybe build a river park, if he feels like it. Voting no.

Measure G: Give $3 billion of publicly owned land free of charge to SDSU to build a new stadium, new offices, maybe classrooms, maybe student housing... Or then again maybe they will just sell it to raise money. Also voting no. SDSU already has a giant land grant and the city would be financially better off just selling most of that land say $2.5 billion of the $3 billion then using some of that money to build a park itself while the other $2 billion pays down debt or gets spent on city improvements.

Measure J: Changes City Charter to require disclosure of private business interests of politicians or anyone pushing a bill or measure. Voting yes.

Measure K: Term limits for city council members. Voting yes.

Measure L: Increases ethics requirements for local elected politicians but also doubles their salaries to over $200,000 per year for part time work. It isn't even clear if those supposed new "ethics requirements" would be legally enforceable. Voting no.

Measure M: Waves requirements for city council to have to consider at least two options before appointing someone to the audit committee. No.

Measure N: Reinstate disability benefits for police officers with mental health issues. Voting no. The system allowed double dipping so some people got absurdly large yearly disability pay outs, sometimes as much as $200,000 per year for life). I do not want to return to those days and the cops can be happy with a $100,000 per year pension.

Schools:

Measure H: Charter Schools enact term limits on board members: Voting yes.

Measure YY: Sell $3.5 billion in bonds for schools. Voting no as every election they push for more bonds. In the last five elections four bonds have been approved most of those funds have not been used. Use the billions you already have before demanding billions more.

[pchang]

How would you have voted if you lived in Duncan Hunter's district?

[Uncle Sparky]

What date do you need to have these mailed by? In Canada, the Absentee Ballot, as we call it, must be received by Elections Canada by the end of the working day on the Tuesday before the election.

[Dinner]

Just typing all that stuff maybe me tired.

[Berzerker]

looks like a decent analysis

[Dinner]

No one wants to discuss the California ballots?

[ZEE]

We don't live in California.

I already early voted and voted Republican down the board. Do moar damage that way.

[Lorizael]

No one wants to discuss the California ballots?

I'm still doing my research for Maryland.

[pchang]

Proposition 8. Da Vita and Fresenius price gouge and are unsafe. They really need more supervision. I voted yes.

propsition 4. We don’t have a shortage of hospital beds. We have a shortage of funds to pay for treatment of children. This spends money on the wrong problem. I voted no.

[spambot]

No one wants to discuss the California ballots?

Are you surprised?

[Dinner]

pchang I would have voted strategically. That means holding my nose and voting for Duncan Hunter knowing he will very quickly be in jail and thus out of office. I would never vote for a racist anti-semitic son and grandson of terrorists especially not one who plays racist games and changes his name weeks before he announces he is running. They both suck. Suck really badly; so I'd vote for the one who will soon end up in jail and out of office hoping that means a special election with two new options to vote for.

BTW Hinter will win and will be in jail shortly. Dems should try nominating candidates who actually stand a chance. Fortunately I live west of that district so my only choice is to reelect a wallflower do nothing or a horrible Repub and will go with the wallflower.

[Dinner]

We don't live in California.

I already early voted and voted Republican down the board. Do moar damage that way.

That is ok. Share the ballot from your state and your choices. A bit about why you chose who you did would be helpful.

[ZEE]

I never got a ballot. I just went in and voted all republican.

[Dinner]

Party line voters are what is wrong with America.

[Lorizael]

AAHZ wants to be what is wrong with America.

[ZEE]