2024 Voter Guide

Vote Yes on Proposition 3 to protect the fundamental right to marry, regardless of gender or race. 

The California Constitution still has language stating that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” While past US Supreme Court decisions have rendered this language unenforceable, recent decisions have shown that today’s Supreme Court is willing to upend decades of precedent and revoke hard-earned rights. We must enshrine the freedom to marry in the California Constitution by passing Prop 3.

Learn more at yesonprop3ca.com.

Vote Yes on Proposition 4 for $10 billion in bonds to help California meet the challenges of the climate crisis.

Proposition 4 would generate $10 billion to pay for climate and environmental initiatives including wildfire protection, water conservation projects, sea level rise mitigation, wildlife protection, sustainable agriculture, and defense against extreme heat events. Forty percent of the funding would be invested in projects that safeguard lower-income communities, which are disproportionately affected by climate change.

As the climate crisis intensifies, the investments enabled by Prop 4 are more crucial than ever for protecting the health and safety of all Californians.

Vote Yes on Proposition 5 to create more housing that is affordable for low-income and middle-income Californians.

Safe, permanent housing that people can actually afford is out of reach for too many Californians. Unfortunately, our state’s current laws make it difficult for local governments to invest in affordable housing, which is a major factor causing California’s homelessness disaster.

Currently, city and county affordable housing bonds require approval from at least two-thirds of voters—a threshold that is extremely difficult to meet. Existing law passed during the era of redlining and housing segregation allows one-third of voters to override the will of everyone else, giving affordable housing opponents unfair power to defeat critical community investments.

Prop 5 would help cities and counties address their affordable housing and infrastructure needs by lowering the required approval threshold to 55%. A vote for Prop 5 is a vote for building communities where everyone can afford to stay in their homes.

Vote Yes on Proposition 6 to end slavery and promote rehabilitation over exploitation.

This November, we can vote to set California on the right track by fixing our constitution to abolish slavery. While national politicians threaten our freedom to make decisions about our bodies and our families, Proposition 6 will protect our freedoms by fully banning slavery.

Today, when California decides to hold someone accountable with a prison sentence, it's in everyone's interest that, upon their release, these individuals have the tools they need to turn their lives around and never return. That's how California can reduce crime, prevent victimization, and reduce taxpayer spending on a bloated prison system. 

The California Constitution already bans involuntary servitude (which is effectively slavery) except as punishment for a crime. Prison slave labor forces incarcerated individuals to work in dead end jobs when they could be learning skills and accessing rehabilitative programming that helps ensure they have the skills needed to succeed on the outside.

The choice is clear: Vote yes on Proposition 6 to reduce crime, victimization, spending on California prisons, and end slavery in all its forms.

Learn more at voteyesprop6.com.

Vote Yes on Proposition 32 to raise California’s minimum wage.

All people deserve a decent standard of living, with access to food, housing, and healthcare that is supported by wage rates that reflect the cost of these necessities in our state. But California's current minimum wage has not kept pace with the skyrocketing costs of housing, healthcare, food, gas, and basic needs.

Prop 32 would raise the state minimum wage to $18 (from the current $16 per hour) for employers with 26 or more employees by January 2026 and hourly wages would be adjusted for inflation annually, as is currently required by law. Recent studies show that the minimum wage would be over $25 per hour if it had kept pace with economic productivity since the 1960s.

This change is long overdue. For years, working people in California have not been paid what they're owed. Voting YES on Prop 32 will move California closer to providing living wages to workers and better ensuring all Californians’ basic human needs are met.

Vote Yes on Prop 33 to expand local governments’ ability to enact rent control.

Housing affordability is a nationwide crisis, and California is at the epicenter—with a majority of renters (roughly 44% of Californians) now paying over 30% of their monthly incomes for housing costs. Nearly 30% of renters are “severely rent burdened” and pay more than 50% of their monthly incomes toward rent. These exorbitant costs are why homelessness in California is growing at one of the fastest rates in the country.

Rent control is an important tool to regulate the private rental market, protecting tenants from soaring rent increases and keeping them in their homes. Unfortunately, a law known as the Costa-Hawkins Act severely limits local governments’ ability to enact rent control ordinances in California.

Voting YES on Prop 33 would repeal the Costa-Hawkins Act so local communities can decide to limit rent increases, prevent displacement, and keep Californians housed.

Vote No on Proposition 36 to stop the prison spending scam.

The District Attorneys’ prison spending initiative is an extreme measure that will cut hundreds of millions of dollars from trauma recovery services for crime victims, programs for K-12 schools, and mental health and substance abuse treatment programs—and instead send that money straight to California prisons.

Disguised as a way to curb retail theft, the measure would impose draconian criminal penalties, including possible prison time, for low-level drug-related offenses—returning California to an era of costly mass incarceration and dangerously overcrowded prisons. California lawmakers just passed new laws aimed at addressing retail theft by imposing significant consequences, without attacking funds earmarked for treatment and rehabilitation. Prop 36 is unnecessary and harmful. 

Prop 36 is a false solution that will increase crime, exacerbate houselessness, and fuel the opioid crisis. Vote NO.

Learn more at stopprisonscam.org.

In November of 2022, Alameda County voters elected Pamela Price for District Attorney in an historic election. As Alameda's first Black woman D.A., she promised to hold people who commit serious crimes accountable. D.A. Price challenged the status quo with policies to reduce the overcriminalization and mass incarceration of youth and adults of color. 

But some people didn’t agree with Price’s holistic approach to public safety. Now, they’re trying to recall her from office. The ACLU opposes this misguided recall effort.

We support meaningful public safety solutions that make our communities safer, which Alameda County residents voted for decisively when they elected D.A. Price. 

Recall supporters dishonestly blame her for crime problems decades in the making. But faulting D.A. Price when she’s been in office for less than two years is wrong and unfair. 

Let's be clear: People in Alameda County have valid concerns about public safety. We understand the anger and frustration. But a recall is a rash move that will fix nothing. San Francisco residents were misled into recalling their D.A. and crime has since gone up.  

Reject the politics of fear. Don’t be fooled by this cynical effort to roll back criminal justice reforms. Vote NO on the recall of Pamela Price.

Proposition D takes an axe to San Francisco’s city government. It removes citizen oversight over police conduct, including the use of deadly force. It encourages abuse and corruption by eliminating systems of transparency and accountability. And it recklessly disbands important commissions that oversee the Arts, Library, Youth, Small Business, and Environment without evaluating their effectiveness.

Vote no on San Francisco Proposition D to protect police oversight and good governance.

Proposition E promotes good governance and efficiency by mandating an independent analysis of the cost and benefit of every San Francisco commission. After this review is done, voters will have the opportunity to decide which commissions to maintain, and which to discard.

Vote yes on San Francisco Proposition E to reform commissions the right way.

Proposition F would allow police to be paid twice for doing the same job. It lets officers who are already receiving retirement benefits also get paid by the city. This approach was tried back in 2011 and failed after it was found to be extremely costly without increasing public safety.  

This is a wasteful and irresponsible measure in a moment where San Francisco is facing a historic budget deficit. Vote NO on San Francisco Proposition F. Don't double-pay police.  

Ou Know Your Rights voting guide provides answers to some of the most common questions about voting, including WHO can vote, HOW to register to vote, WHEN and WHERE you can cast your ballot, and KEY TIPS on being an informed voter.

IN ENGLISH:

• Your Voice, Your Vote – Voting in California

EN ESPAÑOL:

• Tu Voz, Tu Voto: Cómo Votar en California

The vast majority of adult citizens in California county jails have the right to vote, yet these voters experience unique obstacles when they reach for the ballot box. As a result, many eligible voters are disenfranchised each election purely because they are in jail. This toolkit describes strategies that concerned community advocates, county elections offices, and sheriffs can use to break down barriers to democracy by helping people in county jails to register and vote.

• Voting in California Jails: A Community Toolkit