Librarians share their experiences with Proposition 36 at VotingMatters

While millions of California voters have already cast their ballots early, several Bay Area residents told CalMatters last week that they wanted to attend a VotingMatters session before making their decision.

On October 25, CalMatters held a VotingMatters session with Silicon Valley-based India Currents, a nonprofit newsroom that covers the Indian American community. The event brought together a tight-knit audience, including a person running for local office for the first time. Snigdha Sen, Editor at India Currents, introduced the 20+ Indian-American candidates running for office in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Over the past two weeks, CalMatters has also worked with the San Mateo County Libraries to host voter education events for Californians at 10 library branches from Pacifica to East Palo Alto.

Similar to the dozens of other events CalMatters has hosted across the state, the most frequently discussed state proposals were Proposition 32 (minimum wage), Proposition 33 (rent control), and Proposition 36 (increased penalties for theft and drug crimes). At several events focused on Prop. 36, librarians shared firsthand stories about dealing with theft of library resources, such as laptops.

Our last scheduled VotingMatters event is today (Monday, November 4), with Contra Costa College at noon in Fireside Hall.