Monterey County Local News: Elections & Politics

Unless California solves its housing crisis, the state will lose more congressional seats and could shift the political alignment of the whole country

Soledad residents worked for months to bring a referendum to the ballot and motivate voters to reject a five-district map the City Council selected last year.

Dozens of people showed up at Salinas City Hall on Tuesday night, April 23 to talk about elections even though it is not yet election season.

Salinas City Councilmember Steve McShane brought tomato seedlings to a council meeting on Tuesday, April 9 to give to his colleagues, “to spread goodwill,” he said. Then he announced his resignation, effective May 10.

A new bill would make it illegal for homeless residents to camp in certain places, such as near schools, throughout California. Its authors say such a ban has had great success in San Diego. But a closer look at that city paints a more nuanced picture.

In an analysis of more than 1 million votes cast by current legislators since 2017, CalMatters Digital Democracy reporter Ryan Sabalow and CBS Sacramento reporter Julie Watts found that Democrats vote “no” less than 1% of the time on average.

Some of California’s top lawmakers want to clear up, but also rein in, the “builder’s remedy.”

The state is considering zeroing out funds for CalWORKS family stabilization and job subsidy programs to help balance the budget.

The City of Pacific Grove is on its way to switching from at-large to district elections, after the P.G. City Council voted 5-0 on Wednesday, March 6, to hire a demographer to study the makeup of P.G. residents—the first step…

There’s more to Election Day than campaign platforms. While candidates run on policy ideas and promises, they are human beings behind all those glossy mailers.