Polls open today at 7 a.m. for a special election in which voters have one decision to make: how to vote on Proposition 50, a Congressional redistricting measure.
Polls close at 8 p.m.
The Alameda County Registrar of Voters provides a map of voting centers. Oakland polling sites include:
Sankofa United Elementary School, 581 61st St.
Parks Chapel AME Church, 476 34th St.
Beth Eden Baptist Church, 1183 10th St.
Eastmont Town Center, 7200 Bancroft Ave., Entrance F
Allen Temple, 8501 International Blvd.
Oakland Public Library, 125 14th St.
St. Theresa Church, 4850 Clarewood Dr.
81st Ave. Branch Library, 1021 81st Ave.
City of Refuge, 8400 Enterprise Way
People can still vote by mail but must postmark their ballots today or deliver them to an election drop box by 8 p.m.
Anyone who has not yet registered to vote can show up and do same-day voter registration, also called conditional same-day registration, at their polling place or at the Alameda County Registrar of Voters Office, at 1225 Fallon St., Room G-1. Those ballots will be counted once the county elections office has completed the voter verification process.
‘Californians have been uniquely targeted’
Prop 50, backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, authorizes the California state legislature to temporarily change the state’s Congressional district maps in response to partisan redistricting by the Texas GOP. If the measure passes, California’s new district maps would be in place only through 2030, when the next federal census is conducted. After that, the state’s independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, created by a 2008 state law, would resume oversight over congressional district maps.
“Californians have been uniquely targeted by the Trump Administration,” Newsom said in signing a bill authorizing the ballot measure. “Thanks to the hard work of the California legislature, they will have a choice to fight back.”
At President Donald Trump’s urging, the Texas legislature redrew the state’s Congressional districts in August to favor Republicans. Missouri and North Carolina then followed suit, and five more GOP-led states are preparing to do the same. A broad range of progressive California organizations, led by the California Federation of Labor Unions, are encouraging voters to even the electoral scales with a Yes on 50 vote.
“The Trump Administration has attacked working families,” Keith Brown, secretary-treasure of the Alameda Labor Council, told The Oaklandside. “The Yes on Proposition 50 campaign is a tangible way we can fight back.”
A campaign has also emerged to oppose Prop 50, heavily backed by multimillionaire Charles Munger, Jr., who supported the original redistricting measure, arguing that the measure would repoliticize the districting process. “I loathe Texas gerrymandering. I loathe mid-decade gerrymandering,” Munger told ABC News. “It was a national outrage, but the way to beat it is not to become like it.”
More than 6.4 million Californians cast votes on Prop 50 before Election Day. Recent polls have shown that voters are tilting yes, with a poll released Oct. 30 from the UC Berkeley Institute of Government studies finding that 60% of likely voters plan to vote for Prop 50. That ratio is slightly higher for those who intend to vote by mail, so early returns tonight could look more promising for passage than the final election day results.
The ballot measure is one of the most closely watched contests nationwide today, along with governors’ races in New Jersey and Virginia and the mayoral race in New York City; together they are seen as bellwethers for next year’s midterm elections.
“*” indicates required fields