Survey says: Voters don\u2019t know where to turn<\/p>\n
Berkeley IGS polled 5,962 California<\/a> registered voters and found that those less likely to vote told pollsters three main factors kept them from voting.<\/p>\n Roughly 38% of voters, the largest contingent, said a lack of information about the candidates and issues kept them from voting.<\/p>\n The No. 2 concern (35%) was the belief that moneyed interests play too large a role in elections, and others believed (28%) their votes don\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n All is not lost<\/p>\n These uninterested voters, however, said there are ways to get them to vote.<\/p>\n When Berkeley pollsters asked voters what would encourage them to go to the voting booths, 41% said they needed \u201cunbiased and trusted news sources.\u201d<\/p>\n Others said they would consider voting if the ballot measures would advance their interests (31%) and if there were differences between the candidates on issues they were more passionate about (30%). Also, 29% would consider voting if they trusted the results.<\/p>\n Yolo County is pioneering a way<\/p>\n Yolo County\u2019s Jesse Salinas wears many hats. He is the registrar of voters, clerk-recorder and county assessor for Sacramento-adjacent Yolo County, home to roughly 225,000 people.<\/p>\n Salinas has partnered with community workers and others to try to change voting attitudes at the high school level with the Yolo County Youth Civic Initiative<\/a>, launched in 2017.<\/p>\n State and local leaders provided input for high school courses that make the voting process understandable and show how local and state governments serve respective communities.<\/p>\n The initiative\u2019s big event is the annual Youth Empowerment Summit<\/a>, hosted at UC Davis since 2022.<\/p>\n Last year\u2019s event included round-table discussions between students and 30 local officials, including mayors and school superintendents.<\/p>\n Salinas said a record 141 students took part in the symposium last September, and over 700 students from Yolo County have participated since its inception nine years earlier.<\/p>\n Students were surveyed before and after the event, with 17 students saying before the event they strongly agreed that they understood how the voting process worked. That number jumped to 63 afterward, an increase of 284%.<\/p>\n Similarly large before-and-after percentage jumps were seen on students\u2019 surveys about their confidence in understanding how local government work (557%), the role of elected officials (160%), and comfort talking about issues (229%).<\/p>\n Salinas said his district saw some fruits of its labor at election time too.<\/p>\n For the 2024 presidential election, Yolo County residents age 18 to 24 voted at a 69.54% clip, well above the state average of 42.5% for that same group.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the most rewarding aspects of this program is when young voters tell you they feel empowered and informed to vote,\u201d Salinas said. \u201cThat\u2019s exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n Have it your way at Lake County<\/p>\n Meanwhile in Lake County, north of Santa Rosa, efforts are underway to grow voter participation among the 25% of the residents who are age 65 or older.<\/p>\n Maria Valadez, Lake County registrar of voters, is focused on the mobility problems of older voters.<\/p>\n Like most counties, Lake offers drop box options \u2014 seven across the county \u2014 and vote-by-mail options.<\/p>\n The county, however, also provides more personalized services for those who have trouble moving around.<\/p>\n For instance, Lake County provides curbside voting assistance so that voters who can\u2019t enter a facility can \u201cvote safely from their vehicle,\u201d according to Valadez.<\/p>\n The Lake County registrar\u2019s office also delivers and retrieves ballots upon request to voters who are homebound or staying in medical facilities, including hospitals or care homes.<\/p>\n \u201c[These services] help ensure Lake County voters have multiple convenient and secure ways to participate in elections,\u201d Valadez said.<\/p>\n The week\u2019s biggest stories (Allen J. Schaben\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Orange County chemical tank leakLos Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer PrattTrump administration policies and reactionsStreets and freewaysGone too soonWhat else is going onMust-readsOther meaty readsFor your downtime (Carlin Stiehl\/For The Times)<\/p>\n Going outStaying inL.A. Timeless<\/p>\n A selection of the very best reads from The Times\u2019 143-year archive.<\/p>\n Have a great day, from the Essential California team<\/p>\n Hailey Branson-Potts, staff reporter How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com<\/a>. Check our top stories<\/a>, topics<\/a> and the latest articles<\/a> on latimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anyone streaming or watching television in California over the last few months has been bombarded with political ads.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,2299,1085,891,2300,2297,340,2303,63,2302,1086,1459,2301,2298,74,225,315,688],"class_list":["post-329392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-civic-revolt","tag-covid","tag-covid-19","tag-days","tag-essential-california","tag-israel","tag-l-a","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-may","tag-pandemic","tag-part","tag-president-biden","tag-red-county","tag-san-diego","tag-state","tag-time","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779543909_640_.jpeg\")
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Hugo Mart\u00edn, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew J. Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters<\/p>\n