Dear CCEP colleagues, partners and friends:
Welcome to the December edition of Engage!
As we wrap up 2017 and head into the new year, the CCEP would like to wish you all a happy holiday season!
In this edition of Engage, you will learn about the latest research in elections and civic engagement, read a story about a photographer who resurrected photographs she had taken documenting the lives and stories of those who had joined the California farmworkers movement, as well as hear what is new in civic engagement around the state and country.
In partnership,
Mindy Romero, Ph.D.
CCEP Director
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A Conversation with Assemblymember Travis Allen
January 11th
The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) will be hosting California Assemblymember Travis Allen, candidate for California governor, on January 11th in San Francisco.
During the event Allen will discuss important issues facing California, from education to immigration, to health care and inequality.
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How Changing Demography Will - Or Won't - Influence Outcomes
November 20th
CCEP director Mindy Romero spoke at the University of San Francisco and Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good Politics Forum on November 30th.
At the event, Romero analyzed what influence changing demographics could have on the 2018 elections.
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U.S. Election Assistance Commission Lunch
December 11th
U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) Vice Chairman Thomas Hicks hosted a presentation by CCEP director Mindy Romero on December 11th in the EAC conference room in Washington D.C.
During the lunch, Romero presented CCEP research on how California's recently adopted election reforms could influence the current and future U.S. electoral landscape.
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The CCEP National Advisory Committee welcomes new member, Samuel Molina!
The CCEP would like to welcome Samuel Molina, California State Director of the non-partisan organization Mi Familia Vota, to our National Advisory Committee.
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Voter's Choice California launches public website
On the site, visitors can find public education information about California's Voter's Choice Act, a law passed in 2016 that is intended to modernize California elections, as well as tools for election officials and community leaders.
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Photo Credit: Mimi Plumb
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Berkeley photographer documents California's farm workers movement
In 1975, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law which granted California farmworkers unprecedented rights and protections, such as collective bargaining rights. It was at this time that Mimi Plumb, then an art student, headed to Salinas Valley where United Farm Workers organizers were mobilizing to fight for better wages while Cesar Chavez, Mexican-American civil rights leader, was journeying across California to register Central Valley workers to vote in the union elections.
While in Salinas Valley, Plumb took thousands of photographs documenting this historical moment in order to capture the stories and moments of those who joined this movement. However, it was not until four decades later that she decided to take those photographs out of storage.
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New Civic Engagement Research
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U.S. Election Assistance Commission Deep Dive: Poll Workers and Polling Places
On November 15th, the U.S. Election Assistant Commission (EAC) released the findings from its biennial Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS) that was administered this past June.
The survey data is about the 2016 election, and provides comprehensive data about election administration trends in the United States at the local, state, and national level.
The EAVS survey found that during the 2016 election, nearly 65% of jurisdictions reported it was "very difficult" or "somewhat difficult" to obtain a sufficient number of polling place workers. As for the polling place workers that were obtained, from the age data reported, 24% of polling place workers were 71 or older and 32% were between ages 61 and 70.
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PPIC Statewide Survey: Californians and Their Government
The Public Policy Institute of California has released their December 2017 statewide survey titled, "Californians and Their Government."
This survey examines how Californians feel about a variety of state issues such as: the candidates running for governor, single-payer health insurance, the current gas tax, undocumented immigration, and political parties.
This survey was conducted by phone, and interviewed over 1,700 Californians between November 10th and 19th.
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Millennial Poll: Strong majority want a third political party
A new survey conducted by NBC News and GenForward at the University of Chicago found that 71% of Millennials feel the Democratic and Republican party are doing a poor job representing the American people, that a third major political party is needed.
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Civic Engagement Success Story
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Mutual Housing California wins prestigious international award
This month, Mutual Housing California, a nonprofit developer of sustainable and affordable housing, won the prestigious World Habitat Award.
This award was presented in partnership with the United Nations, and recognizes
Mutual Housing's Spring Lake development in Woodland, California. Spring Lake is the United States's first permanent, year-round housing built for agricultural worker families. In addition, it is the first 100% Zero Net Energy rental housing development in the U.S. to be certified by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Typically, U.S. agriculture workers live in some of the nation's worst housing conditions. Currently at Spring Lake, workers live in high energy-efficient homes in a community focused on empowering its residents. Mutual Housing's community organizing team helps residents get involved in education and training programs, and personal development opportunities. In addition, residents can utilize a community building for meetings and celebrations, and enjoy outdoor recreation spaces.
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California Civic Engagement News
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Think race isn't a problem in California? New report shows otherwise
On November 14th, the Advancement Project, University of Southern California's Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE), PICO California, and California Calls unveiled a
new interactive web tool called "Race Counts," that measures racial and ethnic disparities in California's 58 counties.
This tool examines racial inequality using seven measures: economic opportunity, healthcare access, education, housing, democracy, crime and justice, and environment.
Overall, the study found that racial and ethnic inequity remains a problem throughout the state of California.
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National Civic Engagement News
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Photo Credit: Gary Stewart | AP
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Supreme Court to hear Minnesota voter apparel law challenge
On November 13th, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear a
free speech
challenge to a Minnesota law which prohibits
voters
from wearing T-shirts, political badges, buttons or other clothing adorned with overtly political messages inside polling places.
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Photo Credit: David Zalubowski | AP
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Colorado launches first in the nation post-election audits
In November, Colorado launched the nation's first post-election audit. The audit is being conducted to test the Colorado election process in order to make sure their voting machines are reading ballots correctly.
In order to test this, Colorado is using an auditing method developed by University of California at Berkeley professor, Philip Stark. Unlike past auditing methods that start with a premise that the results are correct, Stark's method starts with a premise that assumes the results are wrong. From there, auditors begin collecting evidence. If the evidence becomes convincing that the election winner did in fact win, then the audit is ended.
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Photo Credit: Joyce Hesselberth | NYTImes
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Older voters stymied by tighter ID requirements
Last month, the Government Accountability Office found that while polling place accessibility had improved since 2000, the great majority of sites still had impediments that could discourage or exclude disabled or elderly voters.
One issue that elderly voters face at their polling locations are physical barriers that could prevent their participation. For example, voting machines that do not accommodate voters in wheelchairs or voters who are visually impaired. Another issue found involved state voting laws.
For instance, voter ID laws disenfranchise older voters who are more likely to have expired IDs or IDs that do not have a current address.
While federal law requires accessibility, the Brennan Center for Justice found that this law is not well enforced.
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CCEP Outreach: In the Media
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Annual Pew political typology report details ever-growing divide between parties and among partisans | KPCC
KPCC spoke with CCEP director Mindy Romero about political ideology and diversity in California.
In addition, KPCC discussed the recent findings from a new Pew Research Center political typology report. This report showed that there are divisions between and among Republicans and Democrats that were wide enough to be separated into eight distinct categories of political ideology.
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No Republican on the ballot in California's U.S. Senate race? | ABC 10 News
ABC 10 News discussed the possibility of no Republican candidate qualifying to be on the general election ballot for the 2018 California U.S. Senate seat race due to California having a "top-two" system. In this "top-two" system, the two highest vote-obtainers during the June 2018 primary, regardless of political party, will be the two candidates facing off during the November 2018 general election. Wanting to know what the chances were of no Republican candidates qualifying, ABC 10 had
CCEP director Mindy Romero weigh in.
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Pepperdine University | James Q. Wilson Visiting Professor
Pepperdine University has a James Q. Wilson Visiting Professor of Public Policy position open.
Specifically, Pepperdine is seeking applicants with a strong research background in quantitative aspects of public policy analysis.
Applications for this job are being accepted until filled and preference will be given to applications submitted before December 15th.
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Policy Link | Program Associate
Policy Link is looking for a Program Associate to join their Equitable Economy and National Equity Atlas team in Oakland, CA. This team works in partnership with the University of Southern California's Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE).
The goal of the National Equity Atlas, an online resource that tracks, measures, and democratizes data, is to build stronger and more inclusive local economies. Therefore, Policy Link is looking to fill this position with someone who is passionate about producing data and research that is relevant to those working to advance racial economic equality.
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Share Your Civic Engagement Research with the CCEP
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Are you working to promote inclusive civic engagement? Do you have a civic engagement success story to share? Share your story with CCEP and you could be featured in an upcoming issue of Engage! Please send your short write-up to Jennifer Puza at [email protected] for consideration. Thanks for reading and staying engaged!
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UC Davis California Civic Engagement Project
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Kim Alexander
President and Founder
California Voter Foundation
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Matt A. Barreto
Professor, Dept. of Political Science
Professor, Dept. of Chicana/o Studies
University of California, Los Angeles
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Jonathan Fox
Professor,
School of International Service
American University
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Luis R. Fraga
Arthur Foundation Endowed Professor of Transformative Latino Leadership
Professor of Political Science University of Notre Dame
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Lisa Garcia Bedolla
Chancellor's Professor of Education and Political Science
University of California, Berkeley
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Bruce Haynes
Associate Professor, Dept. of Sociology University of California, Davis
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Jongho Lee
Professor
Dept. of Political Science
Western Illinois University
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Peter Levine
Associate Dean for Research and Lincoln Filene Professor of Citizenship & Public Affairs, Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, Tufts University
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Matt Mahan
Cofounder and CEO
Brigade
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James Muldavin
Executive Director
California Center for Civic Participation and Youth Development
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Karthick Ramakrishnan
Professor of Public Policy
University of California, Riverside
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Ricardo Ramirez
Associate Professor, Dept. of Political Science
University of Notre Dame
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Jason Reece
Assistant Professor of Land Use Planning and Law
The Ohio State University
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Cruz Reynoso
Professor of Law Emeritus
University of California, Davis
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Dan Schnur
Director
American Jewish Committee
Los Angeles Region
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Shakari Byerly
Partner and Lead Researcher
EVITARUS
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Samuel Molina
California State Director
Mi Familia Vota
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California Civic Engagement Project
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The California Civic Engagement Project (CCEP) is housed at the UC Davis Center for Regional Change and was established to inform the public dialogue on representative governance in California. The CCEP is engaging in pioneering research to identify disparities in civic participation across place and population. It is well positioned to inform and empower a wide range of policy and organizing efforts in California to reduce disparities in state and regional patterns of well-being and opportunity. Key audiences include public officials, advocacy groups, political researchers and communities themselves.
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UC Davis Center for Regional Change
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The UC Davis Center for Regional Change (CRC). The CRC is a catalyst for innovative, collaborative, and action-oriented research. It brings together faculty and students from different disciplines, and builds bridges between university, policy, advocacy, business, philanthropy and other sectors. The CRC's goal is to support the building of healthy, equitable, prosperous, and sustainable regions in California and beyond.
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