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Indybay Feature

The November 2010 Alameda County Green Party Voter Guide is out!

by repost
The “GPAC” is one of the few County Councils that produces a Voter Guide for each election. We mail about 8,000 to Green households, and distribute another 10,000 through cafes, BART stations, libraries and other locations. Please read yours and pass it along to other interested voters. Feel free to copy the back “Voter Card” to distribute it as well. The Green Party County Council meets in the evening on the 2nd Sunday each month at 6:45pm. This is the regular “business” meeting of the Alameda County Green Party. We have several committees working on outreach, campaigns, local organizing. Please stay in touch by phone or email if you want to get more involved. Call (510) 644-2293 and listen to our outgoing message for upcoming events and information.
gpac-vg-11-10-crrx-2.pdf_600_.jpg

The Nov. 2010 Alameda County Green Party Voter Guide:

State Executive Offices
Governor - Laura Wells
Lieutenant Governor - Jimi Castillo
Secretary of State - Ann Menasche
Controller - Ross Frankel
Treasurer - Charles “Kit” Crittenden
Attorney General - Peter Allen
Insurance Commissioner - William Balderston
State Superintendent of Public Instruction - No Endorsement, see write-up

Federal Offices
U.S. Senator - Duane Roberts
U.S. Representative, District 9 - Dave Heller
U.S. Representative, District 10 - Jeremy Cloward

Other State Offices
State Board of Equalization, District 1 - Sherill Borg
State Assembly, District 14 - No Endorsement, see write-up
State Assembly, District 16 - No Endorsement, see write-up

Judicial Offices
State Supreme Court, Ming Chin - No Endorsement, see write-up
State Supreme Court, Carlos Moreno - Yes, with reservations
State Supreme Court, Tani Cantil-Sakauye - No Endorsement, see write-up
State Courts of Appeal, First District - No Endorsements, see write-up
Superior Court Judge, Seat 9 - Victoria Kolakowski

Special School Districts
Peralta Community College, Area 3 - No Endorsement, see write-up
Peralta Community College, Area 5 - No Endorsement, see write-up

County Offices
Supervisor, District 2 - No Endorsement, see write-up

City Offices
Alameda
Mayor - Doug de Haan
City Council - Jean Sweeney , Beverly Johnson with reservations
School Board - Marjorie “Margie” Sherratt
Healthcare District - Robert Deutsch

Albany
City Attorney - No Endorsement, see write-up
City Council - Joanne Wile

Berkeley
Auditor - No Endorsement, see write-up
City Council, District 1 - Jasper Kingeter
City Council, District 4 - Jesse Arreguin
City Council, District 7 - Kriss Worthington
City Council, District 8 - # 1: Stewart Jones , # 2: Jacquelyn McCormick
School Board - Karen Hemphill , Julie Holcomb , Leah Wilson
Rent Board - Dave Blake , Asa Dodsworth , Katherine Harr , Lisa Stephens , Jesse
Townley
, and Pam Webster

Oakland
Mayor - # 1: Don Macleay , # 2: Jean Quan*, # 3: Rebecca Kaplan*
*Quan and Kaplan have been ranked, but are not endorsed - see write-up
City Auditor - No Endorsement, see write-up
City Council, District 2 - Jennifer Pae , with reservaitons
City Council, District 4 - # 1: Ralph Kanz , # 2 Daniel Swafford , # 3 Libby Schaaf
City Council, District 6 - Jose Dorado
School Board, District 2 - No Endorsement, see write-up
School Board, District 4 - Benjamin Visnick
School Board, District 6 - No Endorsement, see write-up

Special Districts
A.C. Transit, At-large - Joel Young
A.C. Transit, Ward 3 - Nancy Skowbo
A.C. Transit, Ward 4 - No Endorsement, see write-up
A.C. Transit, Ward 5 - No Endorsement, see write-up
BART, Ward 4 - Robert Raburn
EBMUD, Ward 3 - No Endorsement, see write-up
EBMUD, Ward 4 - Andy Katz
EBMUD, Ward 7 - Matt Turner

State Propositions
19 - Legalize Marijuana - Yes, Yes!
20 - Congressional Redistricting - No
21 - Vehicle Fee for Parks - Yes, with reservations
22 - Local Government and Transportation Funds - No Endorsement, see write-up
23 - Gutting of Greenhouse Gas Laws - No, No, No!
24 - Repeals Business Tax Loopholes - Yes, Yes!
25 - Approval of State Budget by Majority Vote - Yes, with reservations
26 - Extends 2/3 Vote Requirement to All Revenue Items - No, No!
27 - Returns Redistricting to the State Legislature - No Endorsement, see write-up

Local Measures
F - County $10 Vehicle Registration Fee - Yes, with reservations
H - Berkeley: Continuation of School Maintenance Parcel Tax - Yes
I - Berkeley: Continuation of School Facilities Bond - Yes
J - Emeryville: $95 Million School Bond - No, with reservations
L - Oakland: Schools Parcel Tax - No Endorsement, see write-up
N - Albany: Appointed City Attorney - No Endorsement, see write-up
O - Albany: Utility Users’ Tax - Yes
P - Albany: Paramedic, Fire Engines and Ambulance Tax - Yes, with reservations
Q - Albany: Cannabis Business Tax - No Endorsement, see write-up
R - Berkeley: Downtown Plan - No, No, No!
S - Berkeley: Tax on Cannabis - Yes
T - Berkeley: Medical Cannabis - Yes
V - Oakland: Cannabis Tax - Yes
W - Oakland: Telephone Tax - Yes
X - Oakland: Parcel Tax - No, No!
BB - Oakland: Amend Measure Y Funding - Yes

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Ranked Choice Voting in Berkeley, Oakland and San Leandro:
Strategies for Ranking Your Votes

The Green Party has advocated Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) for years, and now that we finally have achieved that goal, it’s time to discuss how to get the results we want with RCV. Just as importantly, we need to talk about not to get what we don’t want.

RCV gives us the chance to vote for the best candidate without worrying that we might be helping elect the worst one. In the RCV system for local offices in Berkeley, Oakland and San Leandro only (RCV does not apply to any other races), each voter may give up to 3 choices for each local office. Here are the basic rules:

• Voters may list their 1st, 2nd and/or 3rd choices for each office by giving a ranking to each candidate.

• Voters may vote for only one candidate if they wish, or give a ranking for just 2 candidates.

• The ballot has 3 columns for listing the rankings, but voters cannot vote for more than one candidate in each column, or that choice will be invalidated. Nor can voters vote for the same candidate more than once.

• If your 1st choice does not get enough total 1st choice votes to come close to winning, then your 2nd choice vote is counted as if it were your 1st choice. Similarly, if your 2nd choice then does not get enough votes, your 3rd choice is counted. So your 2nd and 3rd choice rankings can be very important.

Let’s use the Oakland Mayoral race for an example of differing voter strategies under RCV—there are 10 candidates, with 3 well known “leading” candidates. One is a Green whom we highly recommend, Donald Macleay.

Another candidate is former State Senator Don Perata, a man who appears to have his fingers in every dirty development deal in the East Bay, and who we believe would be a disaster as Oakland’s Mayor. Two City Council members, Jean Quan and Rebecca Kaplan, are considered the leading opponents by mainstream media.

As an example, we ask two strategy questions:

1. Should I vote for my favorite candidate, even though I believe he/she has little chance of winning? The most important advantage of RCV is that you can always vote for your favorite candidate, without fear that it will help another that you don’t like. So YES, ALWAYS rank your favorite #1!! Your #2 and #3 choices will also get your vote if your #1 candidate gets less total first choice votes than they do.

2. How do I best vote for the defeat of the worst candidate? Most importantly, NEVER GIVE ANY RANKING to any candidate you really do not want. Do not rank Don Perata, for example, if you believe he is as awful a candidate as we do!!

3. Should I just rank my #1 choice and not rank any others? If you believe in voting only for a candidate you can fully support, then this is what you should do. If you prefer this strategy (called “bullet voting”), then the Green Party recommends you rank Donald Macleay as your #1 choice only, and give no other rankings. If you are willing to vote for a “lesser of two evils” to defeat the “most evil,” then you should rank #2 and #3 choices. In this example, the Green Party recommends you rank “lesser evil” candidates Jean Quan as your #2 choice and Rebecca Kaplan as your #3 choice, as they probably have the best chance to defeat the “most evil” candidate, Don Perata.

For detailed information on the mechanics of how to vote using Ranked Choice Voting, refer to:
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