Civic Education in 2010

Discussion with County Registrars

CACEO New Law ConferenceDecember 10, 2009

2

2010 = Tough Year for Voters

Overwhelming Number of Choices• Gov. race; long ballot of state & local offices• More propositions than usual in November,

most on complex topics

Poorly Prepared• Don’t understand state/local fiscal issues • High distrust in government (which

discourages learning)

3

Nonpartisan Help for Voters

• Groups collaborating: Next 10, CVF, LWVCEF, California Forward, others

• Focus on fiscal and reform issues

• Creating tools voter educators and voters can access early in 2010

• Background information with context across the propositions

4

CA Choices Reform Clearinghouse

• www.CaliforniaChoices.org (February 2010)• From Next 10 and Stanford’s Bill Lane Center• “One stop shop” about CA governance reforms

to help people understand the issues & options• Organized to help policy enthusiasts, general

voters and community educators• Nonpartisan reform descriptions, pros/cons,

polling data, expert blog, links to reports, etc.

5

EVG Fast Facts

• From the LWVCEF Easy Voter Guide Project: Multi-lingual user-friendly primers

• First topics: budget & taxes, ballot measures, state elected offices, political parties

• Combines community-tested language with expert review

• Can download at www.easyvoter.org in January

Discussion with Counties

Interest in and capacity for outreach

• Who has outreach staff?

• Outreach committees?

• Links for voters on website?

• Want more tools about how to vote?

• Want to help voters make more informed choices?

For more information

ssclark@ckgroup.org

www.easyvoter.org (January)

www.cachoices.org (February)