San Diego Decides

Following our statewide ballot measure crash course, VOSD editors Scott Lewis, Sara Libby and Andrew Keatts unpack the local measures for the city of San Diego. Measures A through E cover police, schools and more. Listen now and get ready to vote.

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We’re dropping episodes that feature some of the best conversations from Politifest 2020, VOSD’s annual political affairs summit.

In this episode: San Diego mayoral candidates Barbara Bry and Todd Gloria join VOSD host Scott Lewis for one of our most-watched debates. They covered a lot of ground about the candidates and their vision for the future of San Diego.

Watch more Politifest panels at politifest.org

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Starting this week, we’re dropping episodes that feature some of the best conversations from Politifest 2020, VOSD’s annual political affairs summit.

In this episode: An overview of each measure on the statewide ballot, from rideshare drivers to affirmative action. VOSD editors Sara Libby and Jesse Marx will help you understand what each measure would do and who’s lining up for and against them.

Watch more Politifest panels at politifest.org

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The March 3 primary is coming up quickly. If you're still not sure about the measures on your ballot, we've got good news for you: There are far fewer of them to learn about than many of the most recent elections. (The November ballot, however, will be a different story.)

In our first episode of our San Diego Decides 2020, Sara Libby and Jesse Marx run down what you need to know about that state proposition, plus the four measures that you'll decide on if you live in the city of San Diego — two countywide measures, and two city measures. If you live elsewhere within the county, you might be voting on school bonds, tax measures or other issues as well.

Keep up with all our election coverage at vosd.org/newsletters

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In our final episode before Election Day, we talk about the death penalty, which California voters will have a chance to end this year or reform.

Proposition 62 would end the death penalty in California. Proposition 66 would try to speed up appeals of death penalty verdicts, which could result in quicker executions or exonerations. (If both pass, the one with the most votes takes effect.)

First Sara Libby and I talk with Mike and Penny Moreau, whose son Tim was murdered in Oregon in 1990. They discuss that horrible case and the moral dilemma they faced before they cast their votes this year on the two death penalty measures. On the one hand, philosophically, they think it’s wrong to kill somebody else. On the other, they have seen the criminal justice system up close and found there is some value in the death penalty.

They talk about a practical benefit of the death penalty: It can provide leverage for prosecutors. Their son’s killers took plea deals to avoid a death penalty trial. As part of those deals, they agreed to help authorities look for Tim’s body, which they had buried in the woods. (They were unsuccessful; Tim has not yet been found.)

“That’s when we got interested in what impact hanging over someone’s head the threat of a death penalty – how it can help victims find out what happened,” Mike Moreau said.

The Moreaus have also shepherded other parents of murdered children through the justice system and they’ve seen people with life sentences get out of jail. Before they’d vote to end the death penalty, they said they want to make sure the justice system doesn’t ignore victims.

We also talk with Kelly Davis, a freelance journalist who focuses on criminal justice issues. She walks us through some of the other policy implications of both death penalty ballot measures.

To end on a lighter note, we also talked about our favorite things from the week.

Libby enjoyed the many Vine videos people reposted after the video-sharing service announced it would discontinue its mobile phone app, effectively ending the service. Particular favorites include this and this.

I enjoyed Saturday Night Live’s “Black Jeopardy” skit because it highlighted the similarities between black and white working class Americans –  their shared “disempowerment, suspicion of authority, and working-class identity,” as Jamelle Bouie at Slate put it – without papering over fundamental disagreements that still divide us.

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Unlike presidential debates that are watched by millions, local political debates are rarely televised, yet they offer some of the only chances for voters to hear city and county candidates who will have direct say over so much of their lives.

This week we talk about those debates.

Local debates happen more than you’d think. Podcast co-host Sara Libby, for instance, moderated a city attorney debate last Monday between Mara Elliott and Robert Hickey. Then Hickey and Elliott met again two days later for another candidate forum in City Heights.

As a result, there’s a debate circuit that forms, as our colleague and frequent debate host Andrew Keatts explains. Opposing candidates who see each other night after night become familiar with each other’s talking points and maintain collegial bonds.

Unless they don’t: Keatts talks about one of the wilder local debates he’s hosted, our Politifest debate over a ballot measure that will change city election law.

We also talk about the U.S. Senate “dabate” between state Attorney General Kamela Harris and Rep. Loretta Sanchez, and share other observations about the history of debating in San Diego.

Andy’s favorite thing is the new HBO series “Westworld.”

My favorite thing is normal people who far outnumber reporters even though reporters often end up fetishizing working-class Americans, like Ken Bone, the accidental star of the recent presidential debate.

Sara’s is Sutter Brown, California’s first dog, as well as a touching Sacramento Bee editorial on mortality and our pets.

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Those of you who were able to attend our Politifest presentation on the 17 state ballot measures not only got to learn about the ins and outs of the many complex measures facing California voters, you also got to witness our strong hat game.

We've recreated that presentation here on the latest San Diego Decides episode — unfortunately, you'll just have to imagine us wearing weird hats as you listen.

Some of the measures are relatively straightforward: One legalizes pot, for example. Another abolishes the death penalty. Others are quite tricky. Prop. 65, in fact, exists almost solely to confuse voters. That's the one that is sort of, kind of, about banning plastic bags, but will only become law if Prop. 67 — the actual plastic bag ban — passes, and Prop. 65 passes as well but with more votes. Told you it was confusing.

We run down all 17 ballot propositions in this episode, so get comfy, take notes and godspeed. And if you need some insight on the other huge slate of measures you'll weigh in on — the local San Diego measures — check out this handy guide.

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Just before we went to tape the latest episode of the San Diego Decides podcast, former Obama adviser David Axelrod had a fortuitous tweet:

Polls are so numerous at this point that results vary greatly and everyone can find one they like. Yet all are covered as if they're right!

— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) September 14, 2016

During election season, various polls get blasted in people’s faces like they’re being hurled from a T-shirt gun. Making sense of them all – especially when they sometimes seem to contradict one another – is tough.

In this episode, Ry Rivard and I run down some of the many things to consider when reading a poll: Who was paying for it, who was surveyed and how (did the interviewers use cell phones? Did they have Spanish-speakers available?) and what questions were actually asked. We also talk about the rise of online polling – a method that was considered kind of a joke as recently as a few years ago but is growing more sophisticated at a rapid clip.

And we talked with John Nienstedt of Competitive Edge, who’s been polling San Diegans for decades, about lessons he’s learned over the years.

Nienstedt said that even subtle changes in the wording of a polling question can produce significant differences in results.

He pointed out that in 2015, the Chargers paid for a survey that asked: “Do you favor or oppose the city and the county spending $400 million to build a new NFL football stadium in the Mission Valley area of San Diego?” About 61 percent of the respondents said they opposed that plan.

“I pointed out when this was touted to me – the question itself, if you read it carefully, what is a respondent supposed to say? Because you’re putting the emphasis on the city and county spending $400 million – that’s what you’re responding to,” Nienstedt said. “You’re not responding to a package or a proposition or an initiative, you’re responding to whether they should spend that money. The default is gonna be no.”

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This week, Sara Libby and I start preparing for the weighty decisions we’ll all be asked to make in this fall’s election.

These are weighty not only because they’re important decisions, but because there are a lot of them. When you get the state’s Official Voter Information Guide in the mail this fall, you’ll see it’s a voluminous document, the size of some cities’ telephone books. The guide takes voters through the pros and cons of at least 17 different statewide ballot measures.

We go through the guide, how you can use it and offer some first impressions about the layout, writing and fun facts scattered throughout. We suggest starting a book club soon if you want to get through the whole thing by Election Day.

The guide doesn’t even include the numerous city and county ballot measures that you’ll also be asked to decide in November.

We also list our favorite things of the week. My favorite thing is a rhetorical tic that Tim Kaine, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, has: He repeats himself for emphasis, something I’ve found that I do too. Sara’s favorite thing this week is the new HBO series “The Night Of.”

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Sara and Ry recap what happened on Election Day in San Diego and what races are still going into the fall.

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