blog post Commentary: Change Automatic Voter Registration Process to Track Equity in Elections By Mindy Romero, Mike Alvarez, Eric McGhee Mar 3, 2022 Adding a single optional question on race/ethnicity to the Department of Motor Vehicles’ automatic voter registration form could increase understanding of voter participation and strategies for engaging underrepresented groups.
Report Implementing Automated Voter Registration in California By Eric McGhee, Radhika Mehlotra, Mindy Romero Mar 30, 2020 The California New Motor Voter Act (CNMV) has dramatically increased the number of voters registered through the Department of Motor Vehicles. Though it did not increase overall registration during in the 2018 election cycle, there are signs of a steady impact since then. It is not yet clear whether CNMV has improved registration among underrepresented groups.
blog post Improving California’s Automatic Voter Registration By Eric McGhee, Radhika Mehlotra, Mindy Romero Jun 2, 2021
blog post Californians’ Views on Governor Newsom and the State of the State By Mark Baldassare Mar 7, 2023 Majorities of California adults (58%) and likely voters (57%) approve of Governor Newsom—good news for him as he forgoes the traditional state of the state address to speak directly with communities around the state.
blog post Did COVID-19 Disrupt California’s Voter Registration Surge? By Eric McGhee Oct 8, 2020 Voter registration in the state is substantially higher than four years ago, but the pace of registration has slowed in the past year.
Policy Brief Policy Brief: Do Registration Reforms Add New Voters or Keep Californians Registered? By Eric McGhee, Jennifer Paluch, Mindy Romero, Stephanie Barton Mar 6, 2024 Automatic voter registration and streamlined address updates have brought new voters onto the rolls while helping those who move within the state stay registered—but these reforms have not improved representation. To bring more young and diverse Californians into the electorate, the state must broaden its efforts to register new voters.
Report Improving California Children’s Participation in Nutrition Programs By Caroline Danielson, Sarah Bohn Dec 12, 2016 Food and nutrition assistance programs help children gain access to adequate amounts of nutritious food—reducing child hunger and food insecurity as well as promoting healthy development. Yet in California, enrollment varies widely across counties and across the main nutrition programs that serve children: CalFresh, popularly known as food stamps; the WIC program, which serves infants and preschool-age children; and school meals, which include lunch and often other meals. Increasing children’s enrollment in CalFresh and achieving healthier outcomes for Californians are priorities for the state. The governor’s January 2016 budget set a goal of enrolling 400,000 more eligible children in CalFresh over two years. This report assesses children’s eligibility for CalFresh and eligible children’s participation in the three main nutrition programs to explore opportunities for improving enrollment and the benefits of higher enrollment. Key findings include: CalFresh has lower enrollment than free school meals and WIC. In 2015, 24 percent of all California children participated in CalFresh, while more than twice as many age-eligible children (51%) were enrolled in free school meals; 44 percent of infants and 34 percent of young children were enrolled in WIC. There is substantial potential to expand the impact of nutrition programs. We estimate that if all CalFresh-eligible children were fully enrolled in both CalFresh and either free school meals or WIC, these programs would reach 1.6 million more children. Infants and young children are better connected to nutrition programs. Among CalFresh-eligible children, we find that 12 percent of public school students participate in neither CalFresh nor free school meals—more than a quarter million school children (331,000). In contrast, only 4 percent of infants (21,000) and 9 percent of young children (87,000) are disconnected from both CalFresh and WIC. Higher participation in nutrition programs would lower child poverty. Among public school students living in poverty, we project that full participation in nutrition programs would increase family resources by 15 percent. Among infants and young children living in poverty, we project that family resources would increase by 9 percent following full participation in nutrition programs. To some extent, lower CalFresh enrollment reflects more restrictive eligibility requirements. However, there is good reason to believe that more children participating in free school meals and WIC could be connected to CalFresh. Currently, most policies designed to integrate nutrition programs run from CalFresh to school meals. Building robust, two-way connections could help counties and the state better achieve the goals of these programs so more children have access to adequate, nutritious food.
Report Improving College Access and Success through Dual Enrollment By Olga Rodriguez, Daniel Payares-Montoya, Iwunze Ugo, Niu Gao Aug 21, 2023 At one time, mainly high-achieving high school students took college courses through dual enrollment; but access has widened under the College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) program. While CCAP students are benefiting from the program—they enroll in community college at high rates and reach key milestones—CCAP has room to improve.
Statewide Survey PPIC Statewide Survey: Californians and Their Government By Mark Baldassare, Dean Bonner, Lauren Mora, Deja Thomas Feb 22, 2024 Schiff, Porter, and Garvey lead in the top-two primary for the US Senate, while Trump is poised to capture all of California's delegates in the Republican presidential primary. Majorities see the situation at the US-Mexico border as a major problem.
