Citizen, interrupted
BY SOFIE KODNER OCTOBER 28, 2020 After more than a decade living in the United States, Santiago Pazos thought he’d be able to vote this year for the first time. He moved to Los Angeles from Spain in 2009, got a green card and eventually started his own business. He became eligible to apply for…
Read MoreWhen power is transferred—literally—in an election
OCTOBER 27, 2020 BY AARON LEATHLEY In a stark scene of what the electoral process in California can look like in 2020, masked voters last Monday cast early ballots in an El Dorado County elections office powered by a generator after dry winds and fear of wildfires triggered an electricity shutoff. This year, thanks to…
Read MorePens, PPE, Police: Preparing for In-Person Voting
BY AARON LEATHLEY AND ZACHARY FLETCHER OCTOBER 26, 2020 It was a succinct appraisal of the state of mind of county election officials grappling with the new normal of voting in the year of a pandemic, disinformation and threats of voter intimidation. Across California, officials have been training workers at polling places and vote centers in new protocols,…
Read MoreWhen Police Violence is a Dog Bite
An Alabama man killed by a K-9 officer was one of thousands of Americans bitten by police dogs every year. Few ever get justice. By ABBIE VANSICKLE, CHALLEN STEPHENS, RYAN MARTIN, DANA BROZOST-KELLEHER AND ANDREW FAN 10.02.2020 The tiny pink house was pretty much empty. And run-down and dark, since the electricity had been shut…
Read MoreMessage from Interim Dean Geeta Anand regarding the legacy of Representative John Lewis
July 21, 2020 Dear Berkeley Journalism Community, I write to you as we mourn the death of one of our greatest fighters for racial justice, Representative John Lewis. To our Black students, our BIPOC students, and our entire journalism community, let me say that we will hold on tightly to the memory of Rep. Lewis’s…
Read MoreNo ticket needed: Stadiums welcome voters for November election
OCTOBER 23, 2020 BY ZACHARY FLETCHER For California sports fans, walking through the doors of the Staples Center or Levi’s Stadium isn’t an option this year. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local health departments barred fans across the country from attending games. But this November, counties and teams across California are allowing access…
Read MoreDo you know where your ballot is?
OCTOBER 22, 2020 BY ELENA NEALE-SACKS For the first time, Californians can track their mail-in ballots from the point they’re printed to the moment they’re accepted by their county elections office. Ballot tracking, now available in parts or all of a dozen states, has become a particularly useful option this year, when many voters are anxious…
Read MoreBefore the pandemic, California’s polling places were already disappearing
OCTOBER 22, 2020 BY KATIE LICARI Standing in line at their local polling place, a longtime ritual for many Californians, will be a thing of the past this Election Day for half of the state’s voters. That’s because in 2016 the California Legislature passed the Voter’s Choice Act, which allows counties to transition from polling places…
Read MoreHow Do Fire Victims Vote-By-Mail? Registrars Are Helping
Listen Here There are only 12 days until election day, and because of the pandemic, all registered voters in the state have been sent mail-in ballots. But what about people who have lost their homes to wildfires, how do they vote? Reporter: Isabella Bloom
Read MoreHow to vote in a pandemic when you’ve lost your home in a wildfire
BY ISABELLA BLOOM AND MARCO TORREZ OCTOBER 21, 2020 In August, as lightning strikes ignited fires around his Napa County home, Ian MacMillan escaped the flames with his wife, three kids and mother-in-law. A month later, when another wildfire roared through Northern California’s wine country, they had to flee their home again. “It sounded like a war zone,”…
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