How to Vote Early In LAUSD School Board Race

18Apr
by La Comadre

ALERT: MAY 16, 2017 IS ELECTION DAY (AGAIN) IN LOS ANGELES!

Another election in Los Angeles is upon us. I am positive that the voters in Los Angeles County are quite fed up with the hundreds of calls they are getting from candidates. And I know that the mail is absolutely irritating. But folks, this is important. These elections are held for you. It’s your opportunity to send yourself to the school board or the city council or even Congress! So please don’t ignore your ballot! The reason I say that you have the opportunity to send yourself is because that is how we should view these elections. You should say to yourself when casting a vote, “Will this person represent my interests on that board?” and proceed from there. Why?  Because we cannot always be at every meeting or watch every meeting. We need to elect  people that we trust to be our voice and our vote!  

So, yes, you are going to get the candidate calls and the candidate mail. You will also get the occasionally nasty independent expenditure mail that even the candidates themselves don’t know about. This kind of politicking is the nature of the beast. But you also have the power to stop these things in their tracks.

Here’s how you can avoid all of it. Follow these simple instructions to take yourself off the lists of the campaign call and mail teams.

  • Step One:    Register as a Permanent Absentee Voter (PAV)
  • Step Two:    Vote By Mail (VBM) as soon as you receive your ballot
  • Step Three:     Indicate to any campaign that calls you that you have already voted and who you voted for. This drops you off the list because campaigns do not want to waste resources on someone who has already voted for their candidate or on someone who has supposed the opposition.   
  • Finally, enjoy the rest of the campaign season with little or no more phone calls and mail.

Once the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters (LAC ROV) receives your ballot, your ballot identification number is recorded and published for campaigns to update their lists. Clever of you to vote early and be done with it!  

This campaign cycle could get pretty nasty, so you may want to avoid the nastiness altogether.  The LAUSD School Board Race will be heated with the candidates being supported by either UTLA (United Teachers of Los Angeles) or CCSA (California Charter Schools Association). It seems to be playing out as a “public school” versus “charter school” election. But wait. Charter schools are also public schools. And of course, the folks at UTLA would have you believe that they are not. But it’s pretty simple to fact check this. Simply ask Google the following question:  “Are charter schools public schools in California?”  

You will see a couple of entries from the Charter Schools Associations, so skip those and click on the CDE link. So now you have access to the truth and not those pesky mailers you want to avoid.  

Who’s running anyway?  There are two districts that are on the ballot May 16, 2017.  District 4*, which is the seat currently held by Board President, Steve Zimmer and is challenged by Nick Melvoin, an educator.  And there is the empty seat that is being vacated by Monica Ratliff of District 6** who just recently endorsed Kelly Gonez to replace her. Imelda Padilla is also running in the district 6 election.

Sometimes it feels like we take more time choosing where to have dinner than who to vote for.  Let’s work on that and get informed about education issues

*District 4 includes the following cities: Brentwood, Del Rey, East Hollywood, Encino, Hollywood, Mar Vista, Marina Del Rey, Pacific Palisades, Playa Del Rey, Playa Vista, Tarzana, Topanga, Westchester, West Hollywood, Westwood, Woodland Hills, and Venice

**District 6 includes the following cities:  Arleta, Lake Balboa, Lakeview Terrace, Mission Hills, North Hollywood, North Hills, Pacoima, Panorama City, Reseda, San Fernando, Sun Valley, Sunland/Tujunga, Sylmar, Van Nuys

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La Comadre

We are Moms, Tias, Ninas and Play-Tias who love children in our lives and we want to help every child succeed in school. Navigating schools and education—from preschool to college—is hard. We want to help each other with this.
We are all in this together with you. We want to be a resource for you and for all of the children you love. Whether you need some info or you have info to share, you know where to go…LA Comadre.

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