Indivisible Ventura’s Voting Guide for the 2022 General Election

Note: this post will be periodically updated! (11/05/2022)

QUICK LINKS TO: Federal candidates, State candidates, State Measures, Judges, County Supervisors, Local Candidate, School Boards, Special Districts, Local Measures, Other voting guides/endorsements.

Our emphasis for this election is to FILL OUT THE WHOLE BALLOT – TOP TO BOTTOM!
We show you how.

I‘ve filled in my ballot for all the state candidates and measures. Why do I need to do more?

You are surrendering real and dangerous power to the GOP without a fight, which we do every time we hand in a partially filled ballot.

GOP strategists are really good at ferreting out the locations of power, and working on the long game to own them. They’ve been openly broadcasting how important “down-ballot” races are for a long time – we just needed to pay attention.

• JUDICIAL RACES: Their multi-decade strategy to take over the judicial branch has been stunningly effective. Their members do not miss voting on judicial candidates.
  • Neither will we! We study the judicial nominees and have recommendations on how to vote. We don’t want anymore Kavanaughs and Coney Barrett to slip through again.
• SCHOOL BOARDS: They are focusing on taking over school boards, giving them an opportunity to reshape education into their regressive mold. The ugly conflicts at school board meetings, deceptive social media and demonization of whole fields of study are “astroturf” campaigns – they are coordinated on state and national levels. They do not miss voting on school board candidates.
  • Neither will we! We study the school board nominees and have recommendations on how to vote.
• ELECTION OFFICIALS: “Nearly 1 in 3 Republican candidates for statewide offices that play a role in overseeing, certifying or defending elections supported overturning the results of the 2020 presidential race, according to an Associated Press review.…a governor or secretary of state with a record of not respecting the actual vote count could introduce chaos into the selection of the next president.“
• UTILITY & PARK DISTRICTS: They also think power lies in the offices that oversee utility districts. They do not miss voting on them.
  • Neither will we! We have recommendations on how to vote

These are not our GOP opponents of the past. A party seemingly obsessed with “FREEDOM!,” Christian Nationalism and forced-birtherism is now concentrating on oppressing their enemies through fear and threats. If you haven’t read a cohesive guide to the #Robmob, check out this field guide from Anonymousmommy.com. (Who is actually Jess Weihe, who is running for Community College Trustee, Area 2. Give her your vote!)

Are we overstating the danger? Did a Goleta man just get arrested for threatening to shoot Conejo School Superintendent Mark McLaughlin? The answers are respectively “NO, and “YES”

You can stop here and go directly to the particular races you’re interested in, or scroll below for more information about voting. Afterwards, please consider joining an online phone or text banking activity, for candidates next door or across the country, or a local door knocking campaign.

• We keep an updating list of these opportunities here.
• Think that being an introvert is an automatic hallpass from joining in? Hah! Introverts can be really good at these activities. Give yourself the freedom of making mistakes (EVERYONE DOES!) and watch/read the information we assembled on how to make this process easier and more fun for an earlier election here.

QUICK LINKS TO: Federal candidates, State candidates, State Measures, Judges, County Supervisors, Local Candidate, School Boards, Special Districts, Local Measures, Other voting guides/endorsements.

Why vote?

We believe we have promises to keep to Rep. Elijah Cummings, to Rep. John Lewis and to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and all those before us who’ve actually suffered to bring us to the rights we have, and are on the brink of losing today.

Why is this midterm election so important?

(MSNBC) “If you’re worried about the economy, you need to know this,” Biden said. “The Republican leadership in Congress has made it clear they will crash the economy next year by threatening the full faith and credit of the United States for the first time in our history, putting the United States in default unless we yield to their demand to cut Social Security and Medicare. You heard that one, right? You all heard them say that. That’s what they’re saying.”

“There’s no difference between the parties. Why bother voting?”

“For the past two years, Americans have been overwhelmed by a deluge of headlines suggesting democracy in the United States is under threat: Voter suppression. A shortage of drop boxes. Election deniers seeking key state offices. It can be difficult to gauge what stories suggest a truly terrifying threat to democracy, and which are simply disheartening or even petty. The Opinion Video film above aims to unpack one of the most dire threats to democracy, which includes a sophisticated plot to control not only who can vote, but which votes get counted.

One thing is certain: The 2020 race was not stolen. But Mr. Trump and his Republican enablers have been working to rig future elections to their advantage. (Of course it’s the people shrieking most loudly about fraud that you really need to watch.) The former president has convinced his followers that the electoral system has been so corrupted that the only way to save America is for MAGA patriots to take over the system to ensure that the “right” candidates win going forward. His allies have been busy engineering such a legal takeover, and key pieces of the plan are already in place.

In this short film, we shine a light on those machinations, so that those who care about democracy can act to stop them. For our Democracy to survive, we need to agree on a shared reality and for the losers — that is those who lose in honest and fair elections — to accept defeat.”

2020 election deniers in CA state and federal elections

Since it is pretty clear that the election wasn’t stolen (all of us who’ve worked in polls could tell them that), we believe that the group below of CA legislators should be called out as the cult members they are. Election denial is the Kool-aid to kill democracy.

(Graphic from Washington Post: (WP) Where Republican election deniers are on the ballot near you.)

“Democrats aren’t DOING anything aboout gas prices and inflation! Assuredly, the GOP can fix it? No. No, they can’t.”

Even with the Confederate-era filibuster in the Senate blocking many of the bills that passed the House, the Democrats have made some impressive steps forward…

What have Democrats done for Black People?
Hey ya'll with 3 weeks left till midterms I made a recap video which simplifies what FEDERAL dem leadership has done for Black Americans these last 2 years.

Yes it's wordy, but contrary to what hoteps think I don't get paid for this.😆 pic.twitter.com/cG6KfqmVCz

— Terry Lee 王瑞民💜💙 (@TerryWatkinsJr1) October 16, 2022

…which the GOP is actively signally they will reverse if they regain power.

There are no unimportant elections, no unimportant public offices, and no elected offices where the beliefs of the candidate don’t matter, even those deemed “non-partisan.”

If a GOP candidate is not actively calling out the Jan. 6 seditionists, and those amongst their own party encouraging the banning of books, the demonization of Critical Race Theory and immigrants, the Federalist Society’s destruction of the wall between church and state, the passage of harmful anti-LGBTQIA laws, anti-abortion penalties, anti-public schooling policies and racist voting restrictions – then they are nothing but apologists for a fascist takeover of our democracy. Do not let them hold office!

• Although Indivisible Ventura is not officially endorsing any particular candidate, we’ve pulled together endorsements from other groups we respect for your consideration, along with relevant reference materials. We need to win.
• Note – we NEVER RECOMMEND VOTING FOR SOMEONE WITHOUT ENDORSEMENTS! Leadership implies trust has been earned. Minimum ask for candidates: Find people who would trust you with the power of the office you seek and ask them to endorse you. Can’t find anyone? Get involved in the community in a hands-on way and earn that trust.
• Not all the people/races listed in our guide are on your ballot. Check your sample ballot or click here.
• Read political flyers carefully. Who paid for it? Is it from a political party, or are they pay-to-play “slate” mailers? Read this article from 2016. And here’s an example that arrived at our doors during the primary….tell us again, as to a child, how a GOP candidate got his name into a seemingly “DEMOCRATIC” slate mailer, by what appears to be a fake or dead website?

We fell down research rabbit holes for you so that you and our husbands wouldn’t have to. It’s now on all of us to fix what we can and to create a path to a more just and sustainable future for this country that we love. At a polling booth, or at our own kitchen tables, armed with a pen and a ballot, we are going to fight for the American dream for everyone.

Vote down the ballot for every office with a candidate! The local ones are as important as the state and federal offices.

• You don’t need to be an expert to become involved. Phonebanking! Textbanking! Letter Writing! and other great things to do!: Click here.
• This post will be updated as more endorsements come in.
• If you were actually looking for an absolutely non-partisan guide, go here and here.

I‘ve filled in the state candidates and measures. Do I need to do more?

Indivisible National started in the back rooms of congressional legislators who were surprised by the rise of the Tea Party. They studied the success of their methodology, and one part was relentlessly calling one’s own legislators and telling them how you wanted them to vote. The heirs to the Tea Party are STILL DOING EXACTLY THAT! We do that now too. Follow us.

But it’s harder to get Democrats to feel the urgency, but most of our people haven’t been cruising through the absolutely terrifying websites we have. The folks on the other side feel urgency too – they end one of their site with the message below, which based on what they believe, should feel ominous as hell.

QUICK LINKS TO: Federal candidates, State candidates, State Measures, Judges, County Supervisors, Local Candidate, School Boards, Special Districts, Local Measures, Other voting guides/endorsements.