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We are nonpartisan, not neutral.

Remaining nonpartisan does not mean staying silent. When democracy itself is under threat, voter access is restricted, or misinformation spreads, the League has a responsibility to speak out clearly and forcefully. We advocate for fundamental rights and freedoms, regardless of which political party is in power or which officials are responsible. Focusing on our issues, not affiliations, strengthens our voice and credibility. We hold true to our mission without being beholden to any political agenda.


 
- Ce
lina Stewart, esq.
CEO of the League of Women Voters


CALENDAR OF EVENTS - JOIN US!

Palo Alto City County Candidate Forum Saturday, September 19, 4-6pm (Zoom) - REGISTER  and SUBMIT QUESTIONS

Palo Alto School Board Candidate Forum
Thursday, September 24, 7-8:30 pm (Zoom) - REGISTER and  SUBMIT QUESTIONS

REGIONAL EVENTS

Defend Democracy Tour: the ED of ACLU NorCal highlights how people are stepping up to defend democracy - Tuesday, September 15, 6-8pm, Mitchell Park Community Center REGISTER

LWV of Santa Clara County: Protecting Our Elections: How to Prepare for Attacks on the Right to Vote - hear from voting rights experts from the Brennan Center for Justice and Common Cause California - Tuesday, September 22, 5pm (Zoom) REGISTER and SUBMIT A QUESTION

NOVEMBER 3 MIDTERM ELECTION INFORMATION

Sept. 24 - Oct. 13: ROV mails county election information guides to all registered voters. 

Oct. 5: ROV mails vote by mail packets - after casting your ballot sign up to track your ballot with the CA Secretary of State's Where's My Ballot?

Oct. 5 - Nov. 2: Early voting at ROV office

Oct. 19: Last day to Register to Vote for Nov. 3 election with regular ballot

Oct. 20 - Nov. 3: Conditional Voter Registration at any Vote Center or ROV office. 

Oct. 24 - Nov. 3: Vote Centers open

Oct. 27: Last day to request a vote-by-mail replacement. Visit any Vote Center in Santa Clara County for help.  

Nov. 3: ELECTION DAY! All Vote Centers open. You can drop your ballot off an any Santa Clara County Vote Center. 

 

Local Issues

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State and National League Positions

LWV's Legislative Work


LWV National

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Impact on Issues


General Election - November 3, 2026

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YOUR MIDTERM ELECTIONS TO-DO LIST


Important Information from the Santa Clara County ROV & CA Secretary of State


Mailing date deadline alert from the CA Secretary of State
Return your ballot by mail as soon as you receive it. Mailed ballots must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received not later than 7 days after Election Day. 

To ensure your ballot is postmarked by Election Day, make sure to mail it at least five days before Election Day, November 3, 2026. It is recommended that ballots are mailed no later than October 27th.  

If mailing on Election Day, get a hand-stamped postmark from a postal employee inside a United States Post Office. 

Safe mail alternatives:  Visit a Secure Drop Box Location or any Santa Clara County Vote Center.  You do not have to visit the Voter Center nearest your home.  



Make Voting Easier!

Download the LWVC Easy Voter Guide for a comprehensive evaluation of the California Ballot.

It's available in many languages.


Vote with the League!

CA Ballot Measure Recommendations 2026

Each election, the League of Women Voters of California analyzes all statewide ballot measures and makes recommendations for voters based on our positions. We call this Vote with the League!

Details: LWVC Nov 3 2026 Ballot Recommendations


Share this with your family and friends! 

  SUPPORT:  

YES on PROP 1 – Veterans & Affordable Housing Bonds.
Authorizes $10 billion in bonds for affordable housing construction, preservation, and homeownership programs, plus $1.25 billion for CalVet home loans expected to be repaid by borrowers. California's earlier affordable housing bond funds are spent while projects remain stalled, and housing costs continue to drive homelessness and overcrowding.

YES on PROP 2- Save for California's Future Act. Allows California to save more during strong economic years by building a larger rainy-day fund and requiring more savings when capital gains taxes are unusually high. Stronger reserves can protect schools and other essential services and reduce emergency borrowing when revenues fall.

YES on PROP 3 – Children's Education & Health Care Protection. Keeps California's current income tax rates on the highest-income 2 percent of taxpayers after 2030. Without Prop 3, those rates would fall in 2031, reducing state revenue by an estimated $5 billion to $15 billion a year. Prop 3 does not raise anyone's tax rate today.

YES on PROP 4 - California Fair Elections Act. Lifts California's near-total ban on public campaign financing and lets state and local governments create voluntary programs. Prop 4 creates no program and spends no money by itself. Public financing can amplify small donors, broaden who can run, and reduce dependence on wealthy donors, with safeguards on public funds and stronger penalties for illegal foreign money. The LWVC is an official proponent.

YES on PROP 5 – recall Election Reform for Statewide Officers. Prop 5 ends a system that can hand office to a replacement supported by only a small plurality. If a recall succeeds, the vacancy is filled under existing rules. For Governor, the Lieutenant Governor serves as Governor and, if the recall occurs early enough, voters elect a successor at the next statewide election. The LWVC is an official proponent.


  NEUTRAL:  

NEUTRAL on PROP 40 - Billionaire Tax. Federal budget cuts threaten Medi-Cal and food assistance for millions of Californians. Prop 40 would impose a one-time tax of up to 5 percent on billionaire wealth, directing most of the money to health care. It could raise tens of billions and advance League goals on basic needs and tax equity. But onetime, earmarked funding is not a stable long-term solution, the tax relies on only a few hundred people, and its timing and revenue effects are uncertain. Strong League positions point both ways, so the LWVC is neutral.

  OPPOSE:  

NO on PROP 37 - Loan Program for Middle-Income Buyers of New Homes.
Prop 37 addresses a real down-payment barrier, but with another mortgage that buyers generally would repay monthly on terms voters would not know in advance. It could reinforce racial and economic gaps: it gives no priority to first-time or first-generation buyers, could assist households earning more than $300,000 in some areas, and still requires at least 3 percent down. Assistance is limited to new or converted homes with no requirement that they be near jobs, transit, schools, or services. The Legislative Analyst says it is uncertain whether the program would result in more homes being built or purchased.

NO on PROP 38 – Bonds for Immunology Medical Research. Medical research saves lives, but bonds are a poor way to fund it. Prop 38 would borrow $8.4 billion, requiring $500 million to $600 million in General Fund payments each year for about 20 years, about 10 percent more after inflation than paying up front. It would also lock billions into one field as other research needs emerge. Finally, California's stem-cell bond experience shows that royalties may do little to offset the debt.

NO on PROP 39 - Prohibits Voting Without Government-Issued ID. Prop 39 is a Trump-inspired partisan power grab built on false claims about California elections. It would require government-issued ID every time someone votes in person and make mail voters put the last four digits of a designated ID number on the ballot envelope. California already verifies voter identity. Prop 39 would add barriers to voting, expose sensitive information to identity theft, force rejections of valid ballots for clerical mismatches, rely on flawed citizenship data, and cost up to hundreds of millions yearly. The LWVC is an official opponent.

NO on PROP 41- Limits New State Taxes & Requires Special Tax Audits. Makes revenue from new state taxes enacted or taking effect on or after January 1, 2026, count toward the Gann Limit's constitutional spending cap and requires audits of programs funded by new or increased special taxes. It could prevent the state from raising or spending all the money voters authorize for public priorities and would reduce its ability to respond to changing needs.

NO on PROP 42- Limits New State Taxes on Personal Property. Constitutionally prohibits new state taxes on the ownership or control of a broad range of personal property, including stocks, business interests, art, intellectual property, retirement accounts, and other savings and assets. It also limits certain retroactive taxes. The League opposes locking away future revenue options that California may need under different economic or fiscal conditions. PROP 43 Two-Thirds Vote for Certain Local Taxes OPPOSE Requires a two-thirds vote for new, increased, or extended local special taxes proposed by voters through the initiative process. That would let a minority of voters block tax measures supported by most voters and make it harder for communities to raise revenue when local needs or economic conditions change.

NO on PROP 44 – Safety-Net Clinic Spending Requirement. Requires affected nonprofit safety-net clinics to spend at least 90 percent of annual revenue on health care services or face substantial penalties. This rigid rule could force clinics to cut services or close, shifting patients to other safety-net providers and increasing public costs.

NO on PROP 45 – Changes CEQA Review for Essential Projects. Changes CEQA review for designated essential projects by imposing tighter timelines, sharply limiting the alternatives studied, reducing opportunities for public participation and interagency coordination, and narrowing review of impacts covered by other environmental laws. The League opposes speeding projects by weakening environmental review, public input, and protections for affected communities.

Programs

Thank you Palo Alto for a very successful event! Over 300 communities across the country did the same!


Together, we re-affirmed that the fight for the right to vote continues.

The film After Selma clearly spells out how strict voter ID laws, voter purges, changing times and locations of polling places, racially gerrymandered voter maps, and disenfranchisement of people with felony convictions silenced millions of voters in the 2016 election, the first presidential election in 50 years without the 1965 Voting Rights’ Act pre-clearance protections. These voter suppression tactics continue today across the country. Use your library card to watch After Selma for free at kanopy.com/after-selma. VIEW THE DISCUSSION ON YOUTUBE AT: Unite and Rise For Voting Rights

This event was a community coalition brought to you by the
League of Women Voters of Palo Alto & Rho Delta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. in partnership with, and gratitude to: UAMEZ Church | The Joan Trumpauer Mulholland Foundation | Catalyze & Cultivate Consulting | Spark/Etz Racial Justice Impact Coalition (SERJIC) | Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley | National Coalition of 100 Black Women - Silicon Valley Chapter

View Our Past Programs 


2.24.26:
Immigration, Congress and Common Sense: Can Everyday Americans Move Action Forward in These Times?

10.4.25: Stanford professor ERIK JENSEN on the Rule of Law

10.2.25: LWVPA Water Symposium - where does our water come from, and how is it managed?

9.9.25: County League forum on Executive Power, with Stanford Law Professor PAMELA KARLAN and Santa Clara University Law Professor DAVID SLOSS.

4.23.2025: ADAM DAWES, CEO of Embarcadero Media - Local News in Crisis: Does It Have a Future on the Peninsula?

10.6.24 - Voting Under Pressure: What We Can All Do - PAMELA KARLAN, Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law and a founder and co-director of the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic at Stanford Law School, shares her thoughts on the various ways democracy and the right to vote are under pressure and provide suggestions on what we can all do beyond voting.



* A note on collaborations and partnerships: the League sometimes sponsors or publicizes events with other allied organizations, where the goals/mission/values of the organizations are aligned with League positions (US, CA, regional and local) and support or opposition of political parties or candidates is not the organization's primary mission.

Learn more!

The League is not just for women!
Everyone 16 and older and interested in democracy is welcome - however you identify!

Are you 16-25? The California League has a new group just for you - LWVC Youth Circle! Interested?Email us at contact@lwvpaloalto.org.


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Who We Are

The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization that encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.
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