.Election Night 2020: Live Updates

Each will change the lives for some part of the population in big ways in the coming years. The Bohemian will watch closely to see how they fare into the night. Here are the ones we’ll be monitoring most:

Prop. 15: Prop. 15 would mandate commercial properties—but not homes—be assessed every three years and taxed at their current fair market value. Proponents say the measure would generate between $6.5 trillion and 11.5 trillion for local governments and schools. Opponents say the tax increases will trickle down to small businesses and customers. The Santa Clara County assessor is taking a more nihilistic approach: he says none of it matters because it can’t be implemented. Time will tell.

Prop. 16: Prop. 16 would reinstate affirmative action 24 years after it was banned, meaning universities and public entities could factor someone’s gender, race or ethnicity into admissions or hiring decisions. Supporters say that it would level the playing field for people of color. Opponents fear it would legalize discrimination.

Prop. 17: Prop. 17 would restore voting rights for parolees with felony convictions, allowing them to vote after they’ve served their prison sentence, but before they are done with parole.

Prop. 18: Should 17-year-olds who will be 18 by the time of the next general election be able to vote in primary and special elections? The youth’s voting fate is in Californians’ hands.

Prop. 19: Prop. 19 would let homeowners who are 55 or older, disabled or wildfire and disaster victims to transfer their primary home’s tax base up to three times—up from the one-time move allowed today. The lower tax base could also still be passed to children, but only if those young adults plan to live in the home, or if the property is a farm.

Prop. 20: Prison reforms have been on the California ballot for years, often finding ways to help with the overcrowding in facilities across the state. Prop. 20, may do the opposite by allowing some property crimes of more than $250, such as “serial shoplifting” and car theft, to be charged as felonies instead of misdemeanors.

Prop. 21: Prop. 21 would allow cities and counties to pass rent control for more properties than currently allowed, including those built before 2005 and owned by landlords with more than two properties. Single-family homes would be exempt.

Prop. 22: When tech companies spend a couple hundred million dollars supporting an initiative, it’s pretty clear who stands to gain from its passage. In Prop. 22, Uber, Lyft and other gig companies want the state to exempt them from treating their workers as employees instead of independent contractors, which would save them gobs of money.

Prop. 25: If Prop. 25 passes, it would uphold a 2018 California law that would end cash bail and instead use a risk-based algorithm to decide who gets out of jail while awaiting trial.

Read more about all of the propositions on the California ballot in our earlier coverage and check back here to see how these ballot measures fare.

—Janice Bitters