Elections 2022

After voting early by mail, Alexi Lindeman ‘26 took advantage of canceled classes Tuesday to attend a wisdom teeth consultation appointment and get her passport photo taken. Then, she returned to campus to finish homework. All in all, a relatively productive Democracy Day.  A year after Stanford established Democracy Day as a university-wide initiative to promote civic engagement, some students have observed a disconnect with the original goal. One day isn’t enough to re-prioritize classwork and extracurriculars, leaving them feeling slightly disengaged.  Democracy Day is set to take place on the first Tuesday of each November, even in years without...

By Ells Boone and Alex Wei Once largely frowned upon nationwide, sports betting has taken over the country in the last few years. Today it is nearly impossible to watch a game on TV, scroll through social media, or follow your favorite sports team without seeing an advertisement for a sports betting company and being fed the points spread for a specific game. However, California voters are not ready to legalize this new normal.   There were two sports betting measures on the statewide ballot Tuesday. Proposition 26 would have allowed in-person wagering only at the 62 Native American tribal casinos...

After a tough year of school closings, staff shortages and community protests, the Oakland Unified School District board is about to welcome a trio of new members. Nine candidates competed for three open seats in Tuesday's election, including in District 2 where retired Oakland educator Jennifer Brouhard won a two-year term by defeating David Kakishiba and Max Orozco.  Brouhard taught at one of the campuses shuttered this year, La Escuelita Elementary, a transitional English-language school for bilingual youth. The district also closed Parker, a K-8 school, which had existed for nearly 100 years.  During the past academic year, the school board...

Tessa Jones starts every morning with a cup of coffee and a 50-mile drive from Pittsburg down to San Francisco. What draws her to the city isn’t what the tourists come to do. She dons a bright vest at 4:30 a.m. to clean up trash in neighborhoods like Chinatown and Cows Hollow.  Jones is heading into her 29th year as a supervisor in the street environmental division of the Department of Public Works (DPW). She's made solving the waste problems in San Francisco — a place she considers to be her second home —  one of her life’s goals. But...

We previewed the ballot proposal to increase funding for art and music education by talking to kids.

Lexi Kupor’s undergraduate Stanford career is far from over. As a sophomore with plans to major in history, she’s taking courses that range from American studies to biology. But in terms of student activism in politics, she’s had her fair share of experience. After being largely involved in Stanford Women in Politics last year, she’s now the co-director of Voter Education in Stanford Votes, a branch of Stanford Students in Government. Focusing on student voter registration, the committee mainly works on nonpartisan civic engagement projects on campus. Recently it hosted an event for students to make sure their mail-in ballots...

With every election comes a swath of new voters.  More than 8 million young people in the United States have become eligible to vote since the 2020 elections, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Engagement. They are navigating a fractious political environment with the enthusiasm of making a difference.  Many Stanford students are among them, exercising their civic duty for the first time.  Elijah Anderson, a freshman, was eligible to vote in 2020, but he didn’t get around to registering. This time, however, he’s registered, and Anderson took advantage of all classes being canceled to head...

By Anne Li and Estefanía Acuña Lacarieri Cameron Lange, a junior from Los Angeles, is the epitome of a politically involved student. She is co-president of Stanford Democrats and makes time to call or canvasses for her preferred candidates. But as one of the most significant midterm elections in U.S. history loomed, Lange was disappointed by a lack of civic engagement among her peers. “ feels like a country club or a resort that's perfectly manicured and cut off from the real world and average people and their problems,” she said. “Issues like poverty and homelessness, that if you live...

Newsroom 104 spoke with Stanford students to hear their views about Proposition 1, which California voters overwhelmingly approved.