How we voted.

This week’s episode is a shorter one for Memorial Day weekend.

We start with a reflection on Memorial Day itself — not just the sales and barbecues many of us grew up with, but the original purpose of honoring those who lost their lives in military service, and what it means to think about sacrifice, citizenship, and the state of the country today.

From there, we pivot to the topic on many Californian’s minds: next week’s upcoming primary!

It’s here, it’s here! And after several weeks (okay, months) of thinking, reading endorsements, comparing candidates, changing our minds, and generally doing what political nerds do… we finally filled in our ballots and will likely have dropped them in the ballot box by the time this airs.

In this episode, Lisa walks through the process she used to evaluate candidates, including resources like Blue Voter Guide, local endorsements, newspaper analysis, and some personal decision-making criteria around experience, coalition-building, and electability.

We also talk through a handful of races where there wasn’t a clear consensus and explain where we landed and why.

This isn’t meant to be the guide. It’s simply an example of one way to approach voting thoughtfully and intentionally.

We also talk about:

* Why California’s open primary system continues to create strategic dilemmas

* Why primaries deserve more attention than they often get

* Bringing ballots to drop boxes early (and the oddly satisfying feeling of getting the texts from the county registrar saying they’ve been received and counted)

* Postcards, calls, and small ways to stay engaged locally

And because no episode is complete without it, we close with Joyful Moments: porch renovation progress, winding down long-running projects, and the strange possibility that we may need to retrain ourselves to walk up newly even stairs.

As promised, here are the resources:

* Blue Voter Guide

* Alameda County Dems

* California Dems

* LA Times Analysis (may be paywalled)

* SF Chronicle Endorsements (gift link)

* Wellstone Endorsements

* Working Families Party

And our list of California ballot selections:

Governor: Xavier Becerra

Lt. Governor: Michael Tubbs

Secretary of State: Shirley Weber

Controller: Malia Cohen

Treasurer: Eleni Kounalakis

Attorney General: Rob Bonta

Insurance Commissioner: Jane Kim

State Board of Equalization, 2nd District: Sally Lieber

US Representative, 12th Congressional District: Lateefah Simon

14th Assembly District: Buffy Wicks

Superior Court Judge Office #13: Michael P. Johnson

Superior Court Judge Office #19: Selia Warren

State Superintendent of Public Instruction: Nichelle Henderson

County Superintendent of Schools: Alysse Castro

Alameda County District Attorney: Ursula Jones Dickson

Measure A; Peralta Colleges Measure: YES

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