By Jennifer K. Morita

October 17, 2024

Election Day is fast approaching and with it an onslaught of ads for 10 statewide initiatives on the Nov. 5 ballot.

To help California voters weed through the noise, Sacramento State’s Project for an Informed Electorate (PIE) hosted an Initiative Explainer Oct. 16 featuring nonpartisan expertise from the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO).

“We are so lucky to be in the state capital, where we have the LAO experts on the initiatives, the people who have done more research than anyone,” PIE Director and Sac State Political Science Professor Kim Nalder said. “The legislative analysts understand what the initiatives would do better than the rest of us and are willing to share their analysis and answer questions at our event.”

The Initiative Explainer is just the latest voter-education effort from PIE, which Nalder launched in 2011 to provide accurate, nonpartisan information to voters through academic research and public events.

• Related Story: Sac State to open Vote Center, ballot drop box for November general election

“One of the themes that was recurrent even then was students wanting to know how to get trustworthy information,” Nalder said. “There is a firehose of news content, and so much misinformation and disinformation out there that is so tough to sort through.”

“I thought we could at least make some attempt to use research and the insights the University can bring to provide good information to the campus community and the general community.”

One of the first events PIE hosted was the Initiative Explainer. While there are 10 initiatives on this year’s ballot, in the past several elections there have been as many as 17.

“The initiatives can be insanely confusing, and sometimes there are two competing initiatives on the same topic,” Nalder said. “And then the ads … in our system, it’s okay to lie on political ads, and they do sometimes, or at least they’re misleading or don’t provide all the information.

“So, it’s hard to sort through all of it. This is an incredibly useful tool for folks who want solid information that’s trustworthy, that they know isn’t biased.”

“We are so lucky to be in the state capital, where we have the LAO experts on the initiatives, the people who have done more research than anyone. The legislative analysts understand what the initiatives would do better than the rest of us and are willing to share their analysis and answer questions at our event.” -- Kim Nalder, professor of Political Science and director of the Project for an Informed Electorate

The Initiative Explainer, held at the Downtown Library Galleria, was co-hosted by the Sacramento Public Library and LAO.

The analyst who wrote the explanations for the initiatives in the voter guide discussed each one, outlining its concept and potential impact. Nalder then provided information about campaign expenditures and endorsements, followed by questions from the audience. Each measure was discussed for about 5 minutes.

“The LAO is strictly nonpartisan,” Nalder said. “PIE is also nonpartisan because the whole point is to help people understand things honestly.”

Several audience members brought their sample ballots and were taking notes during the presentation, including Paola Cruz, who recently moved to Sacramento from Florida.

“At the end of the day, voting is the best way a regular person can enact change, especially when it comes to the propositions,” Cruz said. “There’s a lot of focus on the presidential election, but I think really the propositions and local government have the most potential to affect our everyday lives.”

The University’s Conferences, Trainings and Organizational Development Media Services office recorded the event and five-minute segments for each initiative will be online at csus.edu/ssis/pie and on social media.

“We try to keep it super short so we can have videos that people will watch online after the event,” Nalder said. “It’s really useful because you can get the facts and you can do homework to get more information if you want to.”

Past event videos have hit as many as 40,000 views, she added.

“That’s not bad, but ever think about how many voters there are in the state?” Nalder said. “I would love to get these out to more people beyond the region, because any California voter can use these initiative explainer videos.”

The Initiative Explainer was part of ongoing work PIE has done this election season to promote voter education and participation. Earlier in the semester, the organization held discussions on the presidential and vice-presidential debates.

“Things are so dynamic,” Political Science Professor Danielle Martin said. “The political world, government, changing policies are different all the time. So, it’s super important to have these kinds of events every single election, not just for first-time voters or students who are just figuring out what it means to be an engaged, involved citizen, but I also learn a lot at these events.”

Martin, who researches voter knowledge and the cues people use to make their choices, also organized an art exhibit in the University Union’s second floor Exhibit Lounge. For the exhibit, entitled “Why We Vote” and on display through Nov. 7, students and members of the Sacramento State Renaissance Society submitted pieces highlighting their reasons for casting a ballot.

The interactive exhibit also includes information from the importance of voting and QR codes to resources such as the California Secretary of State’s office, where people can register to vote.

“I’m hoping every time students walk up those stairs, they see the exhibit and why we vote, so if nothing else, it primes people that the election is going on and keeps it at the forefront,” Martin said.

Other upcoming PIE events include:

• A Guide to Election Week: 2 p.m. Oct. 23 in University Union, Folsom Room 3^rd floor
• Making Sense of the 2024 Election: 2 p.m. Nov. 20, University Union Foothill Suite 3^rd floor

For more information about PIE or to watch the Initiative Explainer videos, go to the PIE web page.