Hooray, Hooray, It’s Almost (Primary) Election Day! Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: June 1, 2026

Indy Digest: June 1, 2026

It’s Election Day tomorrow. Thank heavens!

Right?! I have received approximately 14.2 tons of campaign fliers in my mailbox over the past few months. I fear for our landfills and/or recycling facilities.

Yeah! And don’t even get me started on the TV commercials …

Ugh. No kidding. So have you voted yet?

Yes. I even got the “California Ballotrax” alert saying my ballot has been counted and accepted. You?

Nope. I decided to wait until the last minute, to see how the polls shook out. I want to make sure my vote matters.

Understood. You’re far from alone. Our partners at Calmatters reported today:

The latest polls suggest it’s a three-way competition for the top-two spots in the California governor’s race, and a big reason that we don’t have a clear sense of who’s ahead is that many Democratic voters are waiting until the last minute to choose a candidate.

In roughly 24 hours, voters across the state will finish deciding whose names will appear on the November ballot to lead California for the next four years.

Three nonpartisan polls released last week showed Democrat Xavier Becerra ahead, with Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Tom Steyer neck-and-neck for the second spot.

Millions have already submitted their ballots before Election Day, but like previous gubernatorial primary elections, turnout has been relatively low compared to general elections: As of Sunday, only 15.10% of all ballots have been submitted, according to the voter data firm Political Data Inc. That’s a similar rate during the June 2022 primary, when 14.53% of ballots were returned three days before Election Day.

The 0.57 percentage point difference may not sound like much, but dig a bit deeper and the data reveals that Democratic voters are turning in their ballots slower than they did in 2022: 15% of Democratic ballots have been returned to date, compared to 17% four years ago. Meanwhile, a higher percentage of Republicans have returned their ballots, with 19% of GOP ballots submitted compared to 17% in 2022. …

California’s top-two primary system enables two candidates of the same party to potentially land on the November ballot, so some liberal voters want to ensure they can advance at least one Democratic hopeful.

Yeah. I admit to being a little worried that my ballot will arrive on time if I mail it.

Yeah, I would not recommend mailing it. At this point, you should drop off your ballot at a safe drop-off location, or take it to a polling place tomorrow. According to Calmatters’ last-minute voters’ guide: “Mailed ballots must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by election offices within seven days. (If you wait until Election Day), get a hand-stamped postmark from a postal worker inside your local post office. … Besides mailing in your ballot, you can submit your ballot at a drop-off location or vote in-person at the polls from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Find your nearest polling place here and your closest ballot drop-off location here.”

What did you mean by “safe drop-off location”?

Well … there have been some disconcerting things happening with some drop boxes in the Los Angeles area. The Los Angeles Times reports:

Election workers collecting ballots from a drop box in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday found multiple mail-in ballots that had been burned, officials say.

The vandalism was discovered Sunday morning outside the Department of Public Social Services building in the Civic Center area. According to county officials, election staff were conducting a routine ballot collection when they found the damaged ballots.

They “appeared to have sustained fire-related damage inside an Official Ballot Drop Box,” according to a news release from the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder/county clerk’s office.

Officials did not immediately provide further details.

A second incident of election-related vandalism was reported at a voting center in Long Beach. The incident occurred at the center at Cesar E. Chavez Park. No other details were provided.

Eek!

Eek, indeed.

I find the whole open-primary thing to be annoying. It’s so weird that two members of the same party can make it to the general election here in California.

Yeah … but in other states, they’re bemoaning the fact that they don’t have a more open primary system like we do here in California. NPR reports:

Congress could soon be more polarized than it already is. And primary elections are a big reason why.

Some lawmakers have begun to speak out against closed, single-party primaries, which they see as part of a system that limits voter choice and incentivizes elected officials to prioritize party loyalty over their own political judgment.

It’s a case long made by advocates of primary reform.

“There has been a ratcheting up, a ramping up of both the willingness and the ability of both the Democrats and the Republicans to shape outcomes before the voters get a chance to have a say,” John Opdycke, founder and president of the group Open Primaries, told NPR. “And that’s really devastating.”

In just the past several weeks, GOP primary voters in places like Indiana, Kentucky and Louisiana have forced out state and federal lawmakers who crossed President Trump, including on redistricting. …

For the past several years, Republicans across the country have been working to close their primaries. And recently, some Democrats have looked at doing the same. In California, with the possibility of two Republicans advancing from the gubernatorial primary, there is an effort underway to get rid of the state’s nonpartisan primary system—one of the few in the country.

Wow. Well, at least we’re almost at the finish line, as far as all the mailers and TV commercials are concerned.

Yeah … until they start arriving and airing for the general election.

Sigh …

—Jimmy Boegle

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From the Independent

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More News

• The U.S. Postal Service took an ominous step regarding mail-in voting. CNBC explains: “The U.S. Postal Service proposed new rules Friday that would require states to provide voter-level data on mail-in ballots in federal elections, one day after a federal judge declined to immediately block President Donald Trump’s executive order tightening mail-in voting rules. The proposal would require states to submit to the Postal Service the names and addresses of voters receiving mail-in or absentee ballots, along with unique barcodes tied to each voter’s outbound and return ballot envelopes. USPS said the rule would help determine how many ballots were mailed and allow officials to compare that figure with the number of ballots returned to detect potential issues for further investigation. … The proposal shifts USPS from recommending ballot-mail practices to mandating them for federal elections. The rule would require official logos, tracking barcodes, and a reporting system linking voters to specific envelopes. … States would still control who is eligible to vote by mail. The Constitution designates states to oversee most election-related functions, not the federal government.”

• 60 Minutes—the revered, trusted version—is swirling the figurative drain. The Associated Press says: “In a remarkable sign of the turmoil at CBS’s top-rated ‘60 Minutes,’ correspondent Scott Pelley said CBS News head Bari Weiss was ‘murdering the show’ and accused its new producer of having ‘slender qualifications’ for the job, according to reports. Pelley made his accusations in an introductory meeting Monday between the newsmagazine’s staff and Nick Bilton, the new executive producer named by Weiss last week, according to a detailed report on the Status website, which said it had heard a recording of the meeting. Weiss herself was not present, according to the report. Status specializes in media news and analysis. Status reported that Pelley, the longtime ‘60 Minutes’ correspondent, began grilling Bilton at the 10 a.m. meeting about the firings last week of Bilton’s predecessor, Tanya Simon, and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega. Status also reported that Pelley told Bilton, a former technology journalist and filmmaker with no traditional broadcast news experience, that his qualifications for the position were ‘slender.’ Pelley also charged, according to Status, that Weiss herself had ‘no qualifications for her job,’ and said the changes she had made to ‘CBS Evening News,’ which Pelley once anchored, ‘have been catastrophic.’”

• This is stunning: The Homeland Security secretary is threatening to ban international flights from arriving at “sanctuary” cities like San Francisco. SFist reports: “(Last) week, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin appeared on Fox News to again float the idea of blocking international arrivals at airports in so-called sanctuary cities like San Francisco. His plan would involve shutting down Customs and Border Protection checkpoints at airports like SFO, making the processing of inbound international travelers impossible. Mullin’s remarks came in response to a heated weekend of protests headlined by New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim being pepper sprayed in front of the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility in Newark. … Mullin did not elaborate on how making such an unprecedented move at precisely the moment when massive travel related to June’s FIFA World Cup is getting underway would, by contrast, make sense. Should this threat be put into action, SFGATE reports that up to a dozen major airports—including SFO and LAX—could be affected. This list includes ‘four of the 10 busiest airports in the country (O’Hare, Denver, LAX and John F. Kennedy).’”

• The New York Times reports that the secretary of defense/war is removing female and Black officers from a promotion list for no apparent reason (gift link): “In a move that disproportionately targets women and minority officers, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently blocked the promotions of nine Navy officers who had been selected by a board of senior Navy admirals. The net result of Mr. Hegseth’s intervention is a slate of 22 nominees to be one-star admirals that bears little resemblance to the broader force these officers will help lead. Three of the officers removed by Mr. Hegseth from the promotion list are women and two are Black men. An additional four are white men. Mr. Hegseth’s actions, which appear to violate the rules governing a promotion system that is supposed to be apolitical and merit-based, were described by five current and former defense officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters. No female officers were included on the new one-star list, which was released publicly in late May, despite the fact that women make up about 21 percent of the active-duty Navy. The list appears to include only two nonwhite officers, even though sailors who identify as racial minorities make up about 38 percent of the active-duty Navy. Mr. Hegseth’s removal of the officers from the one-star list is highly unusual, said the current and former defense officials.”

• Yet more proof that pressure can sometimes work on the Trump administration: The Trump administration is backing off plans for its $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund—temporarily, at least. NBC News says: “The Trump administration signaled Monday it is backing off on creating a $1.8 billion fund announced by the Justice Department that could send money to allies of President Donald Trump deemed to be ‘victims of lawfare and weaponization.’ It comes after a fierce and rare backlash from Senate Republicans, who threatened to team up with Democrats to block the fund. About half the Republican conference appeared ready to vote with Democrats to restrict or kill it, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said last week. In a statement, the Justice Department cited a federal judge’s ruling Friday that blocked the fund on a temporary basis, saying it ‘disagrees strongly’ but ‘will abide by the Court’s ruling.’ The judge had issued an order that only temporarily blocked the Justice Department from taking any further action on the fund until the court more fully assesses both parties’ arguments; it did not permanently block the fund. A hearing had been set for June 12. Asked whether it was abandoning the fund, the White House pointed to DOJ’s statement.”

• And finally … This Wired headline caught my eye because 1) it’s fascinating; 2) it’s true; and 3) it’s a little funny and a lot disconcerting: “The GOP’s Attacks on (Texas U.S. Senate candidate) James Talarico Are Straight Out of the Incel Handbook.” The lede: “On Tuesday, with Donald Trump’s endorsement and the backing of the MAGA faithful, scandal-ridden Texas attorney general Ken Paxton defeated incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in a runoff primary to claim the Republican nomination for that seat. He then quickly set about painting his general-election opponent, Democratic Texas state representative James Talarico, as insufficiently masculine. ‘My opponent is the most extreme radical that Democrats have ever nominated,’ Paxton said in his victory speech. ‘He’s even running a vegan campaign, whatever that is. He goes by a few names that you may all have heard of. Some people know him as Tofu Talarico. Some people call him Six-Gender Jimmy. I’ve even heard some people call him James Talafreako. And others refer to him simply as Low-T Talarico.’ The spattering of derogatory nicknames was a not entirely successful Trumpian flourish. (The Talarico campaign, already a fundraising juggernaut, started selling ‘I’m a Talafreako’ T-shirts right away.) But Paxton’s attacks also seemed to emanate from the manosphere and incel culture, overlapping internet communities obsessed with their own unscientific theories of gender, sex, hormones, and diet. … While his actual hormone levels are not public knowledge, Talarico is neither transgender nor vegan.” Good lord.

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