Dr. Warren: “Your Vote Matters” Ahead of Nov. 3

Nov. 3 elections carry significant stakes across San Diego County, California and the United States. 

Voters will vote on 14 county measures on governance, health and education including the modernization of the San Diego Unified School District’s facilities. At the state level, voters will choose California’s new leadership including the governor, lieutenant governor, and secretary of state. They’ll decide on 14 statewide ballot measures affecting taxation election, healthcare, the environment, and housing. Voters nationwide will elect members of the House and Senate, a result that could shift power from Republicans to Democrats.

Speaking to an audience of 410 voters, both online and in person, at the Voice & Viewpoint Elections Forum Thursday, Dr. John E. Warren presented an overview of the upcoming elections, focusing on voter registration and the implications of local, state and national ballots.

“I’m not going to try to tell you who to vote for,” Dr. Warren said. “What I am going to do is tell you who I’m going to vote for. Your vote matters” 

In the race for governor of California, Dr. Warren said he will vote for Democrat Xavier Becerra, the state’s former Attorney General, who’s up against Steve Hilton, a Republican candidate and supporter of President Trump. “A Republican governor can really mess things up,” Dr. Warren said, referring to the changes Hilton has said he’ll make, like moving the California DMV entirely online and reopening state-closed prisons.

Dr. Warren said he supports Democrats for all of California’s constitutional offices, including Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a Democrat who is running for another term.  A UCLA alum, Dr. Weber became the state’s first Black Secretary of State in 2021 after serving four terms as the 79th Assembly District representative and teaching for decades at SDSU. Dr. Warren will also vote for Attorney General Rob Bonta, another Democrat seeking re-election. Bonta filed 82 lawsuits against the Trump administration, saving an estimated $207 billion in federal funding.

“You should only vote Democrats across the board,” suggested one voter, who took the mic. For him, the Republicans have control of the executive, legislative and judicial branches, and “they’ve shown what they are all about.”

On the 14 statewide measures, Dr. Warren agreed with most of them, including the first six, aimed at expanding housing affordability, increasing funding for healthcare and education, legalizing state and local funding for political candidates, separating the vote for a replacement candidate from the recall period, and creating a loan program for middle-income homebuyers.

A 2023 study by the University of California, San Francisco showed Californians with low income living in cities with high housing costs are likely to become homeless. Dr. Warren believes Propositions 1 and 37 will be helpful in expanding affordable housing, if voted into place.

He urged the audience to study each proposition carefully before voting. “These are the kind of discussions that you have before, so that when you get there, you’re not holding up the line trying to make a decision,” Dr. Warren said. 

On San Diego County’s 14 ballot measures, Dr. Warren weighed in on the San Diego County Fund Health and Safety Service measure. If passed, it will put a half-cent sales tax to raise money for healthcare and public safety initiatives and funding to fix the Tijuana River pollution crisis. He said the measure needed to pass as “we’ve had tremendous cuts” due to the Trump’s administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which gutted Medicaid and Medi-Cal.

San Diego County’s measure on a “transparent, accountable modern county government,” that will give more power to County supervisors and extend their terms of office and create the post of county auditor and budget analyst, was good, Dr. Warren said. But voters should think about power and accountability on the part of the supervisors.

On the possibility of the Democrats taking the House and the Senate, Dr. Warren said they will gain real oversight power and can restore protections and programs that the Trump administration has cut. Flipping Congress, he said, could elect the leader of the Democratic Caucus, Hakeem Jeffries, as the first Black Speaker of the House.

 
‘Every vote is important, and every vote counts’

Dr. Warren urged the audience to register and vote, and to encourage anyone who isn’t registered to do the same — noting that same-day registration is available throughout Election Day.

“Not voting is the same as a no-vote in our interest and a positive vote for the other side; that’s why we can’t afford not to vote,” he said. Unhoused people and ex-felons can also vote. “Every vote is important, and every vote counts,” Dr. Warren said.

Ellen Nash, president of the Black American Political Association of California (BAPAC) San Diego Chapter, who attended in person, said Dr. Warren “expertly” presented the stakes of Nov. 3. “The implication that it has for the Black community is very important, and he was able to describe that very intensely.”

Black Think co-founder and San Diego-based attorney, Löan Shillinger, who also attended in person, announced in the forum two voter engagement events. One is an education forum organized by the Greater Life Community Development on Sept. 24 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Greater Life Church on Glebbe Road. The other is a “Ready, Set, Go” voter rally at the Columbus Club scheduled for Oct. 3 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

“We’re going to be educating people [on the elections],” Shillinger said.  “But on October 3, that’ll be to get people riled up [to vote].”