California Counts Collaborative reminds candidates and voters that Californians still count in elections.
For the first time, California public media news organizations KQED in San Francisco, Capital Public Radio in Sacramento, KPCC in Los Angeles and KPBS in San Diego will come together in a groundbreaking collaboration to cover the 2016 elections in the nation’s most populous state. The partnership, named the California Counts Collaborative, will produce in-depth, unbiased, highly coordinated, multi-platform coverage and resources that voters can use to inform their decisions.
Why “California Counts”?
California is often a bellwether for challenges and solutions. California’s population and economy drive changes in governance, medical care, immigration, same-sex marriage and more. But most Californians aren’t voting. California ranks 41st in the nation for voter turnout. Whatever the reasons, many voters and candidates don’t feel that California counts.
The California Counts Collaborative will deploy reporters throughout the state to engage and involve Californians in the election. In cities and rural areas, reporters will speak with people who represent California’s demographic diversity as well as its economic divide. The public media organizations hope to show residents how they are connected to the issues, to each other and to their elected officials. The California Counts Collaborative hopes to give voters a greater voice in the election and to illustrate what’s at stake.
The California Counts Collaborative will include the following initiatives through the 2016 election cycle:
Activating California voters: Our team will use fresh, lively broadcast and digital storytelling approaches, social media and in-person engagement to connect with Californians who may be opting out of traditional politics and political coverage. Inspired in part by KPCC’s 2015 series #MakeAlCare, which focused on a single voter and engaged a broad audience in why elections matter, we will develop a coverage theme around voter participation as part of the larger collaborative effort. The aim will be to cover these issues in an accessible way by reporting at ground level — through the experiences and views of individuals, neighborhoods or communities. These stories and voter resources will address what many see as a crisis for democracy by looking at what people care about, what motivates voting, what keeps people from participating and how voting fits into civic life for a new generation of Californians.