Fellow Californians: We ask you to vote. Whether by mail, by drop box, or in person — what’s important is not how you do it, but whether you do it.

In many elections, it can feel like California is an afterthought. We are among the last states to finish voting, and we are always the last to be counted (thanks to our ridiculous system of accepting ballots that arrive after Election Day).

This year, it might be tempting to think that your vote matters even less. While both parties engage in the sleazy practice of gerrymandering, California’s redrawn map is perhaps the sleaziest of all.

A voter prepares to mark a ballot at the CHIRLA Flex Vote Center during an early midterm voting event in Los Angeles on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. Getty Images

Gavin Newsom took the independent redistricting commission that voters had approved by constitutional amendment and threw it out, telling voters they could have an independent commission again one day if he just let Democrats redraw the map to their liking — just this once.

Newsom played on the partisan passions of the moment to convince California voters to approve Proposition 50 — and so here we are, with a less competitive map than we had before. 

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t races that matter.

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The race for governor provides a study in contrasts — and a true choice. Steve Hilton, whom we have endorsed, has crisscrossed the state, energetically sharing a platform of change: from ending fraud to junking the state’s high-speed rail boondoggle to scrapping state income taxes on the first $150,000 earned. His rival, Xavier Becerra, has run a no-show campaign that embraces the failing status quo — only with more taxes.

The contest for state superintendent of schools features a genuine reformer in Republican Sonja Shaw against another defender of the failing status quo, Democrat Richard Barrera.

The race for state insurance commissioner pits two Democrats against each other. But it really matters who wins — which is why Hilton, a Republican, is supporting moderate Ben Allen over far-left candidate Jane Kim.

The race for governor provides a study in contrasts — and a true choice Getty Images

And then, of course, there is the race for mayor of LA.

Turnout was low in the June primary — so low that it may have cost Spencer Pratt the chance to make the general election.

Many voters will be tempted to skip the mayor’s race — even if they vote in other contests. After all, who really wanted to choose between Karen Bass and Nithya Raman?

But though Bass has been a disappointment, Raman and her socialist allies would make everything worse.

The last thing LA needs, after devastating wildfires, homeless encampments, anti-ICE riots, and El Niño erosion, is more upheaval.

This election will decide whether LA succeeds or fails. And your vote could make the difference.

There are also important propositions on the ballot — starting with yes to Voter ID in Proposition 39, and no on the billionaire tax in Proposition 40.

Now is your chance. The last, for the next two years.