San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
VOTERS BACKED POLICING REFORMS
Support for changes to criminal justice seen across the U.S.
Americans took to the streets for extended demonstrations this summer to protest police violence and racial injustice. Then, on Election Day, they took to the voting booth to endorse criminal justice and policing reforms.
With a wave of votes across the country, Americans backed a string of measures increasing police oversight, elected reform-minded prosecutors, loosened drug laws and passed other proposals rethinking key elements of law enforcement and justice in their communities.
These votes, taken together, signal that after a summer of protest brought renewed scrutiny to the justice system, many Americans were open to rethinking how it functions — particularly on the state and local level, where policies have a stark impact on how people interact with the justice system.
“It was a pretty good day for meaningful change in criminal justice reform,” said Ronald Wright, a law professor at Wake Forest University and a criminal justice expert. “The priorities I was watching didn’t win everywhere, but they won a lot more than they lost.”
George Floyd’s death in May set off a wave of protests decrying policing tactics. Five months later, voters in several cities — including some that experienced significant demonstrations — approved measures that would increase how local police departments are scrutinized and investigated.
Voters in Oakland moved to create an inspector general’s office outside the police force to review officer misconduct.
In Columbus, Ohio, voters passed an amendment creating a civilian police review board and an inspector general. San Diegans supported replacing a police review board with a commission that would have subpoena power and the authority to investigate police misconduct.
These votes were not exclusively in big cities. In Kyle, Texas, outside Austin, voters overwhelmingly passed a proposition requiring police policies to be reviewed by the city council and put under a committee’s oversight.
In Philadelphia, which was rocked before the election by demonstrations and looting after a police shooting, voters decisively supported ballot questions calling for the city’s police “to end the practice of unconstitutional stop and frisk” and another supporting a police oversight commission.
These proposals have not passed without controversy. A ballot measure creating a police oversight board in Portland, Ore., which has had protests nearly every night for months, passed with about 4 in 5 voters backing it. The union representing Portland police officers denounced it as “flawed” and filed a grievance, arguing that the city must negotiate changes to discipline with them first.
Voters in several places supported loosening drug laws. Oregon voters backed a ballot measure decriminalizing small amounts of drugs including cocaine and heroin. Four states — New Jersey, Arizona, Montana and South Dakota — legalized recreational marijuana. Voters in Mississippi legalized it for medical use.
In some places, voters took aim at other elements of law enforcement. San Francisco voters chose to ditch a city charter requirement that the police department maintain a certain number of officers, replacing it with regular reviews of its staffing levels.
In King County, Wash., home to Seattle — which saw extensive protests this summer and the brief creation of an autonomous, police-free zone — voters backed amendments making sheriff an appointed, rather than elected, position, and letting the county council dictate his or her duties.
The reform efforts were not a uniform success, falling short in many places. Voters in California rejected a proposition to eliminate cash bail. Oklahoma voters rejected a measure that would have blocked increased sentences for prior convictions in some cases.
Many conservative sheriffs also easily won reelection.
In Pinellas County, Fla., Democrats raised large amounts of money to unseat incumbent Republican Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, but he was re-elected with more than 60 percent of the vote, according to Jonathan Thompson, executive director of the National Sheriffs Association.
“People are very loath to trust their leaders,” Thompson said, “until they show them repeatedly they can do their job. That weighed in favor of incumbents in a lot of places.”
Thompson said he felt the “law-and-order” trend has regrouped with an eye toward, “Are we doing it right?”
Voters in Oakland County, Mich., re-elected their conservative sheriff. They also brought a reformminded prosecutor into office, part of a recent trend of people running to serve as district attorneys on platforms of reducing or eliminating cash bail, cutting down on marijuana prosecutions and opposing death sentences.
These officials, often called “progressive prosecutors,” have won office across the country in recent years, drawing sharp pushback from the Trump administration, police unions and some colleagues who denounce their policies.
In perhaps the most closely watched district attorney’s race, the reformer George Gascón won in Los Angeles County, taking over the largest prosecutor’s office in the country.
Gascón was one of at least 22 reform prosecutors elected in places including Orlando, Tucson, and Portland. Several races are still not called.
Reform supporters were heartened by incumbent prosecutors — including Kim Foxx in Chicago and Mark Gonzalez in Corpus Christi, Tex. — who were re-elected despite heavy opposition and criticism they had drawn in some cases.
“That people watched how these prosecutors worked and saw what they can do, and then voted for four more years — it’s important,” Larry Krasner, the progressive Philadelphia district attorney, said in an interview. “This is not just about the people who are getting elected, there is a grass-roots movement that is national.”