In the past 5 years, forces both foreign and domestic have undermined our democratic institutions. Foreign actors have attacked our election infrastructure, hacked Democratic party servers, and flooded our elections with misinformation, propaganda, and untraceable money. At home, the Republican party and their leaders have instituted a sustained campaign of voter suppression, and the GOP controlled Senate has blocked legislation with wide bipartisan support and appointed activist judges who are hostile to the rule of law. Santa Clara County is not immune to anti-democratic forces that seek to suppress voter choice and representative government. We stand committed to repairing and rebuilding these democratic institutions at all levels of government. The Santa Clara County Democratic Party: 

Restoring Democratic Values

• Believes that the right to vote, being the most essential of rights in a democratic society, should be expended to the greatest degree possible, including allowing 17 year olds to vote in both primary and general elections, and restoring the voting rights of those who are incarcerated, on parole or probation, or who have been previously incarcerated.
• Supports the expansion of voter registration, education, and participation efforts, including automatic voter registration and expanding vote-by-mail programs.
• Supports completing the implementation of instant run-off voting at the county level and implementing instant run-off voting in San Jose.
• Believes that elections should be scheduled, to the greatest degree possible, to maximize voter participation
• Strongly opposes the practice of gerrymandering and other legislative efforts to manipulate the electorate to favor one party or another.

Representative Governance

• Strongly encourages fair and reasonable efforts to have elected and appointed bodies represent the diversity of their constituents, including an affirmative preference for female, people of color, and LGBTQ candidates when they are not adequately represented on that body.
• Advocates reform of the University of California Board of Regents and the California State University Board of Trustees so that they may be representative of their stakeholders: the students, staff, faculty, and the public.
• Encourages implementation of the California Voting Rights Act in Santa Clara County jurisdictions, including the elimination of at large elections for city council elections.
• Supports the consideration of proportional representation and cumulative voting as an option, especially for political entities that are in violation of the California Voting Rights Act.
• Supports fair representation of North County cities on the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board, the Caltrain governing board.
• Encourages the appointment of diverse and representative redistricting commissions

Campaign & Elections

• Demands appropriate and sufficient investment in election security measures to protect the integrity of our elections, which may include paper ballots.
• Strongly supports campaign advertisement disclosure and increased transparency in campaign financing.
• Abhors any and all attempts and efforts to deliberately misinform voters, including the circulation of false or misleading information via postcards, mailers, newspapers, online media, or any other method of distribution.
• Supports public financing of election campaigns, city- and county-wide limits on campaign contributions, and the enforcement of campaign finance reporting.
• Strongly opposes all forms of bullying in campaigns, including cyberbullying.
• Encourages candidates to forgo corporate contributions, and strongly opposes candidates taking money from the oil, natural gas, coal, tobacco, fire arms, or other industries that are toxic to public health and safety.

Effective & Transparent Governance

• Recognizes that governmental agencies must be adequately funded, provide services as quickly and efficiently to the public as possible, be open and accountable to the public, and encourage civic participation.
• Encourages all municipal governments, the county, and special districts and school boards to make their budgets transparent and easily accessible and understandable to their constituencies. 
• Will promote regular evaluation of special districts to ensure they are transparent, accountable, and relevant. 
• Encourages efforts to balance anti-discrimination policies and free speech in public places and government owned properties, and supports greater transparency of rules and policies impacting speech in such locations.
• Promotes eliminating the digital divide by providing broadband and wifi access through libraries and supports mobile library services in underserved neighborhoods.

Adequate Public Services for Vulnerable Populations

• Supports dramatically expanding and improving county services for veterans, especially mental health and job placement programs, and creating a One-Stop Center to reach out and provide information to veterans.
• Supports expanding services for seniors, including adequate public services, access to affordable health care and assisted living facilities, and accessibility services for those who are disabled.
• Strongly supports enhanced services for foster kids and promotes increased resources and outreach to foster youth.
• Supports enhanced enforcement of monitoring and reporting laws and promotes victim services and education.
• Supports efforts to modernize electrical and other utility lines as a means of preventing catastrophic fires throughout the state.