Proposition 30 and 37, Taxes and GMOs Dominate Golden State

President Obama has blue state California all sewn up. But the state features a number of ballot measures that voters are watching closely this year, including competing state tax propositions for education and a non-GMO food labeling proposition.

Voters may have some surprises in store for key congressional seats. Will the president be able to exceed his 2008 victory of 3.2 million votes, or 1/3 of his national victory total over John McCain? Current polls predict approximately 1.3 million fewer votes for Obama in the Golden State over his 2008 record. In 2004, John Kerry won California by 1.2 million votes over George W. Bush.

PolicyMic will be covering the 2012 election from the state of California live. For live updates, bookmark and refresh this page.

UPDATES:

Too early for news yet in California, but thanks to JibJab (Santa Monica, CA) . . .
Polls crowded in South Orange County this a.m. with people voting before work.
Excellent advice from a counselor regarding election results. No matter what happens, some people will be sad and depressed, so be aware and alert to others.
Vote and coffee: Starbucks is giving away free "Indivisible" bracelets for everyone who votes today.
Interesting factoid: online voting registration added about 500,000 new voters in Los Angeles County this election cycle. Both Republicans and Democrats lost registration in the state between 2008 and now -- the new registrations have more "Decline to State" and other independent (Green, Libertarian) party members than ever. But the old canard about criminals voting Democrat? Even though Los Angeles County is now officially over 50% Democrat, out of the more than 70,000 people in Los Angeles County jails who were registered to vote - almost half registered Republican! Thanks guys - I hope you're just in for loitering or pot tickets . . .
Update from NBC Bay Area: 25,000 dead Californians still on voter rolls - the majority in the Bay area. Some clearly-identified deceased voters have voted . . . several times! . . . after their decease.
4:33 PM EDT/1:33 PM PDT Text from Romney/Ryan app takes me straight to my polling place. There's high tech!
8:11 PM Pacific/11:11 PM EDT Counties in California are beginning to report - all Northern CA "Red" counties. Roseanne Barr has about 1,000 votes for President so far . . .
8:35 PM Pacific/11:35 PM EDT
California Ballot Propositions
Clear "No" on 31, 34 (no death penalty), 37 (GMO food labeling) and 38 - the second education tax measure.
The measure that would preserve the State redistricting commission that produced redistricting results last year is strongly ahead so far.
8:41 PM Pacific/11:41 PM EDT
The two education supplemental tax measures - 30 and 38, are both not doing well with early returns, but 30 is not doing as badly as Prop 38, which is gathering only 25% of the votes so far.
8:45 PM Pacific/11:45 PM EDT
The Three Strikes law is very likely to pass, which sets a much higher bar for the third felony conviction for those who have been convicted for 3 felonies to be imprisoned for life.
9:16 PM Pacific/12:16 AM EDT Proposition 30, the Governor's tax increase measure, is running about 48-52 for defeat right now . . .
The GMO Food labeling proposition #37 is going down to defeat - even with mostly Northern California counties reporting most-fully.
10:09 PM Pacific/1:09 AM EDT President Obama is still down 14 points from 2008 totals in California . . . and 2 1/2 points off Senator Dianne Feinstein's vote total. The Human Trafficking initiative is most-strongly ahead, with over 80% of the votes so far, closely followed by the Three Strikes Law that makes the bar much higher for a third felony conviction that leads to life imprisonment. Proposition 30, Gov. Brown's temporary tax increase initiative, continues to run behind and seems likely to be defeated.
10:25 PM Pacific/1:25 AM EDT Lois Capps (D) appears set to defeat Abel Maldonado (R) in the 24th Congressional District. Lois Capps could be the worst candidate ever and still 100 times better than the dreadful Abel Maldonado.
10:30 PM Pacific/1:30 AM EDT Too few precincts have reported in the battle of the brawlers, Howard Berman and Brad Sherman, two long-term Democrat congressmen in the San Fernando Valley, who have been competing head-to-head for one redistricted job in the 30th Congressional District, with Sherman ahead 58% to 42%.