As The Los Angeles Times reported recently, if Proposition 16 passes, it would foster state and local programs that could help Black-, Latino-, Asian- and women-owned businesses regain a foothold in the state’s multibillion-dollar procurement system.

The measure’s “Yes” campaign has endorsements from the governor and top public university officials, and has raised more than $16 million, compared with just more than $1 million on the “No” side.
And yet, it’s not polling well.

Karthick Ramakrishnan, associate dean of U.C. Riverside’s School of Public Policy and director of A.A.P.I. Data, told me that many voters may not know what’s at stake, since for more than two decades, it’s been verboten in California to consider race, ethnicity or gender in order to boost access to education and work for groups that have been excluded by biased systems.

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