California voters will decide in November whether politicians can receive taxpayer-funded campaign money under a ballot measure that would repeal the state's decades-old ban on public financing. Proposition 4, titled the Allow Public Financing of Election Campaigns measure, will appear on the Nov. 3 statewide ballot. If approved, the measure would allow local governments across California to establish programs that use taxpayer dollars to finance political campaigns, repealing the ban established in 1988 by Proposition 73, which prohibited the use of public funds for election campaigns. Critics say the proposal would force taxpayers to subsidize political campaigns at a time when many Californians are struggling with affordability. Several California cities, including Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley, already operate campaign financing programs,