Department of Elections

Scott Wiener Proposes Stripping Down City Voter Guide

Can a book topping 500 pages still be labeled a "pamphlet"? That's the situation San Francisco may be facing, as the gargantuan legal text of the referendum targeting the 8 Washington development portends a voter pamphlet of Tolstoy-like proportions. Supervisor Scott Wiener will today introduce a me ... More >>

District 7 Recount's Potential Costs Tabulated

Anyone examining the bizarre and tedious process of recounting a district election may be wondering, since these things are so much fun, why don't we do more of them? The answer, as revealed late Friday by the Department of Elections, is that they're not cheap. In order to get the ball rolling in a ... More >>

District 7: There Will Be No Recount

Earlier today, we reported on the detailed costs of a potential recount in District 7, where Norman Yee edged F.X. Crowley by 132 votes. Department of Elections head John Arntz now says he received a call earlier today from the attorney representing Crowley's backers. And, in the words of the Gershw ... More >>

District 7: Recount Effort Moving Forward; Cost Estimate Could Be Generated Today

The process of initiating a recount in the wafer-thin District 7 supervisoral contest is moving forward, as election lawyer Jim Sutton has sent the city a letter listing the things he'd like counted, how he'd like them counted, and requesting the city count up how much this is all going to cost. Sut ... More >>

District 7: Cost Unclear on Recount

A consortium of labor groups this week moved to ask for -- and fund -- a recount in the razor-thin loss of labor leader F.X. Crowley in the District 7 race. This move was not unanticipated. But its cost remains uncertain. The San Francisco Labor Council was quoted as estimating a price tag exceeding ... More >>

City Hall Power Knocked Out By Fire

An electrical fire at City Hall knocked out power to the building last night, leaving much of the seat of government in the dark this morning -- and a portion of the basement under water. At around 9:30 last night -- while around 300 guests attended a private soiree -- the small, electrical fire bro ... More >>

District 7: Norman Yee Widens Lead Over F.X. Crowley to 109 Votes

With around 1,000 ballots yet to be counted in the marathon District 7 race, either Norman Yee or F.X. Crowley could still prevail. But it's nicer to be winning than losing, and this afternoon's tally places Yee 109 votes ahead. That's a relatively large leap from yesterday's 33-vote bulge in favor ... More >>

District 7: Norman Yee Now Up By 33 Votes Over F.X. Crowley

Today's daily Maalox Moment for District 7 supe candidates Norman Yee and F.X. Crowley -- and their supporters -- has arrived. In the brutally close race, today's latest count has Yee up by 33 votes. He was up by 20 as of Sunday. The Department of Elections has run through nearly all of the outstand ... More >>

District 7: Only 97 Votes Separate F.X. Crowley and Norman Yee

As the Department of Elections churns through the uncounted ballots, the race in District 7 has been transformed from ridiculously tight to preposterously tight. As of 11 p.m. on Election Day -- following the reversal of a "formatting error" -- only 338 votes separated leader F.X. Crowley from Norma ... More >>

District 7: "Formatting Error" Put Norman Yee in the Lead, Now F.X. Crowley Is Ahead (UPDATED).

See update below -- Department of Elections error caught by Crowley campaignFor candidates F.X. Crowley and Norman Yee, it was the best of times and the worst of times. Late last night, after all of the Department of Elections' official Ranked-Choice Voting tabulations were ostensibly over, the Dist ... More >>

District 7: Updated Numbers Shave Seven Votes -- Seven! -- Off F.X. Crowley's Lead

Last night, District 7 Supervisorial candidate F.X. Crowley's camp noticed something off with the late-breaking results reported by the Department of Elections. Sure enough, the city had been putting Crowley's vote totals alongside Norman Yee's name and vice-versa. When that mistake was straightened ... More >>

Ross Mirkarimi Gets Prisoners to Vote

We got a little glimpse of what Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi has been doing now that he's back on the job: registering inmates to vote. And why shouldn't he want this, considering it was San Francisco prisoners who vociferously backed the embattled sheriff during his domestic violence drama that nearly co ... More >>

Supervisor Sean Elsbernd Doles Out Advice for Newcomers on the Board

When Sean Elsbernd first took his seat on the Board of Supervisors to represent District 7, he was 28-years-old, single, and just a few years removed from Claremont McKenna, where he considered himself a dutiful San Francisco liberal on a campus filled with Goldwater Republicans. Now, he's 36, marri ... More >>

Proposition 29 Results Are Close Enough to Make You Want to Chain Smoke

It's all gotta be part of Big Tobacco's plan. Tobacco companies pumped more than $46 million into the campaign against Proposition 29, which would increase the tax on cigarette packs by $1.Perhaps they could have donated more money. Instead, they might have struck the exact minimum amount necessary ... More >>

Election Day Highlighted By Most People Not Voting

Today's election has been lambasted as not only the most boring in recent memory, but the most boring June election in many a year. Fair enough. Today's low turnout is to be expected -- but it doesn't mean it's not embarrassing. More than 80 percent of French voters recently stormed the polls to ele ... More >>

Polls Uncrowded on Light Election Day Showing

Maybe this is why people aren't showing up in droves to vote today...​In a move that may well have pleased T.S. Eliot, San Francisco's electoral season appears to be ending not with a bang but a whimper. Turnout at the polls thus far has been sluggish, according to the city's Department of Electio ... More >>

MC Hammer, Brian Wilson, Other Non-San Francisco Voters Shill for Ed Lee

By now you may already be recovering from watching the Ed Lee music video featuring MC Hammer, Brian Wilson, Ashkon, Willie Brown and others. The video was funded in large part by Hammer's good pal and right-wing piñata du jour Ron Conway, as well as Sean Parker (who you may recall having paranoid ... More >>

Harold Miller Still Wants Your Vote!

​Loyal readers of this page -- and, perhaps, no one else -- are familiar with eccentric mayoral candidate Harold Miller. His position statements include impressing Jerry Rice into coaching an expansion football team at Candlestick Park; setting up an 800 number so streetcorner beggars can be impre ... More >>

Pension Critic Tony Hall Is a Pensioner

Tony Hall says he'll make a living no matter what...​If Jeff Adachi is this city's pension crusader, Tony Hall must be pension pope. The former supervisor and professional singer (who has an colorful past, no doubt) told SF Weekly that Adachi's pension solution "isn't worth a darn." It simply does ... More >>

Will Somebody Please "Like" the Department of Elections?

Elections officials want to give you a reason to "like" ranked-choice voting​Are you following San Francisco's Department of Elections on Twitter? Yeah, we didn't think so. Granted, the department's foray into social networking just began two days ago, but you would think it could scrounge up more ... More >>

Circumcision Ban: Proponents Say They Have "Excess" Signatures

Making the cut ... for the November ballot​According to Lloyd Schofield, the anti-circumcision crusader, his efforts to ward off foreskin mutilation are paying off -- he just might succeed in getting a circumcision ban before voters in November. Schofield needs 7,168 valid signatures by 5 p.m. tod ... More >>

Double Drain: Program Pays Cops Pensions While Still on the Force

Leland Yee To Announce Mayoral Run

Jim HerdLeland Yee, seen here with a werewolf campaigning against Prop. B, aspires to Room 200​Folks at political consultant Jim Stearns' office are playing coy, but let's be realistic: Sen. Leland Yee isn't "making an announcement" at the Department of Elections today to lecture the media on the ... More >>

Leland Yee's Mayoral Announcement Covered By Media Dogpile

Jim HerdLeland! Leland! Over here! Over here!​Proving once again that you can get media coverage if you tell them where to show up and when, Sen. Leland Yee was this morning documented signing a few papers at the Department of Elections by an absolute scrum of reporters. No disrespect to Yee -- he ... More >>

Elections Overtime: The Races That Haven't Finished

...And we're counting​Funny thing about Instant-Runoff Voting: The results often aren't so instant. A number of elections around the state are still undetermined. What does the future hold? Gnashing of teeth, threats of litigation, and, of course, counting, counting, and recounting. In an Instant- ... More >>

Today's Voting Updates Mean 'Nothing,' San Francisco Elections Chief Says

​San Francisco election junkies are already well aware that today the city will again run Ranked-Choice Voting and give a clearer tabulation of who may be our next supervisors. But Department of Elections Head John Arntz isn't putting a whole lot of value in what he and his round-the-clock vote-co ... More >>

Ranked-Choice Voting Totals For San Francisco -- Are These Our Next Supervisors?

She's ranked Nos. 1, 2, and 3 in our voting​San Francisco's Department of Elections moments ago released its most up-to-date voting data yet -- and Mark Farrell, Jane Kim, Scott Wiener, and Malia Cohen are all smiling. Smiling nervously, but smiling.  Today is the first tally using ranked-cho ... More >>

Karl Bradfield Nicholas, Allegedly Thieving Poll Worker, Baffles Colleagues

Return that ballot, man!​Staff at the city's Department of Elections are still mystified as to why poll worker Karl Bradfield Nicholas would allegedly run off with 75 ballots and some otherwise useless electronic election material. Nicholas, who was arrested at his Ingleside home early Wednesday m ... More >>

Supes Races Too Close to Call

Four supes-to-be will be 'crowned' on Friday, leading to a memorable weekend. Their identities are not so clear. ​It's going to be a hell of a weekend for a quartet of San Franciscans. While the vast majority of San Francisco votes have been counted, late absentees and others will keep the city fr ... More >>

World Series: Are San Franciscans Too Drunk to Vote?

Now recite the alphabet backwards, and ... GO GIANTS! ​I'll admit it: Attendance in our office is pretty light. Things got a bit hot 'n' heavy last night. City economist Ted Egan may later be forced to calculate the cost to our fair city when workers opt to celebrate World Series wins by drinking ... More >>

Absentee Ballots Swamp City Hall

Steve GarfieldPlenty more where that came from...​The concept of last-minute get-out-the-vote efforts loses its meaning when a hefty chunk of voters cast their ballots well prior to election day. That's a national trend -- and the hard numbers show San Francisco is no different. As of its last tal ... More >>

Could San Francisco Have Two Mayoral Elections in 2011?

Are two elections really better than one? ​With political junkies gearing up for next year's mayoral election, city movers and shakers have been talking about a scenario that'd give the aforementioned fiends an overdose. Imagine if you will, that Gavin Newsom wins the Lieutenant Governor's seat. T ... More >>

Key Portion of 'SF Smart Reform' Prop. B Struck Down by Judge

With today's cut, Prop. B just become shorter and easier to read. Will it become easier to evade, too?​A judge today struck down a portion of Proposition B -- "SF Smart Reform" -- that the measure's author, public defender Jeff Adachi, had claimed was critical for actually ensuring the legislation ... More >>

Couple Gave $245K To Jeff Adachi Pension Measure. Will They Give More To See It Pass?

​When Jeff Adachi triumphantly wheeled 75,000 signatures and change into the Department of Elections yesterday, he shocked a lot of veteran City Hall observers. Sure, they were surprised at the sheer number of John Hancocks he amassed for his pension reform measure. But what really caught everyone ... More >>

There Was an Election Last Night. As if You Gave a ****

At least Coakley's people hit the streets. And that dude​ San Francisco, there was an election last night. And you went to the polls. Or at least some of you did. You also went to happy hour, the laundromat, or maybe the refrigerator. Wherever you went, whatever you did, three out of four of you f ... More >>

Michela Alioto-Pier Will Take City to Court, if Necessary, to Run for Supe Again

Michela Alioto-Pier is running until the judge says she can't​Yesterday, we reported on how Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier took out papers with the Department of Elections to run again, even though a 2008 opinion from City Attorney Dennis Herrera claimed she was ineligible to do so. John Arntz, th ... More >>

Paltry Turnout to Register to Vote on Last Eligible Day

Not so much interest in democratic activism in San Francisco today, no...​Today's push by the Department of Elections to urge San Franciscans to register or re-register to vote today, the last eligible day prior to next month's election, has not resulted in a stampede by citizens inspired to parti ... More >>

Oh Yes, There's an Election Today. A Guide For the Last-Minute Voter.

Hey, lazy! It ain't too late to turn in that absentee ballot! ​Here at SF Weekly, we make a point of not telling you how to vote. Well, I'm going to break that taboo today. But not really. I'm not telling you who or what to vote for. I'm going to, literally, tell you how to vote. When we spoke wit ... More >>

And the Most Partisan District in California Is ... Compton? San Francisco Doesn't Even Crack Top-10.

We may not be his best friend after all​San Francisco may be the national Democratic Party's ATM. But, counter-intuitively, it does not flaunt the most lopsided percentage of registered Democratic voters in the state. Or the second-highest. Or third. Or tenth. According to the city's Department of ... More >>

Where Does S.F. Department of Elections Get Those Wonderful Pictures For Voter Pamphlets? Would You Believe -- Flickr?

​Thousands upon thousands of San Franciscans were greeted by Voter Information Pamphlets in their mail boxes this week. And yet -- as always -- the dread of a pending election featuring confusing ballot measures, the oft-bizarre arguments expended for and against them, and a handful of unopposed c ... More >>

Grasshopper Kaplan Runs Again! Does Democracy suffer?

Supervisor Aaron Peskin threatened with yet another recall campaign

San Francisco Taxi Rates To Rise Pending Health Care Plan: SFGovernmentInAction

SF Mayor Wannabees: Goat Slaughterers, Big Booty Butts and 'Fems' into 'Brain'

SF Mayor Race: Daly Out, Chicken and Wolf In

Parking, transit advocates reach compromise; both support diluted parking measure for Feb. 2008 ballot

Dog Bites

Finally Returning to Normal? Not So Fast; Democracy in Action; In This Time of Terrible Tragedy, a Nation Mourns for Your Paint Job

Dog Bites

The Evil Among Us

Dog Bites

You know, there's an election -- hey! -- we said there's a local election coming up

South to the Future

Rubber-stamp Voting Complicates Mayoral Ballot Count in San Francisco