Elections and Voting

Duel Purpose: Opponents Accuse a Supervisor of Introducing Legislation to Clean up the Mess he Made

Dennis Herrera Presents City's Argument Against Prop. 8 in U.S. Supreme Court Brief

"Asserting the inferiority of same-sex couples was the purpose and effect of Proposition 8," City Attorney Dennis Herrera states in a brief filed today in the U.S. Supreme Court. "But relegating gay couples to a lesser status simply to brand them as different and less worthy than opposite-sex couple ... More >>

Proposition 8: U.S. Supreme Court Will Hear Appeal on Gay Marriage (Update)

Update 2:10 p.m.: City Supervisors respond to U.S. Supreme Court decision on Prop. 8. Read at the bottom Original story 12:29 p.m.: The U.S. Supreme Court just announced that it will review the federal constitutional challenge to Proposition 8, California's ban on gay marriage, as well as the Def ... More >>

Romney, Obama Rubber Halloween Masks Sales Will Reveal the Next President

When you hear Mitt Romney refer to poor people as deadbeat freeloaders, that's when you know for sure politics has gone to a whole new level of scary.The only thing that might make Romney appear more ghoulish is if he donned this kinda frightening rubber Mitt Romney Halloween mask while talking smac ... More >>

8 Washington: Development Foes Say They've Got the Signatures to Force Referendum on Project

Anti-condo petition could spawn first successful referendum in 21 yearsHalting the construction of 8 Washington, a waterfront development that would likely house the most expensive condos in city history, has blossomed into the progressive ur-issue. And that figures to continue for quite some time. ... More >>

Jim Crow Returns: New State Laws Could Take Obama Out This Fall

Prop. 8 Appeals Court Ruling: Inside the Dissenting Opinion

​Same-sex marriage advocates rejoiced today as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker's 2010 decision that Proposition 8, the 2008 California ballot initiative banning gay marriage, is unconstitutional.The decision is almost certainly destine ... More >>

Marijuana Legalization Measure Courts Billionaires for Vital Campaign Cash

Close. But close enough?​Regulate Marijuana Like Wine, a marijuana legalization measure vying to get onto the November ballot, has only $80,000 in cash on hand, according to finance records. But in a poll released this week, it had potential support from 62 percent of likely voters -- and that, ba ... More >>

Election Roundup: Ed Lee in the Lead, Proposition C Wins

Will Ed Lee get it done?​It will take a few days before San Francisco knows for certain who their next mayor will be, and like we saw in Oakland a year ago, rank-choice voting means anything could happen. But as of Tuesday morning, Ed Lee was in the lead, despite a flurry of allegations of unethic ... More >>

What Will It Take for Ross Mirkarimi to Lose the Sheriff's Race?

Not an easy slide into first place​Barring a miracle, Ed Lee is on his way to becoming the next mayor --it's now the hotly contested sheriff's race that is the one to watch. As of this morning, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi had a narrow, 10 percent lead over Chris Cunnie, securing 38 percent of the vo ... More >>

Ed Lee Elected Mayor, Ross Mirkarimi and George Gascón Win Their Seats

Now let's see what we can make him do​Interim mayor Ed Lee became San Francisco's first Chinese American elected mayor. After 11 rounds of ranked-choice votes, Lee was declared the winner, garnering 61 percent of the vote. Supervisor John Avalos came in second with 39 percent of the vote, and City ... More >>

Almost Nobody You Know Will Vote For the Next Mayor of San Francisco

Pot Legalization Measure Has Support of Mendocino Growers

Drug Policy AllianceThat's the idea​Can Protections for Medical Patients Help Succeed Where Proposition 19 Failed?Cannabis advocates promised they'd be back at the California ballot following marijuana legalization measure Proposition 19's historic failure in November 2010 (the measure received mo ... More >>

Jeff Adachi Is Running for Mayor

Joe EskenaziThe pension candidate? ​In a last-minute maneuver, public defender and pension crusader Jeff Adachi has filled out the paperwork to run for mayor. Adachi -- both a lawyer and a politician -- has, since 2010, answered our queries of whether he'd run for mayor in the following way: "I ha ... More >>

Amazon.com Goes to War with State of California over Online Sales Tax

​Nobody expected that Amazon.com would take kindly to California legislators' decision to force the mammoth web retailer to collect state sales tax. As part of the recently approved, arduously deliberated state budget, California is now requiring out-of-state companies such as Amazon to slap the t ... More >>

Economist Writer Talks about Why California Won't Split Up

​For those who missed our blog post on it last week, we'll say it again: The Economist correspondent Andreas Kluth's special report on dysfunction in California's government is worth a read. Earlier this week, we attended Kluth's talk at the World Affairs Council on Sutter Street, where he offered ... More >>

Scott Wiener Wants to Give Supes Power to Repeal Ballot Initiatives

Supervisor Scott Wiener​Supervisor Scott Wiener says he plans to propose a charter amendment at today's Board of Supervisors meeting that would grant the supes power to amend or appeal ballot initiatives approved by voters --  a step he insists will help reduce the number of such measures San ... More >>

Fantasy Voter Fraud

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 >>

Prop. 8 Ruling: Judge Vaughn Walker's Most Scathing Language

MlinksvaJudge Vaughn Walker's greatest hits...​READ PROP. 8 ANALYSIS HEREA collection of Judge Vaughn Walker's most pointed statements from today's ruling: During closing arguments, proponents again focused on the contention that "responsible procreation is really at the heart of society's interes ... More >>

Election 2010 Results: Demon Sheep, Gavin Newsom, Open Primaries Triumph

Meg Whitman never liked voting, but plenty of Californians voted for her​Results are starting to roll in from today's voting on ballot initiatives and primaries for statewide office. Wanna know the latest, greatest bad decisions California's electorate has chosen to impose upon itself? SF Weekly h ... More >>

Will Tea Partiers Kill Pro-Marijuana Measure?

Fibonacci BlueSo paranoid. So uptight. So stiff. What could cure this? Hmmm...​On today of all days, marijuana is on everyone's mind. But that goes doubly for politicians: Just last week, state Democratic Party chairman John Burton told media that he and fellow Dems (like that Jerry Brown guy) ... More >>

The Humane Society and big agriculture slug it out over animal rights

On Cue, Lt. Gov Candidate Hahn Plays Race, Gender, S.F. Cards vs. Newsom

Too white and San Franciscan to win? ​Less than 24 hours after lieutenant governor candidate Gavin Newsom trumpeted an endorsement from Sen. Dianne Feinstein -- giving him statewide cred and appealing to female voters -- his opponent released polling data she commissioned claiming Newsom is a liab ... More >>

Explained: The Clusterfuck That Lost the Proposition 8 Campaign

​During testimony, filings, and deliberations in the Proposition 8 trial, an unasked question reverberated through the federal courthouse in San Francisco: Why, exactly, are we here?A step outside into the reality of still separate and unequal California provided an answer: An inept anti-Prop. 8 c ... More >>

Leno: Even if Maldonado Becomes Lt. Gov, Republican Voters Won't Back a Latino

La respuesta del Senador Maldonado en español from CA Senate GOP on Vimeo. Sen. Mark Leno, the sole San Francisco legislator to vote in favor of installing Republican Abel Maldonado as the state's next Lieutenant Governor, said he has good reasons for casting his vote the way he did. But he said M ... More >>

A risky proposition: the Prop. 8 debate continues

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 >>

Is LAFCo Getting Ready to Sue PG&E?

LAFCo Chairman Ross Mirkarimi may not be smiling for long​Lawsuit, anyone? That could be the case, to judge from what took place at the most recent Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) meeting on July 31.LAFCo is a sort of energy task force controlled by supervisors who advocate municipalizin ... More >>

Marriage Equality Non-Profit Publishes Stories of Psychological Fallout from Prop 8

  Since Proposition 8 passed, Marriage Equality USA, an Oakland-based non-profit, has been surveying people online and around California about the effects of the initiative's campaign on their lives. Today, MEUSA published a report entitled, "Prop 8 Hurt My Family -- Ask me How," w ... More >>

Campaign for California Families' Efforts to Intervene in Prop 8 Litigation Denied

By Ashley Harrell The California Supreme Court's reentry into the Prop 8 war satisfied almost everybody. Yes on 8 and its supporters figure that the three new court cases, which challenge the legality of a same-sex marriage amendment to the state constitution, don't stand a chance. No on 8 and it s ... More >>

San Francisco Voters are Smarter Than They Look

Will black neighborhoods in S.F. support the gay marriage ban — again?

Party Crashers 08

Ralph Nader and running mate Matt Gonzalez are looking to make a difference in the upcoming presidential election. Early polling suggests they just might.

Dave Matthews Band Voter Registration: So Begins Another Inane 'Rock the Vote' Season

Bring Out Your Dead: S.F.’s Swelled Voter Rolls Were Possibly Stuffed With Stiffs

Voter Turnout Predicted at 25 Percent This (Non)Election

Matt Smith: Leno Accuses Migden of Wrongly Using $1 million

Profits for Developers Initiative

Take a closer look at this truly awful measure funded by Don Fisher before signing on

Josh Wolf announces plans to run for mayor

Yo Soy Centroamericano

Why vote Kerry? Exhibit No. 1: George W. Bush has shamelessly hired the dangerous figures behind the Iran-Contra Affair into senior diplomatic posts.

Lesson Learned

Beaten in the mayor's election, S.F. lefties vow to sign up absentee voters for future campaigns

Dead Man Running

"Kucinich is, like, The normal laws of physics don't apply to me.'"

Making Nice

City and state elections officials finally strike a harmonious note in their erratic efforts to roll out IRV

The Past and Future Fraud

Yes, punch-card voting machines are error-prone. The touch-screen systems planned to replace them may be just as bad.

Blowing It

How San Francisco elections officials dropped the ball on instant runoff voting

Recalling Reagan

In trying to remove Gov. Ronald Reagan from office, liberal activists spawned the Davis recall and a host of other political ills

Recalling a Historical Mistake

Why voters should defeat the move to recall Gov. Davis -- and then work to eliminate the recall and initiative provisions from state law

Whore vs. Bore

Californians have refused public campaign financing, and we've gotten what we deserve: a governor's race between a fund-raising slut and a clueless rich guy

Fear, Loathing, and Non Sequiturs at Chico State

Or, how humanoids, hemp, and Ralph Nader will save us from Propositions I, L, and M