In a city known for enthusiastic voter participation, San Franciscans are in for a, uh, treat this November.
The Department of Elections for the city and county of San Francisco confirmed that the ballot for the general election may be the longest in recent history, spanning six cards. This is partly the result of Proposition H, a 2022 measure that consolidated local odd-year races with even-year elections.
Voters will decide on a wide range of races, including president, congressional and state Legislature seats, regional BART board and local offices such as mayor, district attorney, school board and college board. On top of that, the ballot will feature 10 state propositions and a whopping 15 local measures.
“The number of cards will be the most if we get to six,” John Arntz, director of the Department of Elections, told The Standard. He said the department hasn’t finalized the design of the ballot.
“Fortunately, we didn’t have 30 local measures,” Arntz said. “We would have gone to eight or nine cards if we had.”
On Monday morning, the department conducted a random drawing to assign letter designations to the 15 local measures. Here are their newly assigned names:
- Prop. A: A $790 million bond for the San Francisco Unified School District for building and facility improvements.
- Prop. B: A $390 million infrastructure bond proposed by Mayor London Breed and Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin.
- Prop. C: A charter amendment to create a nonelected inspector general position within the controller’s office to investigate corruption.
- Prop. D: A reform proposal backed by TogetherSF Action to cut the number of city commissions. There are currently more than 100 commissions and advisory boards; the measure would eliminate those deemed redundant and cap the total at 65.
- Prop. E: Peskin’s competing ballot measure on city commissions, which TogetherSF describes as a “poison pill” to kill its plan. Peskin’s version has no mandate of cutting commissions and would establish a task force and gather feedback first.
- Prop. F: A police officers retirement benefit plan, the Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP), intends to encourage law enforcement members of retirement age to continue to work and earn additional compensation. The officers would be required to do neighborhood patrol and investigative work.
- Prop. G: This charter amendment would use the city’s general fund to subsidize housing for extremely low-income residents.
- Prop. H: A plan to lower the retirement age for firefighters from 58 to 55.
- Prop. I: A measure to expand benefits for the city’s full-time registered nurses and 911 operators to address the first responders shortage.
- Prop. J: A charter amendment that intends to increase accountability for youth funding, requiring departments and SFUSD to establish an evaluation process.
- Prop. K: A proposal to turn Upper Great Highway into an oceanside park and ban car traffic on the road at all times.
- Prop. L: Backed by public transit advocates, the proposal would tax ride-hailing companies like Waymo, Uber and Lyft in order to fund public transportation.
- Prop. M: A plan to overhaul San Francisco’s business taxes, backed by top City Hall officials and business groups.
- Prop. N: This measure would establish a “First Responder Student Loan Forgiveness Fund” to pay for student loans incurred by law enforcement members while employed by the city.
- Prop. O: This measure intends to shore up abortion protections in the city.
A few other ideas didn’t make it to the ballot after they were killed in board meetings or failed to gather enough signatures.
For example, Supervisor Shamann Walton wanted to make the Department of Police Accountability’s director position an elected office but did not receive enough support from colleagues. Peskin quietly submitted a charter amendment to overhaul the city’s redistricting process, but it was never scheduled for discussion. Former Mayor Frank Jordan and retired Judge Quentin Kopp’s plan to change how the Board of Supervisors is elected failed to collect enough signatures.
The election is Nov. 5; early voting starts Oct. 7.