March 2024 Primary

 Here's how I'm voting on the races on my ballot (Democratic Party):

President: Joe Biden

US Senator (both races): Barbara Lee

US Congress, 12th District: Lateefah Simon

CA Senate, 7th District: Jesse Arreguin

CA Assembly, 14th District: Buffy Wicks

Democratic Party, Alameda County Central Committee, 14th Assembly District:  Terry Taplin, Andy Kelley, Aaron Tiedemann, Dyana Delfin Polk, Elizabeth Echols, Ana Vasudeo, Alfred Twu

Alameda County Superior Court Judge, Office #12: Michael P. Johnson

Alameda County Supervisor: John Bauters

CA Proposition 1: YES for Treatment not Tents

Alameda County Measure A: Yes to modernize civil service exam requirements

Alameda County Measure B: Yes to make recall process consistent w/state requirements

Berkeley Measure H: Yes to keep funding Berkeley schools

I didn't write detailed recommendations this year -- I'm spending too much time in front of my computer. If you're interested in more detailed thoughts, I encourage you to see writeups from three people I trust:

• Lori Droste -- Lori is a former Berkeley City Councilmember and local politics wonk who I respect as a pragmatic progressive
• Edie and Janet’s 2024 Primary Election East Bay Voter Guide -- Edie is a current and former colleague and someone I've known in East Bay environmental + justice circles for 15 years; she and her mom write their recommendations together
• Landau's Guide - from Nathan Landau, Berkeley resident, AC Transit planner, and fellow local elections nerd; he sends this directly via email, so this is my PDF of his guide -- hope that's OK, Nathan!

If you have questions/comments about an individual race, please put a note in the blog's comments or email me directly.  

November 2022 State Measures + Fed/State Electeds

This time, just a summary plus a link to someone else's writeup:

State Propositions:

• 1: Yes for a Constitutional Right to Reproductive Freedom
• 26: No to Sports Gambling on Tribal Lands
• 27: No to Online Sports Gambling
• 28: Yes to Fund Arts & Music Education in Public Schools, K-12
• 29: No to Complicated Kidney Dialysis Clinic proposition
• 30: Yes to Reduce Air Pollution & Prevent Wildfires by Taxing People making over $2 million/year
• 31: Yes to Approve Law Prohibiting Sale of Flavored Tobacco

For details on all of these, see the writeup by my friend & colleague in Edie and Janet's November 2022 East Bay Voter Guide. I agree with them on all of these, and I agree with their rationales too. If you have a specific question, post a comment in the blog and I'll reply. 

Federal & State Elected Officials:

I'm voting the straight Democratic ticket. Not all of them are my favorites (looking at you, Ricardo Lara), but they're all better than the alternative. 

• US Senate: Alex Padilla (twice!)
• Congress District 13: Barbara Lee
• Governor: Gavin Newsom
• Lieutenant Governor: Elena Kounalakis
• Secretary of State: Shirley Weber
• Controller: Malia Cohen
• Treasurer: Fiona Ma
• Attorney General: Rob Bonta
• Insurance Commissioner: Ricardo Lara
• Member, State Board of Equalization District 2: Sally Lieber
• State Superintendent of Public Instruction (non-partisan): Tony Thurmond

Nov 2022: Alameda County Measures, Judges, & Elected Officials

Here are my recommendations on measures, judges, and elected officials I vote on in Alameda County (plus one I don't).

Alameda County Measure

Measure D: Yes for Regulation of Ag Land near Livermore

Judges: Just say Yes!

Alameda County Elected Officials 

District Attorney: Pamela Price

Special Districts 

AC Transit At-Large: Alfred Twu

AC Transit Ward 3: Sarah Syed

Elected Officials

AC Transit At-Large: Alfred Twu

AC Transit Ward 3: Sarah Syed

Plus (for all of you who ask me about Oakland every year), see Edie's recommendations. 

For details, read on ...

Nov 2022: Berkeley + Elected Officials + Measures

Here are my recommendations on Berkeley’s measures and elected officials:

Berkeley Measures

L - Yes to Affordable Housing, Street Repair, + Other Good Stuff Bond

M - Yes to Vacant Units Tax

N - Yes to continue to allow affordable housing

Berkeley Elected Officials

Rent Stabilization Board: Carole Marasovic, Stefan Elgstrand, Soli Alpert, Nathan Mizell, and toss-up for 5th spot among Hood, Marrero, & Mosaed 

School Board: Brown, Chang, & Lee 

City Council, District 1: Rashi Kesarwani

City Council, District 8: Mark Humbert  

City Auditor: Jenny Wong (running unopposed)

For details, read on ...

June 2022: Alameda County, State, & Federal Candidates

For this election, I'm directing you to writeups by others. This past month our family had COVID in the house (everyone's OK now), a high school graduation, and lots of family visits. I just couldn't get it together to do my normal due diligence and a good writeup. 

So ... here are some recommendations from other people I respect highly, plus a note on the Alameda County DA's race: 

Edie and Janet's June 2022 East Bay Voter Guide -- I've known Edie for years and have great respect for her. Plus she puts this guide together with her mom -- how cool is that! For this election, she covers Alameda County, state, & federal candidates, plus Oakland Measure C (YES!) + SF Prop H (NO!). Check out Edie & Janet's guide here -- I think I'll vote with her on everything that I vote for. 

Landau's Guide -- My friend and fellow political junkie Nathan Landau writes up his recommendations for every election. He covers Berkeley and many local races in Oakland & Contra Costa County, as well as the state & federal races. I normally agree with most of his analyses. This time, for the races I'm voting on, I think I'll vote with him on most things except Alameda County District Attorney (where I'll be voting for Pamela Price, as I did in 2018).

A note on the Alameda County District Attorney's race: I strongly encourage you to read Edie & Janet's writeup about this race. I agree with them 100% -- it is very important that one of the progressive reformers (Price or Steward) win this race. The top two finishers will go to a runoff in the fall. If we had ranked-choice, I'd vote for them 1-2. Since we don't, I'm voting for the one I think is more likely to win -- Price has energized reformers, ran a strong campaign in 2018 (I endorsed her then), and has a great agenda. Steward is also great, and arguably has more experience running the DA's office (he worked in the SF DA's office). Best case scenario is they both get into the runoff in November, but worst case is they split the progressive vote. Both law-and-order candidates (Wiley & Wilson) have more money than Price, and *way* more than Steward. For more background, see this Mercury News' article or campaign websites for Price or Steward. 

NO on the Recall; then what?

Lots of friends have asked what to do about the Recall election, in particular what to do about the second question on the ballot. Here's my advice: 

1. Vote NO on the Recall
2. Contact 10 friends and tell THEM to vote NO
3. Campaign Against the Recall

... and only after you've done all of the above does it make sense to spend time thinking about how to vote on the 2nd question on the ballot. 

Nov 2020 Berkeley

Here are my recommendations on Berkeley’s measures and elected officials:

Berkeley Measures

FF: Yes to Parcel Tax for Emergency Services

GG - Yes for Trip Tax on Transportation Network Companies (Uber+Lyft)

HH - Yes for Utility Users tax for Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

II - Yes for a new Police Accountability Board

JJ - Yes for Higher Mayor + Council salaries

KK - Yes to Update Outdated Parts of the City Charter

LL - Yes to Extend Voter-Approved Spending Limits

MM - No Endorsement on Complicated Measure on Rent Control and ADUs

Berkeley Elected Officials

School Board: Laura Babitt and Ana Vasudeo

Mayor: Jesse Arreguin

City Council, District 2: Terry Taplin #1 (plus #2 Carter, #3 Sharenko)

City Council, District 3: Deborah Matthews #1, Ben Bartlett #2

City Council, District 5: No endorsement

City Council, District 6: No endorsement

Rent Stabilization Board: Marasovic, Johnson, Kelley, Simon-Weisberg, and either Ahmadi or Panahi

For details, read on ...