Cautious Optimism
Election results are coming in very slowly this year because of the Secretary of State’s requirement that they be tallied by hand, but absentee numbers came in last night, and things are looking good.
Proposition H, the nightmarish omnibus parking measure, is trailing 42%-58% in absentees, so it’s clearly headed for a well-deserved watery grave. Proposition A, the Muni reform measure, is on the knife’s edge, leading 51%-49%. People who vote absentee are usually markedly more conservative than people who vote at the polls, and since opposition to Prop A came largely from more conservative quarters (the Chamber of Commerce, the Republican Party, etc.) it’s reasonable to hope that the at-the-polls ballots will widen that margin, not tip it over to the No side.
That said, it was a very low-turnout election with a big last-minute No on A campaign push, so only cautious optimism is warranted until we see some counts of the at-the-polls ballots, from precincts distributed throughout the city geographically. But things are looking good so far.
Mayor Newsom has a 70-point lead and our hearty congratulations on winning a second term. And Proposition C is leading 74%-26%. So we’re three-quarters of the way to a clean sweep, and we have reason to think the coming days or weeks will bring good news on Prop A. We’ll keep this blog updated with news on Prop A as we get it. And you can check results as they’re updated on the Department of Elections site here.
-Daniel M.
UPDATE: (4:36 p.m.) With the first batch of at-the-polls votes counted, Proposition A’s lead has increased to 54%-46%, and Proposition H trails even further now, at 36%-64%.
Huzzah! It was exciting to see that this afternoon. The update figures were at 46% of precincts reporting, so let’s hope we can maintain or widen the margins as more votes get counted.