I work for a labor union, on the political side. I was certain enough of a Trump victory to tell my supervisor about it on Tuesday morning. I felt that way because I've been listening to our membership.

Even though they lean heavily to the Democrats, they also seem largely dissatisfied with the state of the country. For some, it's the economy, for others, it's public safety, or Gaza, or climate change, or inequality, or immigration, or many different issues together.

They'd never vote Republican, but the vast majority wasn't enthusiastic enough about keeping the current administration to make calls or knock on doors or write postcards. So they didn't. They still voted for Harris, I'm sure, but that dissatisfaction was clearly present in many places. And so Harris lost.

The turnout rate for VBM ballots is super low in SF and all across the Bay. You have to go back to 2016 to see comparable numbers. We're just a bit higher than during the primary!

It should be counted by tomorrow according to the published schedule.

https://www.sf.gov/news/department-elections-announces-timeline-reporting-results-november-5-2024-consolidated-general

It's Election Day and the Department of Elections has received and accepted less than 200k vote-by-mail ballots! I am very surprised. I expected it to be low, but not this low.

Final numbers are 197,567 returned and accepted VBM ballots out of 521,646 issued. A return rate of 37.9%. All the races will be decided today.

#sfpol #elections #sf #SanFrancisco

Election Day is tomorrow, but you wouldn't know it from the current return rates reported by the SF Department of Elections as of E-1. Only 185,105 of the 521,600 vote-by-mail ballots issued have been returned and accepted, a return rate of 35.5%.

I predict the Department of Elections will receive an additional 80,000 to 100,000 vote-by-mail ballots postmarked by November 5 and arriving by November 12. This could mean any close local races may shift as these ballots are counted.

#sfpol #elections #sf #SanFrancisco

We're two days before Election Day. Department of Elections is reporting only 172,119 ballots have been returned and accepted ballots out 521,580 issued on E-2. 33.0%. Not even a third. All the close races are still up in the air.

#sfpol #elections #sf #SanFrancisco

Saturday before Election Day or E-3 saw a very sizable jump in the number of returned and accepted VBM ballots in San Francisco. We're now at 159,406 accepted ballots out 521,543 issued, or 30.6%.

The number of challenged ballots is also increasing slowly. We're at 444 so far, nearly all of them because of signature issues.

#sfpol #elections #sf #SanFrancisco

Just four days until Election Day (E-4) and we still haven't surpassed 150k returned and accepted VBM ballots in SF. Exact number is 146,692 out of 521,528 ballots issued (28.1% rate).

I am not sure we will surpass the 2016 VBM turnout rate at this point.

#sfpol #elections #sf #SanFrancisco

E-5 brings us 13,521 ballots more returned and accepted to 133,636 VBM ballots out of 521,422 issued in San Francisco. We are now at 25.6%. This is still low compared to the November 2022 election, when we already had around 200k VBM ballot returned at E-5.

Unsurprisingly, the return and accepted rate in District 7 beats the citywide average. They're at 28.6%.

#sfpol #elections #sf #SanFrancisco

A decent jump this E-6 day. 23.0% of vote-by-mail ballots in San Francisco have been returned and accepted (120,115 out of 521,346 issued).

In District 9, which includes the Mission, Bernal Heights and Portolá, the return and accepted rate still trails the citywide average despite having an open supervisorial race. Only 9,966 of 48,275 VMB ballots have been returned, or 20.6%.

#sfpol #elections #sf #SanFrancisco

One week until Election Day and it's in E-7 that the number of returned and accepted ballots in SF finally surpasses 100k. 103,165 out of 521,166 is the current tally, or 19.8%.

For District 5, the accepted rate is surprisingly lower, at 18.7% (8,465 out of 45,212). Shocking given the intense supervisorial race there.

So many undecided voters.

#sfpol #elections #sf #SanFrancisco

E-8 numbers are largely the same. 96,595 returned and accepted ballots, or about 18.5%. I hope to see a jump tomorrow, maybe enough to surpass the 100k electoral milestone. Still very, very low.

#sfpol #elections #sf #SanFrancisco

The E-9 numbers are looking a bit better, but we still haven't crossed the 100k threshold citywide. 94,693 VBM ballots have been accepted out of 520,846 issued. A returned and accepted rate just shy of 18.2%.

Surprisingly, the stats for District 1 aren't much higher despite the very contested supervisorial race, with only 18.8% VBM ballots having been returned and accepted. D1 Republicans have a 26.4% return rate.

#sfpol #elections #sf #SanFrancisco

At E-10 (10 days until Election Day), the San Francisco Department of Elections is reporting 87,728 vote-by-mail ballots have been returned and accepted out of 520,843 issued—a return rate of just 16.8%. By this point in 2022, returns were already over 100k, and in 2020, they exceeded 300k.

It is unclear to me how this will impact the final turnout. 2020 was an outlier due to the pandemic, and I assume that 2022 was also extraordinary. That leaves 2016 as the most recent "normal" election: 63.5% of the turnout that year was VBM.

#sfpol #elections #SanFrancisco

The flip side is that some non-profits fight tooth and nail to prevent unionization, taking the very worst of the corporate world and using it against said badly-paid, overworked workers, often with public funds. See the example below, here in SF.

The solution is clear to me: non-profits, especially those receiving public funds, must have meaningful worker (and client!) representation on their boards of directors.

https://www.kqed.org/news/11940014/inside-the-long-uphill-battle-to-unionize-workers-at-one-bay-area-nonprofit

This mailer hit mailboxes yesterday. It was a nice change of pace.

And the vast majority of the land being used for livestock and their fodder was either previously forested or could be afforested. This matters because afforestation and forest management is the carbon dioxide removal method with the largest sequestration potential in the shortest timescale according to the IPCC.

https://seedthecommons.org/averting-climate-disaster-our-analysis-of-the-ipcc-climate-change-2021-report/

Preach! This is how I feel about coding. I loved programming as a kid, then slowly grew to hate it when it became a job. It was only after leaving the tech world in my early 30's that I started enjoying it again.