VOTING LOGISTICS:
Register to Vote at the Post Office or online at RegisterToVote.ca.gov. The deadline to register is October 20th, but in SF you can register in person at City Hall up until Election Day. You can also register at any polling place or City Hall on Election Day: just ask to cast a provisional ballot. Call 415-554-4375 for more info.
WHEN?
November 4th: Election Day! Polls open 7am-8pm. If you’re in line by 8pm you can vote. You can also drop your ballot off at any polling place on Election Day.
WHERE?
Drop off your ballot at one of the 34 official ballot drop boxes or any polling place by 8pm on Election Day, November 4.
Where’s your polling place? Check SF Elections' Voting Lookup Tool, call 311, or just go vote at City Hall.
Prop 50 : Gerrymander Cage Match (Fight Republican Partisan Redistricting with Democratic Partisan Redistricting): HELL YES
State Prop 50 would redraw California’s congressional districts to increase the chances that Democrats gain five seats in the US House of Representatives.
Democrats have a decent shot at gaining control of the House in the 2026 midterm elections. Currently Republicans hold a narrow advantage: it’s currently 219 R, 213 D and 3 vacancies, (one vacancy will be filled by Democrat Adelita Grijalva, who hasn’t been sworn in even though a month has passed since her election).
The Trump administration is dismantling civil rights, destroying the economy, and treating US cities like war zones. Since he’s ignoring checks-and-balances like the aspiring dictator he is, a Democratic majority in Congress is our best hope for stopping the runaway train. We rarely weigh in on national politics, but San Franciscans are a target and we’ve got to do something to respond.
We’re in the midst of a race by both parties to gerrymander as many congressional seats as possible. Trump has explicitly called for Republicans to redraw congressional maps so they are more favorable to GOP candidates. The Supreme Court appears ready to chip away at the Voting Rights Act, which means that even sketchy and/or racist maps might survive court challenges. In August 2025, the Texas Legislature passed a bill to adopt new congressional maps for the 2026 elections without a court order. Missouri has succeeded in redrawing a map that increases Republican chances of winning an additional seat. Indiana, Kansas, Utah, Ohio, Louisiana, and Florida are all Republican controlled and looking to do the same or worse. Maryland, New York, and Illinois are Democratic states eyeing their maps in response.
Hometown hero (lol) Gavin Newsom and the CA state legislature are responding with Prop 50, hoping to bolster the Dems with 5 more seats from CA by redrawing our congressional districts. The prop includes new maps created by Democratic redistricting consultant Paul Mitchell and approved by the legislature to be used until after the next decennial census, at which point the we’d go back to the usual redistricting process in time for the 2032 elections. You can take a look at the maps yourself, but overall the strategy is to scoop chunks of coastal and urban Democratic voters into districts with large, slightly Republican rural hindquarters that they can overpower, leaving the strongly Republican areas consolidated into fewer districts.
But wait, how are the lines drawn now, and what process is Prop 50 overriding?
The California Citizens Redistricting Commission
Before 2010, the California Legislature drew the state’s congressional district maps. In 2008, Californians passed Proposition 11 to create an independent redistricting commission. The California Citizens Redistricting Commission includes 14 members: 5 Democratic members, 5 Republican members, and 4 unaffiliated members.
State law prohibits the Commission from considering political parties when it draws the maps. The Commission must hold public hearings and accept public comment. That process would be overridden by Proposition 50 – its maps are not required to follow the state requirements placed on the Commission, but still have to follow federal law.
If Prop 50 passes, The Citizens Redistricting Commission will go back to drawing the maps after the 2030 census (and every 10 years/census thereafter).
Our take: Yes of course, but ugh
We recommend a HELL YES on Prop 50. If this doesn’t pass, there’s a good chance we’re in for (at least) 2 more years of the hellscape we’ve been living in since Trump took office. So it’s worth a shot, and we commend the organizations and Californians who are working hard to get this passed!
Buuut it wouldn’t be the Pissed Off Voter Guide if we didn’t throw a little shade. Our biggest beef with this plan is that it doesn’t address the Democratic Party’s inability to win votes the old-fashioned way, with strong policies that help people and effective messaging. We wish there was more of an inspiring agenda linked to Prop 50, beyond “they’re changing their maps so we’ll change ours too!” Except for a few young and charismatic leaders rising through the ranks (go Zohran go!), the Dems are asking us to hand them power but haven’t articulated what they'll do with it when they get it. If they could summon up a clear and vibrant vision of the world we’re striving for together, they could reinvigorate demoralized activists and lace our networks with hope.
Legislation that mucks about with our voting process often has unintended consequences. Another critique we have about Prop 50 is that the plan seems to take for granted that unaffiliated voters registered as No Party Preference will lean Democratic. But there’s no guarantee that Republican candidates won’t be able to peel off some of those voters at some point in the next few years.
Also, we’d still rather not have gerrymandering even if it’s “our side” making the maps. We appreciate that Prop 50 includes a statement supporting the use of fair, independent, and nonpartisan redistricting commissions nationwide. We don’t want any voters disenfranchised, even if they’re rural would-be Trump voters. Here’s hoping this nightmare ends soon, and we can go back to using the (relatively) fair and transparent process we had before.
In the meantime, vote HELL YES on Prop 50!