SF League of Pissed Off Voters

• Jump to our voting cheat sheet. Scroll down for all of our research and analysis.
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Voting Logistics: 

Vote early at the COVID-safe City Hall Voting Center in front of Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Open last two weekends of the election 2/5-2/6 and 2/12-2/13 from 10am-4pm. Open weekdays 8pm-5pm starting January 18th!

Drop off your ballot at City Hall during Voting Center early voting hours or on Election Day. Dropping off your ballot means you don't have to worry about the Post Office delivering it in time.

Mail your ballot if you can't drop it off. You don't need a stamp, but make sure you sign the envelope and it's postmarked by Election Day.

2/15/22: Election Day! Polls open 7am-8pm. If you’re in line by 8pm you can vote. Let’s stand in line together! You can also drop your ballot off at any polling place on Election Day.

Where’s your polling place? Check sfelections.org, call 311, or just go vote at City Hall.

Did you forget to register? You can still vote! Go to City Hall or your polling place and tell them you want to "register conditionally and vote provisionally!"

People with Felony Convictions Can Vote! You can still vote as long as you’re off parole. Don’t let the Man disenfranchise you.

Youth can (almost) vote! If you’re 16 or 17, pre-register and your registration will automatically be activated when you turn 18.

Non-citizen parents and caregivers can vote! BUT there's some important fine print about how this special registration works and how voting in a local election may affect your immigration status. Learn more at the SF Department of Elections Non-Citizen Voting page and seek legal advice if you're not sure.

February 2022:
City Hall Corruption Drinking Game!

State Legislature

State Assembly, District 17: David Campos and Matt Haney (Dual Endorsement)

School Board Recall Measures

Measure A: Recall Alison Collins: HELL NO!
Measure B: Recall Gabriela López: HELL NO!
Measure C: Recall Faauuga Moliga: HELL NO!

San Francisco Offices

Assessor-Recorder: No Endorsement

Hey! Surely you're looking for our February 2022 Pissed Off Voter Guide - this is not it!

The San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters members voted to endorse the following candidates and ballot measures for the February 2022 election. Our full, unabridged Pissed Off Voter Guide is coming soon! You can see the candidates' responses to our questionnaire here.

State Assembly District 17

• Dual Endorsement: David Campos & Matt Haney

Assessor-Recorder

• No Endorsement

Board of Education Recall

• Alison Collins: No, do not Recall
• Faauuga Moliga: No, do not Recall
• Gabriela Lopez: No, do not Recall
  

• Every registered voter will receive a vote-by-mail ballot. If you mail it in, you don't need a stamp, but make sure you sign the envelope and it's postmarked by Election Day.
• Vote early at the City Hall Voting Center in the basement of City Hall. 8/16-9/13: Weekdays (except Labor Day) 8am-5pm. 9/4-9/5 and 9/11-9/12: 10am-4pm. 9/14: 7am-8pm. Any voter may request to vote “curbside” at the Voting Center by calling (415) 554-4375.
  
• Drop off your ballot at the City Hall Voting Center in the basement of City Hall or at a polling place on Election Day. Dropping off your ballot means you don't have to worry about the Post Office delivering it in time.
• 9/14: Election Day! Polls open 7am-8pm. If you’re in line by 8pm you can vote! 
• Where’s your polling place? Check sfelections.org, call 311, or just go vote at City Hall.
• Did you forget to register? You can still vote! Go to City Hall or your polling place and tell them you want to "register conditionally and vote provisionally!"
• People with Felony Convictions Can Vote! You can still vote as long as you’re off parole. Don’t let the Man disenfranchise you.
• Youth can (almost) vote! If you’re 16 or 17, pre-register and your registration will automatically be activated when you turn 18.

What the hell is going on with this recall??

If you’re not a politics nerd, you might be confused as to why there’s an election in California right now. Not only is it an “off year” but it’s still September! Aren’t elections normally in November?

Here’s the backstory: California allows its voters to “recall” (ie, boot out) a Governor without having to wait for the next normal election. First, a campaign gathers signatures to trigger the recall election, then we all vote Yes or No on the question “Should we recall the current governor?”, and on the same ballot pick someone to replace them. Sounds like a useful fail-safe, right? Power to the people? Well, there’s a few issues: 

• First, all the potential replacements for the governor are crammed on one giant ballot, and if the recall succeeds, the replacement who gets the most votes wins. But that could be only 30%, 20%, or less of the people that voted! We could end up with a governor that only a tiny fraction of the population voted for.
• Second, there’s no rule that the recall election needs bigger turnout than the election that installed the governor in the first place. And the recall election is often at a wacky time (like this one, which is on September 14th), which reduces turnout. If turnout doesn’t beat Nov 2018’s 64%,  it’s very possible that fewer voters vote to recall the governor than voted for them initially...but “Yes” still gets over 50% and they’re out. That’s undemocratic.
• Third, the recall process was designed for cases of gross misconduct or corruption...but the rules don’t mandate this, so it can be triggered whenever people feel like it. In this case, the argument against Newsom is just a word salad of right-wing hooey, not a clear case of malfeasance.

That leads us to the current landscape. Democratic voters outnumber Republican ones in the Golden State, but Republicans still want the Governor’s mansion. Since they’ll never take it in a fair fight, they’ve deployed a new strategy: wait until a Democrat is elected, then pay $8M for a signature-gathering campaign to trigger a recall, and hope that A: it succeeds and B: a Republican is the one left standing when the dust settles - which is probable, since the vote will be split so many ways that a charismatic right-winger can gather a plurality. The Republicans know that plenty of lefties (like us*, more on that below) hate Newsom and might vote to turf him out without thinking too hard about the consequences. Heck, even if the recall fails, it weakens the incumbent by highlighting their flaws, forcing them to ‘play defense’, move rightward to fend off Republican arguments, spend time campaigning and raising money, etc. It’s a win for the bad guys either way.

So if there’s a chance Newsom will eat it, why didn’t the Democrats field a candidate?

There aren’t many serious candidates among the 46 on the ballot - and none of the Democrats are endorsed by the CA Democratic party. They plumped for that strategy (“all in on Newsom surviving”) because of fears that running a real candidate would hamper Newsom’s efforts to hang on. When this same drama played out almost twenty years ago, serious Democrat (and Lt. Governor) Cruz Bustamante was in the mix to replace Democratic Governor Gray Davis, and some people think that his campaign made Davis look bad. UItimately Davis was defenestrated and a telegenic Republican, Arnold Schwartzenegger, became Governator.

We get the logic, but most of us think that was a bad call. If Arnold hadn’t run, it’s very likely Cruz Bustamante would have won as he received more than twice the votes of the next candidate. Things are very different now, and with a careful campaign and on-brand messaging, we think a Democratic ‘just in case’ candidate would have been fine. And if non-Republicans sit out Question 2, we’re leaving it up to the YES RECALL voters to pick the next governor all on their own. Surely the CA Democratic Party has some kind of backup plan??

The California Constitution is vague about recalls, and if Newsom loses the recall, it’s likely that his campaign lawyers will argue that Lt Governor Eleni Kounalakis should replace Newsom. This helps explain the Newsom campaign’s strategy of discouraging voters to answer Question 2 so their legal team can say “Hey look hardly anybody voted!” when they attempt to overturn the results of the election in court. But these are presumably the same lawyers that fucked up his election paperwork that prevent him from being listed as a Democrat on the ballot (paperwork that was required by a law that he himself signed as Governor in 2019) FACEPALM. 

If we were cynical, we might wonder if Newsom’s motivation to keep other Dems off the ballot was to save his own ass more than preventing a Republican from taking over. (Fun fact: Jane Fonda thought about running a campaign focused on climate change--seriously enough that her team conducted a poll that showed (a) Gav was vulnerable and (b) she likely would’ve beat the Republicans. And coincidentally, all of Gavin’s recent climate initiatives happened right after that poll was conducted. Hmmm!)

But whatever. Those ships have sailed. Our only decision at this point was whether to endorse a Break Glass in Case of Emergency candidate from the peanut gallery, or go with a “No Endorsement” because no one who shares our values was actually going to win anyway. 

Many of us liked the idea of endorsing a League-aligned scrapper, even if they weren't going to come out on top. But we were also concerned that throwing our official weight behind a candidate could be interpreted as endorsing a Yes on the recall, which we definitely aren't! After lots of debate, we ended up with No Endorsement. But if you’re looking for a candidate to mark, many of us liked Joel Ventresca - he’s the least bad of all of the 46 candidates and has a progressive track record.

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The Replacement Candidates: So who are these random yahoos anyway?

The Case for Joel Ventresca: Many Leaguers thought that if we endorsed anybody, we should endorse Joel Ventresca as the least bad random yahoo who was somewhat aligned with the League. Ventresca is an old school San Francisco political gadfly. He ran for Mayor against London Breed in 2019 and came in 3rd (his 3rd mayor’s race). The closest Ventresca ever got to victory was coming in 2nd to Susan Leal for Treasurer in 1997. A former union leader, he led the Coalition for SF Neighborhoods campaign against WIllie Brown’s 1997 stadium bond. A career bureaucrat in City Government (Airport Commission, SF Aging Commission), Ventresca was appointed to the Commission on SF’s Environment during the 90s by Board President Angela Alioto (which is the reason he gives for endorsing Alioto in the 2018 Mayor’s Race). 

He probably would have won our endorsement if he was telling people to oppose the recall. His website doesn’t say whether he’s for or against it, but he has a page listing criticisms of Newsom. He doesn’t appear to be running much of a campaign with no fundraising besides his own funds, and no public events or social media game.  But on the issues, he’s a progressive Democrat who generally lines up with our values as he detailed fully in his 2019 Pissed Off Voter Guide Questionnaire. Make big business pay their fare share, make SF zero carbon emissions, free public transit, protect tenants, criminal justice reform. Ventresca won’t win, but at least we won’t feel bad voting for him.

Don’t vote for Kevin Paffrath (top-polling Democrat): We’d prefer not to Meet Kevin, thanks. This (wait for it) “Landlord Influencer” has a big online following for offering get-rich-quick real estate tips and drives a Tesla Model X with his own face on it. His platform includes expanding gun rights, slashing social safety net funding, building tunnels under existing freeways instead of investing in transit, and giving more money to police. What’s scary is he’s running as a Democrat and doing pretty well in the polls (maybe just because he’s kind of internet famous or some people find this bro shit “relatable?”) For a hot second, we considered if we should hold our nose and support this guy just to keep a Democrat in the running, but really, his bread-and-butter anti-tenant BS is enough for us to give a hard PASS.  This quote says it all: “Tenants usually don’t have very good imagination. If they had good imagination, they would be buying properties that need work, and not renting them ‘once they’re done.’” Yep, the reason that people are renting instead of owning is because they lack imagination. Efffffff you, buddy.

Probably don’t vote for the two Greens: Dan Kapelovitz is an animal rights lawyer and defense attorney. Our favorite part of his platform is he wants to abolish the death penalty except for Corporations deemed as persons (ha!).  Heather Collins is a hairstylist and salon owner who disagrees with Newsom’s handling of COVID (specifically the part about closing salons for a bit).  Both candidates joined the Green Party this year, which probably seemed like an awesome recall strategy at the time.

There are five Republicans running who have legit name recognition and/or fundraising. The leader in the polls so far is Larry Elder, a right-wing talk radio host. He helped give Trump-stooge Stephen Miller his start back when little Stevie was a high school Hitler Youth wannabe. He opposes the minimum wage, abortion rights, welfare, gun control, and, fuck me, he could be our next Governor. The other Republicans include a member of the Assembly, a former San Diego Mayor, a former member of the House, and Caitlyn Jenner, who swears she’s serious about her campaign, despite being in Australia for the last month filming “Big Brother VIP.” This is the state of our state. 

The rest of ‘em: Isn’t it weird that the folks who wanted the recall election held in the first place don’t even have their own front-runner that they’d like for a replacement Governor? Like, what was their plan? We ended up with a motley crew of small business owners, local elected officials from around the state, fathers, mothers, teachers, attention-getters for boutique issues like Universal Basic Income, anti-vaxx, and cannabis, and Angelyne the L.A. Billboard Queen (who you Gen Xers may remember running in the Grey Davis recall). Many of the candidates have switched political parties more times than Gavin has broken his own pandemic rules, and most of them have raised zero money and have zero political experience. But by the luck of ballot placement or some sort of tragic memestorm, any one of these randos could be our next Governor! God help us.

* What’s our beef with Newsom, you ask? He was Mayor of our City, right? Republicans hate him, right? Well, it’s complicated. Perhaps some background. As our Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Mayor, Gavin has been in power throughout the League’s existence, and while he’s done some good things and he’s wayyy better than a Republican Governor, he’s basically been a pompous, problematic pain in our asses. Our 2018 voter guide has a good summary of some of our issues with him. There have been some common themes throughout his career, like vilifying unhoused San Franciscans (and then Californians), happily becoming the face of policies (like gay marriage) that his political foes busted their asses to pass without much help from him, and governing-by-press-conference. And as Governor, he’s been pretty much like we expected: better than a Republican, not awful, but still hella problematic. Most of our allies engaged in statewide activism (god bless them!) have run into beef with him: from tenant organizers trying to stop pandemic-related evictions to climate activists trying to stop fracking to nurses and health care workers frustrated with his dithering on single payer health care. So we’re doing what we can to bail him out of this recall mess, but dang are we sick of dealing with his nonsense!

Aaaaaaanyway, this whole thing is annoying BUT it’s super important that SF turns out and votes NO on the recall. Tell your friends, coworkers, neighbors, and baristas - it might be tempting to sit this one out but we could literally end up with a Rush Limbaugh wannabe or a 12-year-old asshole landlord making the rules for 40 million Californians during one of the most important and difficult times in our history. Now fill out that ballot, pat yourself on the back, and text 3 friends to do the same!

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Sidenote: Don’t Sign Local SF Recall Petitions

You may have heard there are a couple other recall campaigns kicking around locally.  Anti-criminal justice reform Republicans (and the Moderate Democrats they write checks to) are after our District Attorney Chesa Boudin, and a minority of angry parents are gunning for School Board Members Lopez, Collins, and Moliga. For the record, all of our arguments against recalls as undemocratic power plays apply to those too. We feel strongly that recalls should only be considered for gross misconduct or corruption, not because you disagree with who won the election or don’t like how they’re doing their job now (especially if it aligns with their campaign promises).

And SF recalls are even worse because a) no campaign contribution limits and b) no option to pick new candidates. That’s right, if any SF leaders get recalled, we don’t get to vote on their replacement. The Mayor (who we have plenty of beef with) gets to appoint whoever she wants. WTF?! We’ll have more to say if those make it on the ballot, but we hope they won’t make it that far. For now, tell everyone you know: don’t sign those damn petitions!

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Make California Recall Process More Democratic

It's a stretch to call California Recalls anti-democratic, but they're certainly way less democratic than other states that require a reason for recalling an elected official- usually an unethical or illegal act by the elected. 2/3rds of California voters support some level of recall reform. Here are some things we’d like to see in a statewide ballot measure to reform the Recall:

• Schedule recall elections with next general elections to ensure high turnout and reduce cost of a dedicated election
• Run-off election for top two vote-getters. This could have resulted in a Cruz Bustamante governorship.
• Increase signature threshold for recall petitions. This is an attempt to compensate for the unlimited fundraising recall campaigns can solicit.
• Require a reason for recall. Only unethical or illegal activity should be grounds for a recall.
• Campaign finance laws for recall campaign committees. California treats recall committees as ballot measure committees, so state and local contribution limits do not apply. Billionaires can use unlimited dollars to buy signatures and votes, doing an end run around elections. 
• Define a line of succession. The “only elect a replacement at the same time as a recall, If appropriate” clause of the CA Constitution has shaky legal ground. For Assemblymembers, a recall results in a subsequent special election. Recalled Governors get to share a ballot with random yahoos. 
• Statewide recall law baseline for each county. Provide countywide election departments with state baselines for recall signature thresholds, recall election timing, and recall campaign finance requirements.

We know the law of unintended consequences can have a wicked effect on changes to our democracy, but California is a laboratory for democracy - and it’s a shame that so many other states have such better recall processes. We support efforts to Reform the Recall so that our democracy can defend against the hundreds of millions of dollars spent by corporations and billionaires to buy our elections.

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Meet the SF League of Pissed Off Voters

We're a bunch of political geeks in a torrid love affair with San Francisco. The League formed in 2004 with the goal of building a progressive governing majority in our lifetime. Our contribution is this voter guide⁠: a secret decoder ring for SF politics. All of us lucky enough to enjoy the San Francisco magic owe it to our City to fight to keep it diverse, just, and healthy.

This voter guide (our 27th in SF!) is thoroughly researched and thoroughly biased. It’s how we educate our friends on the issues, excite pissed-off progressive voters, and remind sellout politicians that we’re paying attention.

Hang Out with the League!

Want to get involved, got a question about this stuff, or just wanna hang out on zoom?

Stay up to date:

• theLeagueSF.org
• [email protected] 
• @TheLeagueSF

Paid for by the San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters. Financial disclosures available at sfethics.org.

Monday, January 11th is the last day to register to vote in the wonky local Democratic Party election known by wonks as ADEMs (for Assembly District Election Meetings.) 

You can register online and in this pandemic year, all voting is by mail, so you never have to leave your house! These delegates help set the California Democratic Party policies and priorities. So if you’ve ever been pissed off about sellout Democrats, this is a chance to say something about it.

The League’s steering committee has a range of feelings about how involved we should be in ADEMs, absent a formal endorsement process, so we’re not making any official endorsements. We are not a Democratic club and some of us aren’t Democrats. Some of us are turned off by participating in these insider politico machinations and/or question if the ADEMs really matter or if it’s just a popularity contest for politicos. Some of us are excited to see some of our allies and heroes stepping up to run for the ADEMs to reform the state Democratic Party that has been dominated by corporate sellouts for as long as we’ve been around. If this kind of geekery interests you, read on!

Who's running?

Lots and LOTS of people! Our friends at the Harvey Milk club and the SF Berniecrats have endorsed slates. They both mostly align with the Progressive Power slate in Assembly District 17 (the East Side of SF represented by David Chiu) and the Progressive Alliance slate in Assembly District 19 (West Side of SF represented by Phil Ting), but with a few differences. 

Assembly District 17 - the East Side of SF represented by David Chiu

Assembly District 19 - the West Side of SF represented by Phil Ting

* Progressive Power "recommends" both Alan Wong and Ryan McGilley for their sixth slot. 

What the hell is the ADEMs?

The ADEM elections are held every two years to elect Assembly District Delegates to the Democratic State Central Committee (DSCC). There’s an explainer video on the California Democratic Party website.  

In San Francisco, registered Democrats and Decline to State voters elect leaders to the local Democratic Party governing body, the San Francisco's Democratic County Central Committee (DCCC) that decides the Party’s endorsements of candidates and ballot measures. ADEMs are like the DCCC on the state level. But unlike the DCCC elections that are run by the independent Department of Elections and appear on your City ballot, ADEMs are weird and run by Democratic Party. In the past, you had to vote in in person at specific polling places based on the district. Instead of being a public government-run election, the process is managed by a convener and volunteers. In the past, that lack of accountability has led to long lines and some major shenanigans. But thanks to the pandemic, this year's ADEM is all by mail, so you don't have to sacrifice a weekend day for this!

Why are the ADEMs important?

San Francisco and California are essentially “one party towns” where the Republicans are thankfully mostly sidelined while third parties struggle to break through the Dems’ monopoly. The ADEM delegates vote on the party chair and leadership for the California Democratic Party that controls a massive amount of resources for campaigns up and down the state. In 2017, the progressive candidate for chair, Kimberly Ellis, lost by just 57 votes in a hella shady election marred by disorganization and accusations of ballot stuffing. (The winner, Eric Bauman, resigned after accusations of sexual misconduct, so...there’s that.)

The delegates also will decide the state party endorsements for 2022 ballot measure and candidates. The ADEM election is important for movement building, securing official party endorsements for progressive candidates, and moving the dial on progressive issues. The 2017 progressive delegates added tenants rights and addressing homelessness to the party priorities. The party chair they elect impacts fundraising, and the chair wields an enormous budget and political power.

23 Reasons to Vote for John Avalos instead of Ahsha Safaí

There is no starker choice on the San Francisco ballot than District 11 for the Board of Supervisors. (Okay, maybe the Presidential election!) Back in 2016, we wrote about 9 Reasons Ahsha Safaí is shady. Unfortunately, he won (by only 413 votes), and he's been just as bad as we feared, so now we have twenty-three reasons to vote him out.

We're excited to support John Avalos, a proven leader with integrity. But because people keep asking us about Safaí, here are all the ways he's proven to be a failure, with plenty of receipts: 

Safaí's COVID response has been too little, too late

• The contrast between the response in the Mission versus the Excelsior and OMI is pretty damning. The Mission has conducted groundbreaking studies and offered support for its vulnerable communities, with mass testing at BART stations.
• We're glad community groups have hustled to make testing available one day a week at Crocker Amazon park and on Broad Street in the OMI, but the hard-hit District 11 needs more. Why can't Safaí get large-scale testing at Balboa Park BART or on Mission Street, where vulnerable essential workers need it?

Safaí is shady

• He flip-flopped on 2018's Prop 10 that would have expanded rent control. He told tenant groups he supported it, but then turned around and opposed it. When tenant rights advocates brought him a golden flip-flop, he hid in his office and wouldn't talk to them.
• An ugly alliance of Republicans, billionaires, venture capitalists, and developers are spending millions to elect Safaí and defeat progressive revenue measures. Why? They don't want to pay their fair share, and they trust Safaí to protect their interests.
• He pushed to increase the rents for a two-bedroom at the affordable housing planned next to the Excelsior Safeway from $1,730 to $3,026. That's not affordable!
• In 2016, the leadership of the janitors union Safaí worked for pressured its members to campaign for him, and fined members who didn’t "volunteer" $150 a day. These are janitors who are barely earning a living wage! 
  
• Safaí was an unregistered lobbyist for a real estate developer. 

Safaí has been a failure on climate change

• In his role on the SF Retirement Board, he voted against divesting from fossil fuels in 2018 and 2019, and didn't even show up when they voted against divesting again in 2020.  Even though in 2017 he voted for a non-binding resolution at the Board of Supervisors urging the Retirement Board to divest from fossil fuels (give him another golden flip-flop!), and even though oil companies have been some of the worst performing stocks on the market the last three years.
• He tried to get the City to pay for his City Hall parking space!
• He failed to support replacing a gas station and parking lot with affordable housing, and has taken at least $7K from gas station companies.
• He pissed off every sustainable transportation group in the City when he attempted to gum-up the City's ability to make transit, bike, and pedestrian improvements.
• No wonder the SF Bicycle Coalition, League of Conservation Voters, and Sierra Club have all endorsed John Avalos!

Safaí is a house-flipper

• Last year he bought a property in probate court, and the real estate company he used turned around and donated $5,600 to Safaí’s campaign a month later.
• He bought a house that was in foreclosure in 2005, and sold it less than a year later for a profit. The woman he bought the house from sued him for fraud, saying she was “frightened and intimidated” into accepting an unfair offer.
• He’s been involved in a number of questionable real estate deals over the years and made most of his money as a consultant for landlords and developers.
• No wonder nearly half of his campaign funds come from the real estate industry!
  
  

Safaí is a phony

• Safaí flat out lied to the District 11 Democratic club claiming that he supported June 2018’s “Baby Prop C” to tax office buildings for childcare. In fact, he supported the competing Prop D that had a poison pill to kill off the tax for childcare.
• Safaí claims that he "saved St. Luke's Hospital," but the California Nurses Association and others who led that campaign say he had nothing to do with it. Check out this damning video.
• Back in 2008, Safaí worked for Gavin Newsom, and he talked, dressed, and acted like a mini-Gavin. (Check out his pensive, pinstriped, hair-gelled glamour shot from a Chronicle puff piece). But when he came back to run again in 2016, he switched up his image to be a mini-Avalos! He dressed more casual and talked about working families, but we weren’t fooled.
• When he ran in 2016, he claimed to be a union organizer, but almost all of Safai's income came from being a consultant for landlords and developers. In 2012 and 2013, he earned less than $10,000 as a consultant for the janitors union, but more than $100,000 from his consulting firm.
  
  

Safaí won't stand up to for police accountability

• He was endorsed by the racist Police Officers Association (POA), who contributed $70,000 to an independent expenditure that supported him. 
• He rewarded them in 2018 by derailing a resolution to limit the cops’ ability to drag their feet on reforms.
• He also tried to replace one of our strongest Police Commissioners, Petra DeJesus, who the POA despises.
• He was AWOL on June 2018's Prop H, the POA's reckless attempt to remove civilian oversight of the cops use of tasers. 
• And now he's proposing legislation to crackdown on sideshows with harsher penalties. WTH? Didn't you get the memo, Ahsha? The Republican-style "tough on crime" approach to non-violent crime is ineffective and immoral. 

District 11 is lucky to have a clear choice in November. Vote for John Avalos for a Supervisor who knows the district, has a track record of getting things done, and shares our values. Check out his detailed policy positions on criminal justice, government corruption, climate justice, housing affordability, and many more issues. You can also read all about our take on Avalos in our full voter guide. 

We expect this race will be super close, so every vote counts. Can you help share this post and send it to everyone you know in the Excelsior, Outer Mission, and OMI?

• Want to make phone calls to voters in swing states? Check out these rad groups that are also supporting grassroots organizations:
  • SeedTheVote.org
  • PeoplesAction.org
• Want to do something, but not sure what? This amazing doc will guide you to a bunch of great options:
  • https://bit.ly/NoRegretsNov4
• Want to make a difference for California? Prop 15 is the most transformative ballot measure we've ever had the pleasure of voting for. It will make corporations pay their fair share and have a transformative impact on our schools and communities. But they need our help!
  
  • yes15.org/volunteer
• Want to plug into our local San Francisco election? Connect with one of these awesome candidates or campaigns who are out on the streets:
  • Jackie Fielder
  • Connie Chan
  • Dean Preston 
  • Vilaska Nguyen
  • John Avalos
  • Prop I to fund a fair recovery
• Want to get some stacks of our voter guide to pass out yourself? Email us and we'll make it happen!

Hey! Surely you're looking for our November 2022 Pissed Off Voter Guide - this is the voter guide from 2020!

 Click through to read the full guide for November 2022!

• Jump to our voting cheat sheet. See below for all of our research and analysis.
• Not local to SF? Jump to our CA State Proposition cheat sheet.
• Listen to our audio voter guide on your favorite podcast platform:

                 

Voting Logistics: 

Vote early at the COVID-safe City Hall Voting Center in front of Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. 10/31 and 11/1: 10am-4pm; 11/2: 8am-5pm, 11/3: 7am-8pm.

Drop off your ballot at City Hall or at any of these eleven sites around town. 10/31 and 11/1: 10am-4pm; 11/2: 8am-5pm, 11/3: 7am-8pm. Dropping off your ballot means you don't have to worry about the Post Office delivering it in time.

Mail your ballot if you can't drop it off. You don't need a stamp, but make sure you sign the envelope and it's postmarked by Election Day.

11/3: Election Day! Polls open 7am-8pm. If you’re in line by 8pm you can vote! Let’s stand in line together! You can also drop your ballot off at any polling place on Election Day.

Where’s your polling place? Check sfelections.org, call 311, or just go vote at City Hall.

Did you forget to register? You can still vote! Go to City Hall or your polling place and tell them you want to "register conditionally and vote provisionally!"

People with Felony Convictions Can Vote! You can still vote as long as you’re off parole. Don’t let the Man disenfranchise you.

Youth can (almost) vote! If you’re 16 or 17, pre-register and your registration will automatically be activated when you turn 18.

November 2020:
The People Strike Back!

Federal Offices

• President: Joe Biden
  
• US Representative, District 12: No Endorsement
  
• US Representative, District 14: Jackie Speier

State Legislature

• State Senate, District 11: Jackie Fielder
  
• State Assembly, District 17: No Endorsement
  
• State Assembly, District 19: No Endorsement

Local Offices

• Board of Supervisors, District 1: Connie Chan
  
  
• Board of Supervisors, District 3: Aaron Peskin
  
  
• Board of Supervisors, District 5
  #1 Dean Preston
  #2 Nomvula O'Meara
  #3 Daniel Landry
  
  
• Board of Supervisors, District 7
  #1 Vilaska Nguyen
  #2 Myrna Melgar
  
• Board of Supervisors, District 9: Hillary Ronen
  
  
• Board of Supervisors, District 11: John Avalos
  
  
• Board of Education (4 Seats)
  Kevine Boggess
  Matt Alexander
  Mark Sanchez
  Alida Fisher
  
  
• Community College Board (4 Seats)
  Tom Temprano
  Anita Martinez
  Aliya Chisti
  Shanell Williams
  

• BART Board, District 7: Lateefah Simon
  
  
• BART Board, District 9: Bevan Dufty

State Propositions

• Prop 14: Borrow Money for More Stem Cell Research: NO
• Prop 15: Tax Huge Corporations’ Properties to Fund Schools and Communities: HELL YES!
• Prop 16: Repeal 1996 Ban on Affirmative Action: YES
• Prop 17: Allow Parolees to Vote: HELL YES!
• Prop 18: Allow 17-Year-Olds to Vote in Primaries: YES
• Prop 19: Close a Big Property Tax Loophole, Open Two Small Ones: YES
• Prop 20: Roll Back Criminal Justice Reforms: HELL NO!
• Prop 21: Let Cities Expand Rent Control: HELL YES!
• Prop 22: Screw Over Lyft & Uber Drivers: HELL NO!
• Prop 23: Regulate Dialysis Clinics: YES
• Prop 24: Phony Consumer Data Privacy: NO
• Prop 25: Replace Money Bail With Something Even Worse: NO

Local Propositions

• Prop A: Bond for Health, Homelessness, Parks, and Streets: YES
• Prop B: Powerwash the Corrupt DPW & Create a Dept. of Sanitation and Streets: YES
• Prop C: Allow Non-Citizens to Serve in City Government: HELL YES!
• Prop D: Hold Sheriffs Accountable for Use of Force and In-Custody Deaths: YES
• Prop E: Open the Door to Defund the Police: HELL YES!
• Prop F: Tax Big Business, Help Small Business, Make $$$: HELL YES!
• Prop G: Let Youth Vote in Local Elections: HECK YEAH!
• Prop H: Poorly Designed Small Biz Permitting Overhaul: RELUCTANT NO
• Prop I: Tax Luxury Property Sales & Help Apartments Become Co-Ops: HELL YES!
• Prop J: Parcel Tax Do-over for SF Teachers: YES
• Prop K: Let the City Build Its Own Affordable Housing: HELL YES!
• Prop L: ‘CEO Tax’ on Companies That Pay Unfair Wages: HELL YES!

Regional Proposition

• Prop RR: Regressive Sales Tax to Save Caltrain: CONFLICTED YES

The dude who created a group called "YIMBY Neoliberal" recently published an unauthorized recording of our recent endorsement meeting. We have sent him the following letter and are taking action to protect the privacy of the folks who attended the meeting. What a colossal goddamn waste of time! 

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Dear Steven Buss,

This letter relates to your Medium post about the San Francisco League of Pissed-off Voters (“the League”) recent endorsement meeting (the “Meeting”). The League’s endorsement meetings have always been open to members of the public. We like getting input from non-members in our discussions. But shit is different in our strange new world of online meetings and Zoom-bombing. "Public" online is different from public in person. So to ensure an environment where our members could freely express and debate views, we expressly required all attendees of the Meeting to agree to not record or screenshot the Meeting. This is not an uncommon expectation for political meetings.

Despite these expectations, you published an unauthorized recording of the Meeting in your Medium post. In the recording, you included unauthorized use of copyrighted materials owned by the League, as well as unauthorized uses of quotes and likeness of our members and other attendees. Whether or not you personally recorded the Meeting is irrelevant. California is a "two-party consent state," and Cal. Penal Code §632 prohibits "willfully disclos(ing) the contents of a telegraphic or telephonic message...without the permission of that person."  WTF, man?

While we wholeheartedly disagree with your assessment and critique of the Meeting, it is your First Amendment right to say whatever it is you would like to say about the League. However, your unauthorized uses of our intellectual property, including copyrighted materials owned by the League, and unauthorized uses of quotes and likenesses of our members and other attendees is unlawful.

To summarize:

• Non-members were welcomed to attend, but in order to attend, had to RSVP and commit to not recording, because attendees of the meeting hadn’t consented to being recorded.
• Whether or not you personally recorded the Meeting is irrelevant. You did not have consent from any of the attendees to publish the unauthorized recording.
• You did not have consent to publish the statements by League members and other attendees in the unauthorized recording.
• You also did not have permission to use the Google doc to which the League owns the copyright for, which was also linked to in your Medium post.
• Hey you're really creeping us out with this stalker stuff. Can you please back off?

In order to resolve this, we ask that you (1) publish a public apology to the League on Twitter for recording an endorsement meeting knowing that recording was expressly prohibited and that you used, without authorization, intellectual property owned by the League, as well as misappropriated the publicity and privacy rights of the League members and attendees of the endorsement meeting with the intent to harass and embarrass the League and publicly commit to not do similar actions in the future; (2) immediately take-down the Google doc; and (3) cease any effort to repost or contest the take-downs of the unauthorized recordings on Vimeo and the Medium post because it is replete with unauthorized uses of intellectual property owned by the League and, as published, violates the right of publicity and privacy of our members and other attendees. Please confirm also that you have deleted and destroyed any and all copies of the unauthorized recording and any intellectual property owned by the League. Please confirm in writing that you have done this by close of business Friday, October 2, 2020.  

As an alternative option to resolve this, respecting your First Amendment right of free speech, please re-post a corrected version of the Medium post removing: (1) the unauthorized recording; (2) unauthorized uses of intellectual property owned by the League; and (3) unauthorized quotes and likenesses of our members and attendees of the Meeting, with the following disclaimer prominently displayed before the contents of the post:

This is an updated version of this post that is edited to remove an unauthorized recording of the San Francisco League of Pissed-off Voters’ recent endorsement meeting that used, without permission, intellectual property owned by the League as well as used unauthorized quotes and misappropriated of the likenesses, publicity, and privacy rights of the League members and other attendees who were recorded without permission. The views expressed in the post are the opinions of the author.

If you’d prefer this option, please post an updated version by the close of business Friday, October 2, 2020. Similarly, if you select this option, please confirm also that you have deleted and destroyed any and all copies of the unauthorized recording and any intellectual property owned by the League.

Sincerely, 
San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters

Big thanks to all of the candidates who took the time to respond to our policy questionnaire.

See links to the candidates responses below.

Board of Supervisors

D1 - Connie Chan

D3 - Aaron Peskin

D3 - Danny Sauter

D5 - Daniel Landry

D5 - Nomvula O'Meara

D5 - Dean Preston

D7 - Stephen Martin-Pinto

D7 - Myrna Melgar

D7 - Vilaska Nguyen

D9 - Hillary Ronen

D11 - John Avalos

Board of Education

Matt Alexander

Kevine Boggess

Alida Fisher

Jenny Lam

Mark Sanchez

Community College Board

Aliya Chisti

Anita Martinez

Jeanette Quick

Geramye Teeter

Tom Temprano

Shanell Williams

Alan Wong

Han Zhou

BART Board, District 9

Bevan Dufty

Patrick Mortiere

Lateefah Simon

Though the response deadline has passed, we're still game to post candidate questionnaire responses from candidates who didn't answer. It's almost all multiple choice questions, and you can skip any you don’t want to answer. Let our members know where you stand on the issues—get in touch!