Elections Get Underway in San Francisco

Tuesday marks the first day of early voting in the November election in San Francisco, in which voters will decide the city's new mayor, district attorney and sheriff, as well as several propositions.

Starting Tuesday, San Francisco residents can vote by visiting the Department of Elections office at City Hall between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Those hours are for Monday through Friday, and there will also be an opportunity to vote at City Hall from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the two weekends prior to the Nov. 8 election.

Tuesday is also when vote-by-mail ballots will begin being sent, and is the deadline for when the Department of Elections is required to have sent voter information pamphlets to all currently registered voters.

San Francisco voters will have a lot of information to wade through, particularly in the mayor's race where there are 16 candidates on the ballot and voters are allowed to choose three candidates in the ranked-choice system.
   
Interim Mayor Ed Lee, who was appointed after then-Mayor Gavin Newsom was elected lieutenant governor, and Board of Supervisors President David Chiu are among the candidates who plan on voting Tuesday morning at City Hall, according to their campaigns.

There are also two dueling measures on the ballot, Propositions C and D, which propose differing ways to reform the pension benefits for city workers. Voters will also determine the fate of proposed bonds to provide funding for schools and to repair and upgrade city streets.

More information about early voting, voting by mail and the voter information pamphlet is available at www.sfelections.org/toolkit or by calling 415-554-4375.