100 reasons to enjoy Alameda County politics
Alameda County is scheduled to release it first election update since Monday. Here's the race that are currently 'too close to call;' Voters approved 28 of 34 ballot measures
EBI 100
—EPISODE 100—Thank you to everyone who attended last night’s live recording of the 100th episode of the East Bay Insiders Podcast at Humble Sea Brewing Co. at Alameda Point.
—Our special guests, Oakland special election mayor candidate Loren Taylor and Alameda County Board of Supervisor Nate Miley provided a few provocative comments last night.
—Episode 100 will be ready for download on Monday, in addition to video of the event on the East Bay Insiders YouTube channel.
—Thank you to my co-hosts, Shawn Wilson and Dan Mendoza, and everyone who supports the newsletter and podcast.
—411 ON THE 510—There’s much more inside! Become an East Bay Insiders subscriber today and get full access to the inside scoop every weekday morning at 6 a.m. It’s what the insiders read.
—TOO CLOSE TO CALL—Alameda County is, by far, the biggest laggard for vote-counting in the state. Roughly 187,135 ballots remain uncounted.
—Sacramento County reports 174,000 uncounted ballots remaining, followed by San Bernardino County at 124,000, and Los Angeles County at 120,000. All other counties are around 60,000 and under, as of Thursday.
—Alameda County Registrar of Voters Tim Dupuis told The New York Times this week that any changes to allow him to count votes more quickly rests at the feet of the Board of Supervisors.
—After a four-day hiatus, the Alameda County Registrar of Voters is expected to release an update of the Nov. 5 election results later today.
—Several races could be called if Friday’s update represents a large portion of the remaining ballots.
—Here’s the Alameda County races that are too close to call, as of Friday morning.
BERKELEY MAYOR
—A dramatic conclusion to Berkeley’s mayoral campaign appears likely. Councilmember Sophie Hahn’s lead has dissipated since last week to 633 first-place votes over Adena Ishii. When ranked choice votes are distributed, Hahn’s lead drops further to 382 votes.
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS - DISTRICT 5
—Alameda County’s District 5 supervisorial race remains too close to call as Oakland Councilmember Nikki Fortunato Bas has slowly whittled away at Emeryville Councilmember John Bauters’ lead, which stands at 3,852 votes, or just under four percentage points. A large update of the vote tally on Friday could be decisive for Bauters.
FREMONT CITY COUNCIL - DISTRICT 6
—Fremont District 6 Councilmember Teresa Cox (4,041 votes) leads Raymond Liu (4,024 votes) by 17 votes. Cox, who faced censure in September, is one of only three incumbents countywide that are currently in races too close to call.
OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL - DISTRICT 7
—Ken Houston leads Iris Merriouns by 223 first-place votes in Oakland’s ranked choice voting District 7 council race. When ranked choice votes are distributed, Houston leads Merriouns by just under five percentage points.
SAN LEANDRO CITY COUNCIL - DISTRICT 2
—In a tightening race in San Leandro, Councilmember Bryan Azevedo leads Ed Hernández by 354 votes, with a spread of just under two percent.
DUBLIN MAYOR
—Dublin Councilmember Sherry Hu holds a 641-vote lead in a competitive race that includes two other candidates holding at least 28 percent of the vote. In a Dewey beats Truman moment this week, Hu posted a photo of herself standing near a digital billboard that declared her victory.
ALAMEDA CITY COUNCIL
—Alameda Councilmember Trish Herrera Spencer is falling out of the conversation for the second at-large seat on the Alameda City Council. Meanwhile, newcomer Thushan Amarasiriwardena has bolted into third place, trailing Alameda County prosecutor Greg Boller by 1,643 votes.
EMERYVILLE CITY COUNCIL
—The race for Emeryville’s third at-large seat is too close to call with Matthew Solomon leading Mia Esperanza Brown by 213 votes.
NEWARK CITY COUNCIL
—Jacinta Arteaga leads Julie Del Catancio by 18 votes for the second full-term seat on the Newark City Council.
HAYWARD SCHOOL BOARD
—The race for the third at-large seat on the Hayward school board is down to former Hayward school trustee Luis Reynoso, also a candidate in four other races this fall, and Austin Bruckner Carrillo, who works at the Alameda County DA’s office. Reynoso’s lead is down to 285 votes.
NEWARK SCHOOL BOARD
—Newark school boardmember Phuong Nguyen is trailing Gabriel Anguiano, Jr. for the third at-large school board seat by 731 votes.
LIVERMORE JOINT SCHOOL BOARD
—At the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District, Christiaan Vandenheuvel is holding on to a 407-vote leads over Maggie Tufts for the second at-large seat.
FREMONT SCHOOL BOARD
—In Fremont’s Area 4 school board race, Ganesh Balamitran leads recent high school graduate Rinu Nair by 165 votes.
PLEASANTON SCHOOL BOARD
—In Pleasanton, Charlie Jones leads Jen Flynn by 219 votes for the Pleasanton school board’s Area 4 seat.
ORO LOMA SANITARY DISTRICT
—The Oro Loma Sanitary District, which represents the unincorporated areas and parts of San Leandro and Hayward, has a tightening race for the second at-large seat with Damaris Villalobos-Galindo’s leads falling to 38 votes over Mimi Dean.
—BOUNTIFUL BALLOT MEASURES—Alameda County voters collectively decided 34 ballot measures this November, while saying, ‘No, thank you’ to just six.
—Four of the six failed ballot measures reside in Berkeley.
—Twenty-one of the 34 ballot measures were placed in Berkeley (14) and Albany (7).
—Alameda County voters approved six school bond measures, including Albany, Piedmont, San Lorenzo, Union City, Newark, and a $919 million bond in Fremont.
Albany’s Measure R failed miserably with 54 percent opposing the special business tax license fee to support rental assistance. The measure required two-thirds support for passage.
Berkeley Measure CC failed with 64 percent voting against creating a rental payment fund to pay housing providers on behalf of their tenants.
Berkeley Measure EE, a 12-year parcel tax to fund bike/pedestrian projects, was opposed by 56 percent of voters , but 60 percent supported Measure FF, a similar measure that sunsets in 14 years.
Berkeley Measure GG, the natural gas tax strongly opposed by businesses and non-profits, was summarily turned away by voters with 71.75 percent. The No on Measure GG campaign was the most robustly funded ballot measure committee in this fall’s election.
Berkeley Measure HH, which would set new indoor air quality standards for city-owned building was voted down with 60.50 percent of the vote.
Pleasanton voters clearly did not believe the city’s general fund needs a new infusion of revenue after voting down Measure PP, a half-cent sales tax increase. Nearly 55 percent opposed the measure. By contrast, Hayward voters renewed Measure K1, their half-cent sales tax increase, with 81 percent support last week.
