Pinko Turnout Booms

Tim Cavanaugh | November 2, 2004

I'm going to go out on a limb here and declare that the city of San Francisco is going to break strongly for John Kerry. That's after visiting my always sedate private garage polling place at the normally slow hour of 4pm, and encountering a 45-minute wait to vote—certainly the longest wait I've ever endured for this particular meaningless gesture.

In the interest of full disclosure, my complete 2004 vote:

Candidates

President: Badnarik, L
Senator: Judge Jim Gray, L
US. Rep: Jennifer DePalma, R
State Senate: David Rhodes, L
State Assembly: Mark Leno, D (gave my kid the best treat at this year's Columbus Day parade)
Board of Supervisors (ranked-choice vote): 1. Jay R. Shah, 2. Steve Braccini, 3. Roger E. Schulke
Community College Board: Gag write-ins
Board of Education: Starchild, L; Jane Kim, No Party SF Lefty

State Initiatives

1A) Tax Revenues stay with local districts: Yes
59) Public access to meetings, records: Yes
60) Election rights of political parties: Yes
60A) Sale of surplus state property pays for specified bonds: Yes
61) Children's hospital bonds: No
62) Anti-Prop 60, allows any slob in a smelly tshirt to vote in any party's primary: No
63) Mental health services expansion funding; tax on personal incomes above $1 million: No
64) Allow "unfair business" lawsuits only when plaintiff can show actual loss: Yes
65) Requires voter approval to reduce local fee/tax revenues: No (couldn't understand the bill)
66) Limit "three strikes" to violent and/or serious felonies: Yes
67) Telephone surcharge to fund 911: No
68) Non-tribal commercial gaming expansion: No
69) Collect DNA samples from felons: No
70) Tribal gaming compacts: No (didn't understand)
71) Stem cell research bond issue: No (despite having made qualified argument in favor in Reason)
72) Require healthcare for employees of large- and medium-sized companies: No

Local measures

A) Should city spend $200 million for affordable housing? No
B) Should city spend $60 million to renovate historic resources of School District? No
C) Make Health Service System its own department? No
D) Allow Board of Supes to change deadlines and voting requirements, hire more staff and commissioners? No
E) Give more shekels to survivors of cops and firefighters killed in line of duty? Yes (but kicking myself)
F) Allow non-citizen parents of public school students to vote in School Board elections? No
G) Authorize Health Service Board to establish health plans for city residents? No
H) Name sports stadium at Candlestick Point "Candlestick Park"? Yes
I) Hire economists to study proposed legislation (thereby weaseling around cost-cutting efforts by honest Budget Analyst Harvey Rose)? No
J) Increase local sales tax by 1/4? No
K) Create temporary 0.1 percent gross receipts tax? No
L) Set aside 15 percent of hotel tax surcharge to preserve and maintain one-screen movie theaters? Yes (because it is opposed by Sean Penn, Philip Kaufman, Peter Coyote, all elected officials and even the local GOP)
M) Measure withdrawn, thank God.
N) Shall city urge U.S. government to withdraw from Iraq? Yes
O) Use Measure J funds to assist seniors, disabled and homeless? No
AA) BART funding: No

The Reason staff gets a lot of flack for what some see as a cavalier approach to voting. I say damn the eyes of anybody who can look at that list and say I didn't do my civic duty just by reading the things. Right now Bush has got an electoral lead of 197 to 188, but no matter which way it breaks I'm sound as a pound: If Kerry wins, George W. Bush will no longer be the President. If Bush wins, I get to enjoy seeing plenty of long faces around town.