City elections page offers campaign finance reports, candidate statements, and complete ballot information on Berkeley measures. You can also use a nonpartisan source to find information about statewide candidates and propositions.
Learn how to find all of the official information about the Nov. 8 races and measures as well as about Ranked Choice Voting, which could be used in several city races if there is no outright winner.
Use the City website to find campaign finance reports, candidate statements, and also complete ballot information on Berkeley measures. You can also use a nonpartisan source to find information about statewide candidates and propositions.
As ballots are mailed out this week, the combination of city and statewide information can help you get the official version of election materials and better prepare to vote.
Use City election page for local information
There are several measures and candidate elections on the Berkeley ballot:
- 3 Berkeley-specific ballot measures
- Auditor
- four City Council seats
- three School Board seats
- five Rent Stabilization Board seats
Visit the City’s elections page to review campaign finance reports and candidate statements as well as complete ballot measure information on the three Berkeley measures.
Ballot information on statewide candidates and propositions can be found at the non-partisan Voters Edge California.
Ranked Choice Voting used for certain races
The Council and Auditor races will use "ranked choice voting," which allows voters to mark their first through fifth choice candidates in order of preference and avoids a runoff election.
If a candidate gets a majority of first place votes, they win. However, if no candidate gets more than 50 percent of first place votes, the ranked choice process determines the winner in these races.
- First, the candidate with the fewest first place votes is eliminated.
- Second, voters who selected the eliminated last place candidate have their votes transferred to their second choice. If they didn't choose a second choice, they do not have a vote in the second round.
- Third, votes are re-counted to see if there is a candidate with more than 50 percent of the vote.
- If no candidate receives more than 50 percent, the process of eliminating the last place candidate and transferring votes is repeated until a majority winner is declared.
Alameda County posts all Ranked Choice Voting results for 2016, 2014, 2012, and 2010 for Berkeley, Oakland and San Leandro, the three cities in the County that use this runoff method. In Berkeley, the 2016 District 2 contest provides an example of how Ranked Choice Voting has been used.
Ranked Choice Voting is sometimes called "instant run-off voting" but that does not mean the election is decided on Election night. All ballots are processed and counted before a race is decided.
With the election less than a month away, use these resources to find your official information.
Links
- City of Berkeley Elections Page
- Ranked Choice Voting (Alameda County Registrar of Voters)
- Voters Edge (non-partisan statewide information)
Keep up with City of Berkeley news via our news page, email, or on Twitter @cityofberkeley
