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Berkeley Post Election Update, 4:45 pm, 11-10-2022

Rob Wrenn

Thursday November 10, 2022 - 05:34:00 PM

Berkeley Election Update - Next Update Monday

Vote counts released today (Thursday) by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters

City Council District 1

Kesarwani - 1232 49.4%

Mikiten - 1067 42.8%

Freeman - 193 7.8%

Incumbent Council member Rashi Kesarwani’s margin over Elisa Mikiten grew from 112 votes to 165 votes as the County Registrar of Voters reported more results. Kesarwani now has 49% of the first choice votes to 43% for Mikiten. In the ranked choice voting report, more of third-place candidate Michai Freeman’s votes went to Mikiten than to Kesarwani, but enough went to Kesarwani to put the incumbent over 50%

Measure L - the $650 million bond

YES - 9528 56.2%

NO - 7434. 43.8%

This measure has no chance of getting the two-thirds required for passage. Support has dropped slightly from votes counted on Election Day night when the YES percentage was 56.3%. A record amount for support of a City of Berkeley bond measure was spent by supporters to no avail. The Daily Californian reports contributions totaling as of last Friday; the final total will no doubt be higher.

Measure M - the Vacancy Tax

YES- 10,261 61.3%

NO- 6491 38.8%

This measure has definitely passed as it only requires a majority, not two thirds

How Many Ballots remain to be Counted?

Perhaps the Registrar of Voters knows but nothing has been posted on their Web site. They did report earlier today that 36,628 Vote by Mail ballots had been returned in Berkeley; there are also 539 military and overseas ballots. These are not the final numbers. This may have been a relatively low turnout election for Berkeley, even for a non-Presidential election year. The number of registered voters in Berkeley is 71,663, substantially lower than the 79,154 who were registered for the 2018 midterm elections when turnout was quite high in Berkeley. The Registrar will release more results next Monday. (Friday is Veteran’s Day.)

Turnout in Berkeley, November Elections, 1988-2018

Year

Registration

Ballots Cast

Turnout (%)

2022

71,633

2020

79,072

64,450

81.5

2018

79,154

58,367

73.7

2016

83,778

65,430

78.1

2014

79,928

40,301

50.4

2012

82,104

60,559

73.7

2010

78,631

49,640

63.1

2008

86,020

66,703

77.5

2006

69,780

46,166

66.2

2004

78,638

60,818

77.3

2002

70,184

41,363

58.9

Note: latest (Oct 10 2 p.m.) on County Website shows 36,628 Vote by Mail ballots for the current election which amounts to a 51.3% turnout so far; not final.

District 7 - Students Don’t Vote in Berkeley

The County Registrar reports that only 449 vote by mail ballots were returned in District 7, the student super majority district. That’s only 1.2% of the total number of Vote by Mail ballots reported so far.

Rigel Robinson, running unopposed for District 7 Council except for a write-in candidate, had 56 votes when the election night count was completed. With today’s update, he’s up to 107 votes. Does it really make sense to have a district when someone can be elected with only a few hundred votes?

Rent Board

There were no changes in the ranking. In sixth place, Ida Martinac is 605 votes behind Vanessa Danielle Marrero.

Soli Alpert - 8699

Nathan Mizell - 7517

Stefan Elgstrand - 7204

Carole Marasovic - 6718

Vanessa Danielle Marrero 6709

Ida Martinac 6104

Wendy Saenz Hood 5855

Negeene Mosaed 5675

School Board

The margin between third place candidate Mike Chang and fourth place candidate Reichi Lee has increased from 175 votes to 255 votes