After the SF Election 2008

In a previous post "Follow the Election 2008," we presented some periodicals that could help you make informed decisions on propositions, measures, elected officials, and other topics of political interest and intrigue. Now that the election polls have closed, commercials have gone off the air, flyers have stopped cramming your mailboxes, and the verbal mudslinging has ceased, you may have forgotten what you voted for.

Let's turn our attention to the San Francisco measures. Perhaps you forgot which propositions had recently passed and you already tossed out your voter booklet. Maybe you're curious about how many people voted for or against a San Francisco proposition. Or you just absolutely forgot what exactly the propositions were proposing. If any of these apply, check out the San Francisco Ballot Propositions Database.

If you remember the proposition title, number, or letter, enter in that information. If not, you can always enter a year and/or month to pull up a list of propositions for that time frame. (See below):


Let's try an example:

1. Go to the SFPL Home Page and select “SFPL-Created Research Tools.”

2. Under the “San Francisco Resources” category, select SF Ballot Propositions Database.”

3. Enter "2008" into the year box to pull up a list of recent San Francisco propositions.

You will see a table identifying the various propositions and their outcomes. Clicking on the ID number next to each proposition will retrieve more detailed information on the proposition summarizing the measure and its percentage of votes for and against the proposition.

Even better, if you want to access the original text of the proposition, click on "View the Voter Pamphlet" to pull up a PDF file.

The San Francisco Ballot Propositions Database, a repository of most (a few years are missing) ballot propositions dating back to 1907, contains complete proposition titles, summaries, vote counts, breakdown of vote counts (pass and fail), and more. The exact count of vote counts for the November 2008 election will be forthcoming once the results are finalized.