At 4pm this afternoon I am meeting up with Willo & Misty to watch the election returns begin to flow in from the east coast, before heading to the Current TV/ Digg election night party.  Willo & Misty are 2 of the amazing 5 person team (including me) who dedicated 6 weeks of our lives to producing Barack ‘N Roll,  an event which really worked.  We hit our goal, we deployed volunteers to swing states. They campaigned for Obama. The volunteers we sponsored have been communicating back to us and it’s all posted on the Barack ‘n Roll website.  Please check it out.

Throughout the last few months – and year – There’s been a mad rush of passion and altruism, and today is the day that we will see the ultimate outcome. Today is the reason I can blog freely about how i vote. I am an american.  Today, the day we vote, is ultimately the reason why Harvey Milk  was stolen from us.  Today, election day, is a day of remembrance for me as well.  My life experience with elections is a bit abnormal. I’ve always been exposed to the rallies, to the speeches, to the passion, to the issues;  I was raised by a politician who held office for 25+ years.  The first time he won a state senate election, i was 5 years old.  The next day i was quoted in the paper.  A reporter called our home and as the story goes…I answered the phone and immediately said “He’s not here right now but my daddy won the election.” That quote was the opening quote of the reporter’s article.

If Obama wins AND Prop 8 is defeated, I’m changing my voice mail message.  “I’m not here right now, but obama won the election and Prop 8 was defeated.”  it’s dorky, but totally not shocking either.  Good luck tonight, Americans.  May this be the highest voter turnout in the history of our young nation.  Revolution starts with action.  A step away from apathy, regardless of the outcome, is a win for our future.

 My vote… NATIONAL & STATE RACES

President/ Vice President
I voted for Barack Obama & Joe Biden.  Duh.

Congress District 8
I voted for NANCY PELOSI.  She may not be ideal, but her staff is incredible.  I’ve met them, lobbied them with Rusty & Elise (Soma FM) & BAGeL Radio, and let’s face it: a politician is only as good as their staff.  Pelosi surrounds herself with  highly intelligent, hard working, and high functioning staffers.  I’ve met a ton of staffers. there are airheady staffers, and then there’s the group that Pelosi has assembled.  They are passionate and wise with their advise with regard to voting and vetting information. In addition the Harvey Milk Democratic club voted to maintain their endorsement of Pelosi.

State Senate, District 3
I voted for Mark Leno, even though he was supposed to speak at Barack ‘N Roll and didn’t show up….
Regardless, his record in the GA is pretty solid, and he is responsible for getting the state legislature to approve same-sex marriage.  Done. Voted.

Now let’s hope there is good reason to remember remember the fifth of November….

Good Luck, America!

I am a registered voter in the state of California, and I’ve given my polling booth a makeover. I’ve decided that revealing my vote and implementing a more Socratic method with regard to the voting process is a healthy change of habit.  Exposing decisions about how i use my power of citizenry is the least i can do to play a role in perpetuating healthy change while continuing to encourage power to people, as best I can. Here is how i voted on the CA State measures.  These are the propositions on your ballot with numbers.

CALIFORNIA STATE BALLOT MEASURES

Prop 1A – High Speed Rail Bond
YES! San Francisco to LA in 2.5 hours on a high speed rail = both fun and logical. Sure, $9.95 Billion is a lot of money but supposedly this thing pays itself off after 20 years.  Fewer cars, and more business gets done all at once. Yay earth.

Prop 2 – Farm Animal Protections
I’ve seen a lot of farms w/ farm animals raised to become your next meal, in general these farms terrify me.  I haven’t eaten meat since i was 14 years old. But i can’t vote against a bill that ensures the humane treatment of animals. can you? I voted a resounding YES.

Prop 3 – Children’s Hospital Bond
I voted yes. for the children.  Provides $$$ for hospitals that care for sick children. [quoting the simpsons] Won’t somebody please think about the children?

Prop 4 – Parental Notification & Wait Period for Abortion
This prop makes me cry. please vote NO so i can stop bawling. You think I’m kidding, but i’m not. i’m a passionate person and this really does make me cry. Why is this still an issue? No, and make it stop.  I am Pro Choice and I am Pro Life. Vote NO NO NO NO.

Prop 5 – Treatment instead of Jail
I voted Yes. I hope you do, too.  The current rehab system is completely broken. Addiction services for youth offenders and adults. Please Please Please vote YES. I worked for Attention Homes, a youth offender treatment center in Boulder, CO. Across the country, these are broken systems and as a society we are collectively training youth offenders (and adult offenders) to exist within the system by failing at our jobs as sharing a humane nation. Please, it’s time for change. Vote YES.

Prop 6 – Prison Spending
NO. rehab, yes.  sinking more money into the prisons themselves? no. can’t do it. no no no no no. I don’t support building new prisons, i support the funding of efforts and research which alters our current system of incarceration. I’m not against prison. People filled with evil are committing terrible crimes against individuals and all of humanity. A huge legal flaw is that in California and throughout the country we build prisons  and refer to it as “expansion” without expanding the fundamentals of the system to include actual solutions for a complicated problem.  We can’t keep adding new additions to the jailhouse. Leave that superfluous spending the folks with golden parachutes and too much time on their hands. Vote NO.

Prop 7 – Renewable Energy Generation
50% clean energy by 2025. But i read the measure. And then i read the bay guardian. and then i read the measure again.  I think this is a case of “rewrite, please” – so I voted NO.  Energy policy is important, but we should demand that it be written properly. Prop 7 is highly supported by Peter Sperling (John Sperling’s son) (Sperling is a famous supporter of medical marijuana)  – so i wanted to vote yes. However, the roles are ill defined in this measure. How would this policy be executed? it’s impossible to say based on the way it’s written. I’m going to side with guardian here – Vote No.

Prop 8 – Ban on Same-Sex Marriage
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
this literally makes me cry and cry and cry. i can’t believe this is on the ballot, i can’t believe people are voting yes, and i can’t believe it matters. i’m not kidding, this prop has caused me to cry more than a few times.  I want to believe that we are headed in a liberated direction, where living free includes allowing humans to be human.  Knowing this is on the ballot has caused me to wrestle with my faith in the nation, and then the tears come.  This is a scary measure. NO NO NO NO NO ON 8

Prop 9 – Restrictions on Parole
No.  See Prop 6.  this will create demand for expansion. puh-leez.  solutions, people! we need solutions. not “more of the same.”

Prop 10 -  Alternative Fuel Vehicles Bond
No: the dude who wrote this spent 3 million bucks to put it on the ballot. That’s b/c it’s subsidies on a first come first serve basis, and funds a proprietary solution: his.

Prop 11 – Redistricting Commision
I voted NO.  Gerrymandering is gerrymandering. but thanks, authors of this prop, for giving us another reason to say gerrymandering during an election year.

Prop 12 – Veterans Bond Act
I voted YES.  We send them to war and we owe them our lives.  $900 million in bonds to assist veterans with purchasing homes and even farms is simply not enough.  The fact that we are able to vote yes or no for this proposition is brought to us by their trauma during the war’s we wage. A resounding YES from me on this….war is bad but we’ve designed a system of fighting without considering the lives of the women and men who take the job we create.  Fuck the bail out of wall street. Veterans need our vote and money.

I voted. I walked to City Hall and picked up a ballot the day after Barack ‘n Roll.  I intended to vote right then. right there.  Just couldn’t wait to vote for Obama, No on Prop 8. But…

…What about all of the city measures? what about all of the state measures? Who are those school board candidates?  I had power, but, I realized, i had no idea what i really wanted to do with it.

Inexcusable, I thought.
A waste of my vote, I thought.

So i paused. I was so excited to vote for Barack Obama, I’d neglected to understand my power as an American citizen.  It’s no cliche, it’s reality: People  have died (including my own family) to give my little pen this much Power.

If I don’t use my vote to its maximum potential – I’m Guilty, i thought.

I realized my error, and took my ballot “to go” (which is easy to do).  Verily, I did the research, voted early, exercised my power by knowing exactly what i want out of the 2008 election, and behaving accordingly.  I built my own meter of political success, and set a standard for myself as a resident of San Francisco.

…And now i’m removing the velvet curtain from my polling booth.  Every Day for the next few days, (up until the election on Tuesday Nov 4th), I am posting information about my Vote.  Maybe secretive voting is a cultural mishap.  In an effort to share knowledge, I’m sharing my vote with the internets. And today I’m starting with the list of how i voted for the San Francisco Ballot measures 2008.

SAN FRANCISCO CITY MEASURES  prop A – V

Prop A – yes – rebuild general hospital, home to the only trauma center in the area.  We need the building to be safe for patients and doctors.

Prop B – yes – affordable housing in SF, yes, duh!  This measure appropriates $33 million and doesn’t raise anyone’s taxes…I am looking for a 1 bedroom, i’ve seen the rents, we need affordable housing in the city. This prop is an ok start.

Prop C - no – this thing reads as though it was written by a home schooled child star. Truly lazy writing for a measure. It regulates abuse of power but b/c of the way it’s written (or not written) it excludes anyone with any city employee title from working on boards and commissions. This includes the city nurse or elevator operator. Rewrite, please.

Prop D – no (I totally disagree with the bay guardian) – Now seems like an inappropriate time to spend money on restoring a pier.  Yeah, I’m a transplant, so maybe it’s b/c i wasn’t raised here, but this seems a little exquisite for an era of economic downturn.  can’t we restore the pier some other time? like, after we can afford to live here and get married to anyone we want? just sayin….

Prop E – yes, it should be a wee bit more difficult to recall politicians.  The bay guardian called for this measure a number of years ago, citing abuse of the system.  Again, i’m all for trying out an improved system if it appears the previous system is clearly faulty.

Prop F – yes – Although i’m not sure i care if the mayoral election is the same year as a presidential election, I do know this: many parts of the system are broken. If having the mayoral election at the same time as a presidential election year increases the number of participating votes in the mayoral election, that’s awesome.  Worth a try, since turnout is notoriously low.

Prop G -  yes – oops! in 2002 a charter was passed that allows city employees who have paid parental leave to buy back their unused leave and earn retirement credits.  Very cool, but it doesn’t apply to anyone who started a family before July 1, 2003. This measure fixes that, and has support from both republicans and democrats.

Prop H -  Yes. PG&E hates it so it must be good. Vote Yes. Prop H **requires** the city of SF to sufficiently study how to affordably and efficiently reach 51% renewable energy by 2017. The results of the research could find that PG&E literally sucks in all the wrong ways. Which means they could go out of business. PG&E is spending a lot of money to try and stop this from passing, they want to limit & prohibit the best scientists in SF from researching the best solutions for humanity. Vote Yes. Vote Yes. Vote Yes.

Prop I – no – adds a new job into the city government called “ratepayer advocate.”  we’re cutting jobs these days, not adding them.  costs money we don’t have. Vote no.

Prop J – yes – restructuring the historic preservations society, from a nine member board to a 7 member board, and they have a little more flexibility in their review process.  The only opposition comes from a fanatical property rights group, and it doesn’t cost a dime.  fine by me.

Prop K – yes – Decriminalization of sex work doesn’t legalize it, but makes prostitution laws a low priority for the SF Police Department, while **requiring** the police to pursue cases that involve violent crime against sex workers.  Please please please vote yes.  if you aren’t sure, read this paragraph over and over.  Remember, it isn’t legalizing prostitution and it’s raising the standards for protecting men and women who work in the trade from abuse.  We are all humans, this is a nice start at recognizing everyone’s right to exist without violent crime and their right to defend themselves in a violent situation. Yes Yes Yes.

Prop L - No.  Gavin Newsom is a hottie, but he wants to spend money we don’t have on restoring the justice center.  Let’s fix General Hospital first, people.  Then we can get to the already beautiful justice center.

Prop M – Yes – Yay! Tenants Rights!  Prop M protects renters from harassment by landlord. boy oh boy i wish this had passed and put into action a year ago when my landlord was harassing me and trying to kick me out so she could raise rent. it was pure hell.  Prop M allows tenants to not only call the landlord on this behavior, but to seek rent reductions for the ongoing harassment. Since quality of life is directly affected by landlord’s harassment of a tenant, this seems fair and balanced. Having been through this with a landlord, I am voting a resounding Yes. It was a suck way to live in a rented unit. Please vote Yes and prevent that experience from happening over and over to everyone else.  Just b/c they own the property and want to raise rent doesn’t give any landlord the right to harass their tenant.

Prop N – Yes. This fixes a tax loophole with regard to large commercial property taxes.  And, it raises taxes for the sale of property of over $5 million.  Bay guardian says it will generate about $30 million per year, and we need more money. Yes.

Prop O - Yes – supported by both republicans and democrats, it replaces the fee we all pay for emergency response to a tax of the same amount. But More importantly, it updates a statute written in 1970 with language to allow for the new telephone system.  According to the Bay Guardian, the language of Prop O is extremely complicated but “f Prop. O passes, the vast majority of us won’t pay anything extra and the city won’t have to make $80 to $85 million more in cuts to things like health care, crime prevention, and street maintenance. That sounds like a pretty good deal to us.”   Ok, I’ll Vote Yes.

Prop P – No – Supported by Gavin Newsom, this prop is opposed by all 11 city Supervisors b/c it gives more power to political appointees (not elected officials) over the transportation authority.  I’m voting No b/c i think the money for public transit should stay in the hands of the people, which means elected officials and not appointees.

Prop Q - Yes – The payroll tax has a loophole that allows certain kinds of business to avoid certain taxes that other businesses of smaller sizes have to pay. Um, that sounds screwed up.  I’m voting yes because Prop Q exempts small businesses with payrolls of less than $250,000 from any tax at all.  i like that too. let’s try it out.

Prop R – No – Hate to be a stick in the mud but even though we’d be naming a sewage plant after Bush, the idea of naming anything after this guy just bugs me.  He should go away. goodbye, George Bush….you don’t deserve our sewage, or the plant that handles it.  And the last thing i want is to jinx our sewage plant.  We need that thing to work.  Goodbye, George Bush, you can’t have a memorial in SF, nope, no can do. Still not convinced? People have to work there, let’s not mock them. It’s totally a funny joke, but vote no and be done with the bushes.

Prop S – No – this is a bunch of superfluous language about the city’s “set aside budget” process, and the Bay Guardian opposes it.  Call me lazy, but this one seems like a waste of my brain space. I’m saying No

Proposition T – substance abuse treatment available for low income housing residents and homeless people who request it? Yes Yes Yes Yes Please Vote Yes Yes Yes.

Prop U – YAYS!!! this prop defunds the Iraq War.  It declares that San Francisco does not approve of the war, and makes an exception for the monies required to bring home the troops safely.  Stop War, Bring Home Troops. Yes Yes yes.

Prop V - NO!!!  this is a military recruitment program for SF Public Schools.  It’s not an authoritative measure, it’s just a statement of policy.  Voting NO sends a clear message. Stop brainwashing kids to join the army, or at least keep it out of the school system.