Oakland North’s reporters will be liveblogging today’s election starting at 3 pm and running … til it’s over! Watch this space for updates throughout the day, and returns and election results starting after 8 pm. Be sure to also check out our Election 2012 page for our previous coverage, including District 1 council candidate profiles, interactive ballot guides and coverage of the school board, City Attorney’s and at-large races.
Taking into account ranked choice voting, Kaplan is leading 58-42 in #Oakland city council at-large race with about 2/3 of precincts counted
— Oakland North (@northoaklandnow) November 7, 2012
From Oakland North’s Samantha Masunaga: Barbara Parker, City Attorney candidate with 66% of the vote with 51% of Oakland voters reporting, thanks supporters and staff for giving her “strength and fortitude.”
“I jut can’t thank you enough,” she said, as her voice cracked with emotion. “I’m just honored and humbled and I feel a great sense of gratitude and a great sense of responsibility.”
From Oakland North’s Samantha Masunaga: Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker thanks supporters and staff for giving her “strength and fortitude.” “I jut can’t thank you enough,” she said, as her voice cracked with emotion. “I’m just honored and humbled and I feel a great sense of gratitude and a great sense of responsibility.”
From Oakland North’s Titania Kumeh: City council district 1 candidate Don Macleay watches the election numbers alongside his girlfriend Peggy and a party supporter. 
From Oakland North’s Steve Fisher: As he watched Obama finish his speech on the big screen at the New Parish, Richard Raya said “His speech was beautiful. He has a way of bringing together the diversity of our country like no one I have ever seen. I’m just glad he was re-elected.”
Oakland North’s Steve Fisher reports: At the New Parish, the crowd cheers as wildly as the audience in Chicago as they listen to Obama’s acceptance speech.
Oakland North’s Debora Silva reports: At Barclays Restaurant & Pub, in Rockridge, Dan Kalb shows election updates from his smart phone to his supporters. At the moment, he is leading District 1’s race by 4%. “It’s always good to start ahead, not behind,” he said. “But it’s way too early to talk about results now.” Kalb, who checked his phone for election updates every now and then, said he was going to stay at the pub until around 11:30pm to follow the election results. “I’m very nervous. I even scheduled a massage for tomorrow.”
At Make Westing in downtown Oakland, CNN is projected on a screen against a wall as patrons celebrate Obama’s victory. Photo by Vanessa Rancano. 
From Oakland North’s Samantha Masunaga: Obama supporters clap and sing along with the “signed, sealed, delivered” lyrics of Obama’s trademark campaign song as the Obama family is shown on TV to accept the presidency.
From Oakland North’s Angela Hart: An exuberant crowd at Ignacio Del Fuente’s HQ cheers as Ohio is called for Obama on election night.
From Oakland North’s Lauren Kawana: At a relatively low-key Cafe Van Cleef where most people are having drinks and conversations without the presence of a TV to directly monitor election results, Peter, Ryan, Micaiah and Allison discussed election results and earlier in the evening toasted, “To Mitt’s failure!” 
From Oakland North’s Titania Kumeh: Don Macleay on being a Green Party candidate, and being far behind in results for city council district 1 race: “We’re not used to politics,” Macleay says. “we need a government that serves our people and a police force that respects our people.”
From Oakland North’s Angela Hart: Daniel Gonzales, a volunteer for Ignacio De La Fuente, does last-minute campaigning for the at-large candidate at about 7 p.m. Tuesday, the day of the election. 
From Oakland North’s Steve Fisher: “I think he should be proud of what he has done,” Mayshanda Gant, 25, said as she was charging her phone at the New Parish and waiting for Obama to give his acceptance speech.
From Oakland North’s Angela Hart: Eileen Pippins, watching the Obama declared the winner on TV from Z Cafe & Bar, celebrates moments before bursting into tears. 
From Oakland North’s Charles Berkowitz: Ignacio De La Fuente and his family on election night at Mua Bar in Oakland.
From right to left: Lidice De La Fuente, Victoria De La Fuente, Rommel De La Fuente, Xener De La Fuente, Ignacio De La Fuente, Sharaim De La Fuente, Ali Rassouli.
From Oakland North’s Lauren Kawana: Josh Assink, 30, resurrecting his Abe Lincoln Halloween costume, and Evan Williams, 23, proudly wearing an American flag t-shirt, share feelings of joy and relief at the announcement of Obama’s renewed term as president outside Make Westing, a bar on 19th and Telegraph.
From Oakland North’s Titania Kumeh at the Donald Macleay district 1 city council campaign headquarters:
Michael Rubin, a member of the Oakland Greens steering committee: “As far as the greens are concerned, it’s baby steps. We’ve come a Long way. People may not like us, but they know us. We’re no longer an underground organization. I’d like to be in a position to run a full slate of candidates in 2013 and we’re going to start on that next week.”
People at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle in #Oakland wave at the screen & shout “goodbye!” as# Romney concedes the election
— Oakland North (@northoaklandnow) November 7, 2012
Screams are deafening at New Parish in #Oakland as #Romney concedes #election2012 to #Obama
— Oakland North (@northoaklandnow) November 7, 2012
From Oakland North’s Charles Berkowitz: Ignacio De La Fuente, campaign manager Claudia Burgos and Henry Chang follow electronic election results. At present, Rebecca Kaplan has a 12% lead in the at-large race.
From Oakland North’s Charles Berkowitz: Ignacio De La Fuente and his campaign manager Claudia Burgos watch as election results come in via computer at Mua Bar in Oakland.
Romney is expected to speak in about 7 minutes
— Oakland North (@northoaklandnow) November 7, 2012
From Oakland North’s Charles Berkowitz:
Henry Chang – 15 year city council member on city council at-large candidate Ignacio De La Fuente – “It will take some time for the results of the Oakland election to come in due to the ranked choice voting system. With a lot of people running, the public always has to wait We are expecting the results to be in around 10 pm. It will be a long night for Ignacio. But Oakland really needs someone like him right now. He is the right person for the job.”
From Oakland North’s Charles Berkowitz:
Henry Chang – 15 year city council member on obama: ” I was confident he was going to win.I knew the country wasn’t going to accept the Republican way of doing things. Romney was not the answer. I came to Ignacio’s party right after I found out. I am very happy right now.”
From Oakland North’s Charles Berkowitz: Crowd inside Lukas taproom and lounge at Grand Avenue and Broadway watches Barack Obama get re-elected to second term. 
From Oakland North’s Theresa Adams: Amy Lemley, with her daughther Violet, 7, follows the national election at Ben ‘n Nick’s in Rockridge
From Oakland North’s Debora Silva: “Obama winning is the most important thing for me. I’m also feeling great about Lemley. I was her campaign volunteer.” – Karen Hester, 54, Event Organizer, Oakland resident. 
Kaplan says Obama’s re-election is “both good news for the country and good news for Oakland”
Oakland North’s Samantha Masunaga reports Rebecca Kaplan says she is feeling “excellent” about her own at-large race with a 12% lead and 18% of the votes counted
From Oakland North’s Steve Fisher: Screaming and cheering at New Parish as CNN calls Colorado for Obama 
After a day of voting and campaigning, Oakland celebrates Obama win, waits for local results. Nausheen Husain reports
Oakland North’s Steve Fisher reports reactions on the news that Romney is not yet willing to concede race: “I don’t think the results in the electoral votes are surprising.” says Keith Brower Brown 24 watching at New Parish. “I hope he concedes soon and I hope he concedes hard” 
From Oakland North’s Sam Masunaga: Virginia Izon, at a joint gathering for Barbara Parker and Africans for Obama party at Geoffrey’s in downtown says of the Obama victory: “I’m ecstatic, it’s unbelievable,” she said. “I can’t even describe the emotions going through my head right now.”
Local papers in #Washington & #Colorado are reporting that measures to legalize marijuana have passed
— Oakland North (@northoaklandnow) November 7, 2012
With 18% of the vote counted in #Oakland‘s At-Large city council race, Rebecca Kaplan leads, Ignacio De La Fuente & Carol Lee Tolbert trail
— Oakland North (@northoaklandnow) November 7, 2012
Several #Oakland council members are at Barbara Parker’s watch party, including Pay Kernighan & Rebecca Kaplan
— Oakland North (@northoaklandnow) November 7, 2012
From Oakland North’s Steve Fisher: People at The New Parish are ecstatic. “I think he won because he spoke on issues more relevant to working people than Mitt Romney did. The threat of Romney being president was a real threat for people of color,” says Nefertiti Altan, 28 
Green Party school board candidate Theresa Anderson walked into GP headquarters at 8:33pm, started chanting “Go #Obama gobama gobama!”
— Oakland North (@northoaklandnow) November 7, 2012
From Oakland North’s Steve Fisher: Governor Brown addresses the media after casting his vote at Skyline Elementary School. 
Eric Behrens, 64, Piedmont resident and #Obama volunteer: “Looks like it wasn’t as close as everyone predicted. He didn’t even need Florida”
— Oakland North (@northoaklandnow) November 7, 2012
Diane Lewis, #Oakland resident & #Obama volunteer “I’m a little anxious. It looks good, but I’m not going to breathe until its definite”
— Oakland North (@northoaklandnow) November 7, 2012
California live polling returns: updates are rolling in now on state proposition results, Senate, Assembly and more: oaklandnorth.net/2012/11/06/cal…
— Oakland North (@northoaklandnow) November 7, 2012
Obama is up by only 0.1% in Ohio with 80% of votes counted
— Oakland North (@northoaklandnow) November 7, 2012
I don’t think we’ll know results of any Oakland race 2night except city attorney, where there are two candidates. @shmeedie #oakelex #oakmtg
— matthai kuruvila (@matthai) November 7, 2012
CNN reports that Romney is not prepared to concede the election
From Oakland North’s Sam Masunaga: Milton Johnson, 43, celebrates after Obama’s re election is announced at an African Americans from Obama celebration.
From Oakland North’s Charles Berkowitz: Ignatio on Obama- wearing grey shot black slacks – “Wow! This is incredible news. He ran a great campaign – energetic – non stop. People really get him. It’s a very exiting time.”
From Oakland North’s Steve Fisher: “It’s exciting but the school board is much more important for our children and our city than what Obama does in the White House” – Ray Black, 50 father of a two year old.
Greg Klein and Carrie Douglas shriek with excitement after measure J is said to have 80% support “we are behind 21st education and more technology in school” said Douglas, volunteer of Great Oakland Public Schools. Photo by Steve Fisher.
From Oakland North’s Pendarvis Harshaw: Goody, an entrepreneur from Chicago who has lived in the Bay for 30 yrs. He is selling buttons and Obama paraphernalia tonight outside of Everett & Jones. He says that his sales are down this year; and White people are buying more memorabilia than Black people.
From Oakland North’s Samantha Masunaga: “Cheers and claps erupted at the joint gathering for Barbara Parker and Africans for Obama party at Geoffrey’s in downtown Oakland when CNN called the election for Obama. Parker stomped her feet while raising her fist in triumph. People eagerly waited in line toget a photo with a cardboard cutout of the president, which was standing right near the screen projecting results.”
In Oregon, 54% against marijuana legalization
In Colorado, 53% support marijuana legalization
Local results coming in. Keep up to date: http://oaklandnorth.net/2012/11/06/oakland-local-candidate-ballot-results-as-they-come-in-updates-begin-8-pm/
A proud young lady at Everett & Jones wears her Obama support on her shirt and her button. 
In Washington, 52% support marijuana legalization; 55% against same-sex marriage
Four more years. twitter.com/BarackObama/st…
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 7, 2012
Barack Obama will be re-elected president, CNN projects. Details on @cnn TV and CNN.com.
— CNN (@CNN) November 7, 2012
Deanite Lewis “I am so happy that Obama still has work to do!” Shrieking yelling of “Four more years!” at Miss Pearl’s Another person yelled “No more Mittens!”
“We’re feeling really great- we know we did what we could do and we know Barbara is te strongest candiddate,” says Carol Pranka, campaign manager for Barbara Parker.
Mayor Quan poses for photo with Obama supporters at President’s Oakland HQ. 
CNN projects Obama victory
Mayor Jean Quan follows national election results at Oakland’s Obama headquarters. 
People start to gather at Z Bar, the location of At-Large candidate Rebecca Kaplan’s victory party.
Precinct maps the headquarters of Amy Lemley, Oakland District 1 council candidate. Photo by Steve Fisher.
Obama makes an appearance in the form of a cardboard cutout at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle in downtown Oakland, location of the Africans for Obama watch party. Photo by Samantha Masunaga.
T-minus 30 minutes until polls close!
Go Public School volunteers close out the election season at Miss Pearl’s Restaurant in Jack London Square. Photo by Steve Fisher.
18,245,970 Californians registered to vote in the November 6 presidential election
Ignacio De La Fuente, At-Large candidate and current district 5 council member, tells Oakland North’s Angela Hart that he’s “feeling confident”
@sorchah pic proof. #alsoboobs twitter.com/sorchah/status…
— S. P. (@sorchah) November 6, 2012
“Please go out and vote,” urged Daniel Gonzales, a volunteer for Ignacio De La Fuente’s At-Large campaign. Photo by Angela Hart.
Raya and Kalb volunteers compete for last minute votes at MacArthur BART station. Photo by Theresa Adams.
Environmental advocate Dan Kalb campaigns at MacArthur BART station. Photo by Theresa Adams.
Ray Black, right, making final calls to voters urging their support for district 5 school board candidate Rosie Torres, while Decarla LeBlanc, left, calls voters on behalf of district 3 school board candidate Jumoke Hinton Hodge. Photo by Steve Fisher.
At-large candidate and current district 5 council member Ignacio De La Fuente is still making calls at 6:30PM Tuesday. Photo by Angela Hart.
Wendy Caesar waves to cars on 12th and Broadway in an effort to gather support for Prop. 37. Photo by Vanessa Rancano.
A Big Bird cutout at Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan’s campaign headquarters.
1,255 people from 104 countries became US citizens on Election Day in #Oakland, #California today: bit.ly/YUXFF8
— Shirin Sadeghi (@ShirinSadeghi) November 7, 2012
Stephen Ling, 16, left, Zxiexi Yang, 16, center Krushi Vemula, 16 right working the phone for at-large candidate Rebeca Kaplan. Photo by Steve Fisher.
Want live #Election2012 results for California? Check out this interactive map from @wnyc: ow.ly/f52N5
— California Watch (@CaliforniaWatch) November 7, 2012
Oakland school board candidate Jumoke Hinton Hodge explains the origin & meaning of her name to Alya, who was on her way to vote at the main Oakland Public library. Photo by Pendarvis Harshaw.
With absentee ballots and special volunteers, helping the infirm vote — Titania Kumeh and Angela Hart report
Last minute push for Prop 30 seeks to get out the vote in West Oakland by Sam Rolens. Read his report here
Pendarvis Harshaw reports: “In the basement of the Superior Courthouse of Alameda, at around 12:30PM, there was a momentary scare when a man yelled “OBAMA” at the top of his voice after casting his vote. The crowd filled most of the room and had a waiting time of around 15-20 minutes.”
Oakland district 1 council candidate Richard Raya, right, Danette Lambert-Jack, his campaign coordinator, center, and Justin Ewers, his campaign manager, left, make calls to voters.
Oakland District 1 council candidate Amy Lemley makes calls to potential voters from her kitchen table.
Sound and pix: Oakland voters, at the polls, on election day. Watch the video by Aaron Mendelson and Mihir Zaveri here
Oakland District 1 council candidate Richard Raya makes last minute calls to voters from his back porch. Photo by Steve Fisher.
California’s 2012 election in numbers, via The Bay Citizen. Check it out here
Reader Rachel Cole writes: “I completed my absentee ballot at home. I didn’t mail it off though, I wanted the sticker. So today, I walked over to my local polling place, Sankofa Academy, and hand delivered my ballot. The attached photo is of my reward. “I Voted” stickers in Japanese,
Vietnamese, English, Spanish, and Korean. Proud to be an American today.
* I did only vote once, despite all my stickers. 
”
A voter outside Bushrod Community Center in north Oakland shows how she plans to vote. Photo by Mihir Zaveri. 
Libby Schaaf making calls for Oakland City Council District 1 candidate Amy Lemley at Lemley’s house. Photo by Steve Fisher. 
In advance of #ElectionDay, we went on a search to find a Republican in the Mission ow.ly/f4yoV #election2012
— Mission Local (@MLNow) November 6, 2012
A woman sells bags of ‘Obama’ incense for $1 and ‘Obama’ bags for $5 on the corner of 14th and Broadway in downtown Oakland. Photo by Pen Harshaw. 
ON will run live California polling returns starting at 8 pm. Bookmark this page and check back tonight! bit.ly/PV7p25
— Oakland North (@northoaklandnow) November 6, 2012
Following press conference after his vote, Governor Brown speaks with Oakland Education Association president Trish Gorham and board member Relena Harris. Photo by Lauren Kawana. 
California Governor Jerry Brown, former Oakland mayor, votes this morning on Skyline Boulevard in Montclair. Photo by Lauren Kawana.
Oakland reacts to presidential, local elections – story by Madeleine Thomas. http://tinyurl.com/bb2ugy6