Election 2016
A tense election night fell over Oakland as the city’s residents prepared to watch eighteen months of campaigning come to a conclusion. A volatile national election characterized the mood of Oaklanders, who were optimistic of a Clinton victory, but also faced an extended ballot of local and national initiatives.
Proposition 64 supporters were celebrating on a high even before polls closed Tuesday night in Oakland, where a slow-growing crowd was dancing in the streets and cheering in anticipation that voters were about to legalize recreational use of marijuana in California.
On his lunch break on election day, James Chen walked into Plank, the bowling alley, beer garden and arcade in Jack London Square in Oakland, and asked for a free game card worth $10. Chen showed the cashier his “I Voted” sticker.
Oakland voters hit the polls today to cast votes for, among other things, a new president, city council members, school board seats, a potential soda tax, and a citizens’ commission to oversee the Oakland Police Department. Many voters exiting Oakland polling stations said they had voted for Hillary Clinton; not surprising considering more than 57 percent of registered Oakland voters are registered as Democrats. More than a quarter have not declared a party affiliation, according to data collected by the…
The ballot in Oakland voters’ hands this Tuesday has more than $20 million behind it in campaign financing, the majority of which surrounds the controversial Measure HH tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. According to data retrieved from the city’s election office and OpenDisclosure.io, a non-profit campaign funding website by California Civic Lab, funding for candidates and measures on Oakland’s ballot surpassed $19.9 million as of Monday. Overall, local incumbents raised more than their challengers, except for in a few notable races,…
Reaching for the moon was the theme for Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf’s annual State of the City address on October 14, as she introduced the “Oakland Thrives Moon Shot,” a slate of goals to guide her office for the coming year.
On Tuesday, Californians will vote on the California Public School Facility Bonds Initiative, otherwise known as Proposition 51. The proposition, which would provide $9 billion in bonds for public education, has voters split, leaving the fate of the ballot measure in limbo.
Two weeks before November’s national election, two Bay Area Urban Debate League members debated a hot local ballot measure in downtown Oakland. Megan Ma and Aiden Koontz, both Oakland Tech High School students, took the podium to present and argue opposing sides of Measure HH, a proposed tax on soda. Measure HH has become one of the Bay Area’s most widely debated issues on this year’s ballot. It would impose a 1-cent per ounce tax on sugary beverages, such as…
Proposition 61, appearing on the ballot November 8, would prohibit the state of California from purchasing prescription drugs from a manufacturer for any price higher than that paid by the US Department of Veteran Affairs, better known as the VA. This would effectively place a drug price cap on what pharmaceutical companies can charge California, limiting them to VA prices.