I know, this is just a local election and the stakes could hardly be lower in most people's minds. But this is basically the first time that San Francisco is electing a new district attorney in over 100 years!
If Mayor London Breed hadn't controversially installed Suzy Loftus, who is running for DA, as the interim DA a few weeks ago, this would have been the first time since 1909 that SF was electing a non-sitting DA. But since she's only been sitting for less than a month, it's as if we are electing a DA for the first time in 110 years — and Breed's power move might come back to bite her if supporters of Loftus's opponents show up in droves.
Also, measures like Prop A — the very important $600 million affordable housing bond measure that most people seem to be in favor of — require a 66% super-majority to pass, so if its opponents pack the polls, it will fail.
Look here for SFist's quick guide to today's election, in which a bunch of people (e.g. the city treasurer, public defender, and city attorney) are running unopposed. The important races are for mayor, district attorney, and District 5 supervisor — the latter two of which may turn out to be tight. And these local elections in odd years have historically had some extraordinarily low turnouts in SF, meaning a few ranked-choice votes could swing things either way.
And if you don't where your polling place, there's a very easy way to look that up. Maybe you already cast a mail-in ballot, but if not, go do it the old-fashioned way!
At the District 5 polling place I've been going to for seven years now, today's might have been the lowest turnout I've seen — as of just before 3 p.m. I was only the 31st person to cast a ballot. And that polling place opened at 7 a.m. and our district has a supervisor election!
Related: A Quick and Dirty Guide To Tuesday's Election in San Francisco
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