Berkeley voters cast their ballots in the Nov. 8, 2022, election. So far, the results spell trouble for Measure L, the largest-ever bond measure in city history, falling short of the two-thirds threshold needed to pass, while Measure M, the vacancy tax, is comfortably ahead. In District 1, Rashi Kesarwani is leading Elisa Mikiten in a tight race, while Mark Humbert has a commanding lead over Mari Mendonca in District 8.
Candidates vying for the second and third place seats on the school board are just a few hundred votes apart, and the race for seats on the rent board is close, too. Terry Wiley is leading Pamela Price in the close race for Alameda County District Attorney.
But the results are by no means final and thousands of votes have yet to be counted, though it’s hard to say exactly how many. In tight races, the uncounted votes could flip the outcome. Candidates could wait weeks for the final counts to be reported, though we expect a larger batch of votes to be counted in the next few days.
There were 73,825 ballots issued this year in Berkeley. As of Tuesday, 44,575 (58.6%) have been returned, a number that will likely go up as more mail-in ballots come in. (Mail-in ballots must be postmarked on or before Election Day. In-person voting is not counted in these figures.)
If past voting trends hold, somewhere between 30% and 40% of the mail-in ballots have yet to be counted. Over 26,264 votes have been counted for citywide measures, as of Nov. 15.
Compare this year's voter turnout numbers with 2018, the last mid-term election, when Berkeley's turnout was 73.7%, with 58,367 ballots cast. Around 70% of those ballots were cast by mail. And about 54,000 votes were cast in citywide measures that year, a few thousand shy of the total turnout.
See how many mail-in ballots from your council district have been counted so far:
The deadline to register to vote online or by mail in Alameda County is Oct. 24, and the election is Tuesday, Nov. 8. We put together a guide to the essentials of how to register and vote, what’s on the ballot, voters’ rights and more.
Here are some other helpful election resources:
- The city of Berkeley’s election portal and candidate statements
- Don’t know your Berkeley City Council district? The city website has a handy tool for that.
- Voter’s Edge: View a personalized ballot by entering your address.
- Voter guides from the Daily Cal, CalMatters, KQED, the Bay Area News Group and The League of Women Voters Berkeley Albany and Emeryville
- Check your voter registration status (and sign up to get election materials online).
- Find your voter profile (Alameda County registrar of voters).
See complete 2022 election coverage on Berkeleyside.
