San Francisco general election, November 2012

Last updated February 20, 2019

The November 2012 San Francisco general elections were on November 6, 2012, in San Francisco, California. The elections included six seats to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, four seats to the San Francisco Board of Education, four seats to the San Francisco Community College Board, and seven San Francisco ballot measures.

San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. San Francisco is the 13th-most populous city in the United States, and the fourth-most populous in California, with 884,363 residents as of 2017. It covers an area of about 46.89 square miles (121.4 km²), mostly at the north end of the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area, making it the second-most densely populated large US city, and the fifth-most densely populated U.S. county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs. San Francisco is also part of the fifth-most populous primary statistical area in the United States, the San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area.

California is a state in the Pacific Region of the United States. With 39.6 million residents, California is the most populous U.S. state and the third-largest by area. The state capital is Sacramento. The Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, with 18.7 million and 8.8 million residents respectively. Los Angeles is California's most populous city, and the country's second-most populous, after New York City. California also has the nation's most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The City and County of San Francisco is both the country's second-most densely populated major city after New York City and the fifth-most densely populated county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the legislative body within the government of the City and County of San Francisco, California, United States.

Board of Supervisors

Board of Education

Three incumbents ran for reelection, while one, Norman Yee, ran for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Each voter was allowed to cast up to four votes.

San Francisco Board of Education elections, 2012
Candidate	Votes	%
Sandra Lee Fewer (incumbent)	128,500	16.94
Jill Wynns (incumbent)	106,531	14.04
Rachel Norton (incumbent)	102,033	13.45
Matt Haney	100,552	13.25
Kim Garcia-Meza	59,930	7.90
Shamann Walton	58,194	7.67
Sam Rodriguez	50,554	6.66
Gladys Soto	49,839	6.57
Beverly Popek	36,059	4.75
Victoria Lo	35,779	4.72
Paul Robertson	29,562	3.90
Write-in	1,164	3.90
Voter turnout	72.56%

Community College Board

Three incumbents ran for reelection, while one, Rodrigo Santos, is seeking his first election after being appointed by Mayor Ed Lee. Each voter was allowed to cast up to four votes.

The Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco is the head of the executive branch of the San Francisco city and county government. The officeholder has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the legislative branch. The Mayor serves a four-year term and is limited to two successive terms. Because of San Francisco's status as a consolidated city-county, the mayor also serves as the head of government of the county; both entities have been governed together by a combined set of governing bodies since 1856.

Edwin Mah Lee was an American politician and attorney who served as the 43rd Mayor of San Francisco, and was the first Asian American to hold the office.

San Francisco Community College Board elections, 2012
Candidate	Votes	%
Steve Ngo (incumbent)	103,030	14.63
Rafael Mandelman	96,053	13.64
Natalie Berg (incumbent)	95,259	13.53
Chris Jackson (incumbent)	91,069	12.93
Amy Bacharach	90,485	12.85
Rodrigo Santos (incumbent)	56,755	8.06
Nate Cruz	55,426	7.87
William Walker	49,430	7.02
Hanna Leung	47,643	6.77
George Vazhappally	17,904	2.54
Voter turnout	72.56%

Propositions

Propositions: A • B • C • D • E • F • G

Note: "City" refers to the San Francisco municipal government.

Proposition A

Proposition A would levy an annual $79 parcel tax for eight years to provide funding for several City College of San Francisco programs. This measure required a two-thirds majority to pass.

City College of San Francisco is a public community college in San Francisco, California. Founded as a junior college in 1935, the College plays an important local role, annually enrolling as many as one in nine San Francisco residents. CCSF is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

Proposition A
Choice	Votes	%
Yes	242,410	72.90
No	90,134	27.10
Required majority	66.67
Valid votes	332,544	92.61
Invalid or blank votes	26,530	7.39
Total votes	359,074	100.00

Proposition B

Proposition B would authorize the City to issue $195 million in bonds to fund repairs and improvements in parks and public open spaces. This measure required a two-thirds majority to pass.

Proposition B
Choice	Votes	%
Yes	242,404	72.11
No	93,735	27.89
Required majority	66.67
Valid votes	336,139	93.61
Invalid or blank votes	22,935	6.39
Total votes	359,074	100.00

Proposition C

Proposition C would establish a Housing Trust Fund to fund construction and maintenance of affordable housing, provide for loan assistance and foreclosure relief, and fund neighborhood improvements; reduce on-site affordable-housing requirements; and authorize the construction of 30,000 low-rental units in the city.

Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a median household income or below as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on affordable housing refers to mortgages and number of forms that exist along a continuum – from emergency shelters, to transitional housing, to non-market rental, to formal and informal rental, indigenous housing, and ending with affordable home ownership.

Proposition C
Choice	Votes	%
Yes	211,674	65.15
No	113,214	34.85
Valid votes	324,888	90.48
Invalid or blank votes	34,186	9.52
Total votes	359,074	100.00

Proposition D

Proposition D would shift the elections of City Attorney and Treasurer to the same year as those of the Mayor, District Attorney, and Assessor-Recorder.

The City Attorney of San Francisco is an elected position in the City and County of San Francisco, California. While city-county consolidation resulted in the unified government attaining both a city attorney and a district attorney, the two positions are separate and serve different purposes.

The San Francisco District Attorney's Office is the legal agency charged with prosecuting crimes in the city and county of San Francisco, California. The current district attorney is George Gascón. Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed him to that post on January 9, 2011, to succeed Kamala Harris, who had been elected California Attorney General in November 2010. He was subsequently elected in his own right in November 2011.

Proposition D
Choice	Votes	%
Yes	263,642	83.20
No	53,252	16.80
Valid votes	316,894	88.25
Invalid or blank votes	42,180	11.75
Total votes	359,074	100.00

Proposition E

Proposition E would phase in a gross receipts tax and phase out a payroll tax in a revenue-neutral manner and increase business registration fees.

Proposition E
Choice	Votes	%
Yes	223,887	70.75
No	92,577	29.25
Valid votes	316,464	88.13
Invalid or blank votes	42,610	11.87
Total votes	359,074	100.00

Proposition F

Proposition F would require the City to study the draining of Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and the identifying of replacement water and power sources.

Proposition F
Choice	Votes	%
No	249,304	76.90
Yes	74,885	23.10
Valid votes	324,189	90.28
Invalid or blank votes	34,885	9.72
Total votes	359,074	100.00

Proposition G

Proposition G would make it City policy to oppose corporate personhood and that corporations are subject to political spending limits.

Proposition G
Choice	Votes	%
Yes	260,595	80.99
No	61,181	19.01
Valid votes	321,776	89.61
Invalid or blank votes	37,298	10.39
Total votes	359,074	100.00

External links

San Francisco Department of Elections
San Francisco Voter Pamphlets and Propositions dating back to 1907 at the San Francisco Public Library.

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