
9:10 a.m. That isn’t quite it. As several commenters have pointed out, there are plenty of Berkeley votes still to be counted: most of the absentees, provisional ballots, many vote-by-mail ballots. If turnout is around 2008 levels, it might be another 20,000 votes. Some of the close races — particularly Measure T and rent board seats — could well change. Measure S, with a 1,000 vote margin for the opponents, is less likely to change, but it’s not impossible.
1:30 a.m. That’s it. We’re wrapping up our live blogging of the Berkeley election, long after the rest of the nation went to sleep. Thanks for sticking with us. Here are the main stories: Bates re-elected comfortably, Capitelli defeats Hahn, Measures S and T both fail in close contests.
1:28 a.m. And the measures:
Measure M, Streets and Watershed
Yes 24,000 (73.28%)
No 8,751 (26.72%)
Measure N, Pools Bond (requires two-thirds)
Yes 19,901 (62.12%)
No 12,134 (37.88%)
Measure O, Pools Operation Tax (requires two-thirds)
Yes 18,924 (59.65%)
No 12,803 (40.35%)
Measure P, Reauthorize Taxes
Yes 28,310 (88.25%)
No 3,771 (11.75%)
Measure Q, Update Utility Users Tax
Yes 26,492 (84.53%)
No 4,849 (15.47%)
Measure R, Redistricting
Yes 20,115 (65.86%)
No 10,425 (34.14%)
Measure S, Sit Ordinance
No 17,411 (51.56%)
Yes 16,356 (48.44%)
Measure T, West Berkeley
No 15,867 (50.19%)
Yes 15,744 (49.81%)
Measure U, Sunshine
No 21,854 (76.48%)
Yes 6,721 (23.52%)
Measure V, FACTS
No 17, 374 (61.21%)
Yes 11,012 (38.79%)
1:10 a.m. And wait, there’s more:
Rent board
Judy Shelton 12,373 (15.29%)
Judy Hunt 11,525 (14.24%)
Asa Dodsworth 10,874 (13.44%)
Alejandro Soto-Vigil 10,370 (12.82%)
Igor Tregub 10,248 (12.67%)
Nicole Drake 9,799 (12.11%)
Kiran Shenoy 8,386 (10.36%)
Jay James 7,122 (8.8%)
(Shelton, Dodsworth and Soto-Vigil are from TCS, Hunt from TUFF)
1:05 a.m. More finals:
District 5
Laurie Capitelli 2,621 (54.46%)
Sophie Hahn 2,192 (45.54%)
District 6
Susan Wengraf 3,530 (100%)
School board
Judy Appel 18,776 (42.04%)
Beatriz Leyva-Cutler 13,821 (30.95%)
Tracy Hollander 9,802 (21.95%)
Norma Harrison 2,152 (4.82%)
1 a.m. First batch of finals:
Mayor
Tom Bates 18,057 (55.29%)
Kriss Worthington 6,956 (21.30%)
Jacquelyn McCormick 3,861 (11.27%)
Bernt Wahl 1,383 (4.23%)
Kalil Jacobs-Fantauzzi 1,370 (4.19%)
Zachary Runningwolf 1,211 (3.71%)
District 2
Darryl Moore 2,156 (60.07%)
Denisha DeLane 1,006 (28.03%)
Adolfo Cabral 427 (11.90%)
District 3
Max Anderson 1,876 (60.34%)
Dmitri Belser 1,233 (39.66%)



12:55 a.m. Berkeley High School Principal Pasquale Scuderi was understandably pleased by the success of Prop 30. “I can tell you that I am extremely pleased with the outcome. It’s a critical win for districts and schools up and down the state, and more importantly for the kids and families that depend on those agencies.
“There’s a huge amount of public trust being conveyed with this win tonight and those of us in education should never take that for granted. The investment voters are making with Proposition 30 should push us to become even more innovative, creative, and demonstrably effective in our schools.”
12:50 a.m. Measures S and T have both failed. Details to come.

We spoke to Yes on S leader John Caner at 1:15 about the failure of the sit ordinance. “It looks like we lost. We waged a positive campaign. We knew we had a challenging situation. We came very close. Berkeley is a very liberal, progressive, and compassionate community. It’s very hard to explain that [sidewalk sitting] is not helping merchants and [the measure would be] helping people into services.”
12:47 a.m. More updates.
Susan Wengraf has 100% of the vote in District 6. Write-ins are not counted at this stage. But the result will not change.
Measure B1 is at 65.47% with only nine of 1,100 precincts remaining to report. It won’t get to two-thirds. The zoo measure, A1, will also fail, with only 63% rather than the required two-thirds.
12:40 a.m. We’re near complete results.
Darryl Moore, in District 2, wins with 60% of the vote.
Max Anderson will win District 3, with 60% of the vote (82% of precincts reporting).
Capitelli, as we’ve already reported, wins District 5 with 54% of the vote.
The school board result will have Judy Appel (42%) and incumbent Beatriz Leyva-Cutler (31%) elected, with Tracy Hollander finishing third (22%). That’s with 95 of 101 precincts reporting.

12:35 a.m. The contentious District 5 race is decided. With all 14 precincts in the district reporting, Laurie Capitelli has 2,280 votes to Sophie Hahn’s 1,915.
12:32 a.m. The other race that is changing is for rent board. Judy Shelton and Judy Hunt are the top two vote getters, but Asa Dodsworth, Igor Tregub, Alejandro Soto-Vigil and Nicole Drake are all clustered with between 8,838 and 8,337 votes. It’s too early to determine the composition between the two slates.
12:28 a.m. Some of the other measures are holding their early results. Measure M, the streets and watershed bond, has 72% approval. That’s done and dusted. N and O, the pools measures, have 62% approval and 59% approval, but that’s still way short of the required two-thirds. The Sunshine Ordinance, Measure U, and the FACTS Ordinance, Measure V, are still being soundly defeated.
12:23 a.m. Some of the races we forecasted at midnight are looking secure, particularly Mayor Bates’ re-election. With 74 precincts reporting, he’s still at 56% of the vote. It’s unlikely instant runoff will need to be used. But some of the measures are changing dramatically. Both Measures S and T are very, very close now. Yes on S only leads by 180 votes now. Yes on T only leads by 49.
12:20 a.m. Oh my god, oh my god. We’re suddenly up to 74 precincts reporting. So exciting!
12:15 a.m. We’re beginning to wonder if the nice woman from the registrar was related to Baghdad Bob. Things aren’t going great.
12:12 a.m. Some readers have been puzzled by the numbers. There are about 10,000 votes counted so far, and 9 out of 101 precincts reporting. Does that mean that there will be something like 100,000 votes cast in Berkeley? No. The first tallies, which we reported starting at 8:17, were from absentee and mailed-in ballots. Those are not allocated to precincts in these initial tallies.
12:10 a.m. We’ll try to figure out what went wrong with Berkeley counts in the calm of tomorrow. Alameda County has 900 of 1,100 precincts reported. Berkeley has 9 of 101. So 92 of the 200 missing precincts in the entire county are in our city.
12:03 a.m. A photograph, posted on Facebook, from an election party in Berkeley. Via Aiko Pandorf: “Kids colored in each state as it was called.”

Midnight There are a lot of results still to come, but if Berkeley tallies keep up the pattern we’re seeing in the early vote, the local election is a resounding victory for Mayor Bates and his allies. He’s on course for re-election, Measures M, R, S and T look like they will pass. Measures U and V look like they will fail. The only result that is far too early to forecast is the District 5 race between incumbent and Bates ally Laurie Capitelli and challenger Sophie Hahn.
11:55 p.m. In an attempt to streamline our workflow, we’ve simplified our spreadsheet above. But we’ll keep reporting in the liveblog here all the different measures.
11:50 p.m. Perhaps we’re rolling. Up to nine precincts. No dramatic changes yet.
11:48 p.m. Here’s our puzzle. Our neighbor Oakland has 71% of precincts reporting. Why is Berkeley at 7%.
11:46 p.m. A reader, Shannon A, confirms what we’ve been hearing about long lines at Berkeley polling places. “Mass chaos at the Seventh Adventist Church polling place in South Berkeley this evening,” she wrote in a comment. “Long lines that were ridiculous by the time we left at 6pm. Not enough booths for voting. A vote reading machine that had to be constantly shaken so it would be able to read a new ballot after processing the old one. So, I can’t say I’m surprised that the precincts aren’t in, given my own anecdotal assessment.”
11:41 p.m. The registrar’s office calls to say, “Everything is going great. Everything is going along as scheduled. We’re getting updates every 20 minutes or less.” She says the results are coming in “steadily”. Hmmm.

11:40 p.m. Jacquelyn McCormick is not conceding the mayoral race just yet: “I’m not giving up.” She doesn’t regret a minute of her campaign either.
11:38 p.m. Things aren’t looking so good for the county transportation measure, B1. With 73% of precincts reporting, it’s at 64% support. It needs two-thirds. When the Berkeley vote comes in, it should get a boost, but there are already 280,000 votes counted in Alameda County. That’s going to be hard to push over the top.
11:35 p.m. We’re now at seven precincts reporting in Berkeley. Mayor Bates is still just short of 60%. Yes on S is at 58%, and the West Berkeley Measure T supporters are at 53%. The Sunshine Ordinance, Measure U, is being hammered, with 79% against, and Measure V, the FACTS Ordinance, is also losing with 63% opposing.
11:25 p.m. What’s so odd about the lack of Berkeley results is the rest of Alameda is trucking along nicely, with 64% of precincts reporting. We’re still mired at 6% in Berkeley. We’ve contacted registrar Dave Macdonald for comment.
11:21 p.m. Our Berkeleyan friend Markos Moulitsas is telling his followers goodnight. All very well for the layabouts covering national politics. Here in the local trenches, we’ve got a long way to go.
11:17 p.m. We’re still crawling glacially through Berkeley precincts. Perhaps runners are bringing ballots individually to the registrar. Not happy campers at Berkeleyside HQ: we want our data!

11:10 p.m. Mayoral candidate Kriss Worthington just told a disappointed crowd that he won’t win the mayor’s race. “Just because we lost one particular political office, we don’t give up.”
11:09 p.m. Frances spoke to district 3 incumbent Max Anderson recently. He said, after acknowledging indirectly that neither McCormick nor Worthington would displace Mayor Bates, “We’ll win in the end. We’ll turn things around.”
11:07 p.m. We were on the edge of despair here at Berkeleyside at the lack of updated figures for the Berkeley vote. But now there are six precincts reporting, and we’ll update the spreadsheet and write up interesting results here.
11:05 p.m. Berkeleysider Chris Albon sent us this photo of Obama supporters on University Ave. near Acton:
10:53 p.m. The scene earlier tonight at UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza via D.H. Parks.

10:38 p.m. We’re going to take a local break to see President Obama’s speech.
10:35 p.m. Frances gets Worthington’s reaction on the election:

10:32 p.m. Frances reports from Worthington: “My numbers are going to go up, but we can’t make up that big of a gap.” He’s readying to make a concession speech.
10:30 p.m. We’re wondering why the Alameda County Registrar of Voters is being so slow in updating the Berkeley tallies. We’re still on five precincts reporting. The Twitter feed isn’t much help: it was last updated on October 1. An elections clerk at the registrar told Berkeleyside: “Berkeley’s been really busy. Very long lines out there.” He explained that the many voters who were still in line at 8 p.m. has delayed the reporting. It usually takes at least an hour from closing to process and close out the poll.
10:22 p.m. “No fancy screens or projectors at The Community Campaign HQ. One guy is writing Rent Board tallies on sheet of paper on wall,” writes Frances.
10:18 p.m. Frances Dinkelspiel recently arrived at the campaign HQ where the Kriss Worthington, Jacquelyn McCormick, and Max Anderson campaigns are based. “Atmosphere more festive here; great music,” she reports.
10:14 p.m. Frances Dinkelspiel reporting from United campaign HQ about 10 minutes ago: “All eyes are on the Romney concession speech as he concedes. Lots of shouting back at him too; this is Berkeley after all.”
10:11 p.m. Judy Appel has about 41% of the vote for School Board, which may be highest percentage win ever in school board race. “I’m excited,” she told Berkeleyside about 15 minutes ago.
10:07 p.m. Councilmember Linda Maio told Berkeleyside she’s pleased that Measure M, the streets and bonds measure, is doing well in the early results: “That’s my measure. It’s encouraging to me to see we are at 69% at the absentee level to take care of our infrastructure. It wasn’t a sexy measure but it is one of those things that needs to be done for our city.”
9:57 p.m. Mayoral candidate Jacquelyn McCormick said the mood is celebratory at the campaign center on University Avenue following the announcement that Obama won the presidency. “It’s crazy down here,” she said. “When Obama went over the top, that was amazing.” McCormick said folks are eating and drinking and watching the national results come in. She said her campaign has been keeping an eye on the county Registrar of Voter’s office website for more information on local races, but “they’re lagging.” Early results have McCormick in third place (1,495) following Kriss Worthington (2,233) and incumbent Tom Bates (7,096). McCormick noted that most of these ballots came from permanent absentee voters, so it’s too soon to draw any conclusions.
9:50 p.m. Some readers have asked in the comments how the state education measures are doing. With 16% of precincts reporting statewide, no on Prop 30 is at 51.8%. Prop 38 is doing worse: 74.5% against. We’re shocked at Berkeleyside that Prop 34 to abolish the death penalty is also in early trouble with 56% no. We’re going to have our hands full covering the local races. The Sacramento Bee has a very handy California map you can use.
9:48 p.m. Sophie Hahn, who is running neck and neck in the District 5 race against incumbent Laurie Capitelli (54%-46% — albeit on very early numbers), tells Berkeleyside she is feeling confident. “It looks great,” she said. “There is very little in it. I am running strong. I’m feeling very positive from what I’ve been seeing in the field.”
9:38 p.m. Frances reports on confidence from Mayor Bates: “I’m really pleased I am so far ahead but we have to see. It’s a long night.”

9:37 p.m. Sproul certainly seems livelier than Mayor Bates’ campaign headquarters on University Avenue. Berkeleyside’s Frances Dinkelspiel is there and counts about 75 people (see photo above). They’re watching Stephen Colbert, which suggests a confident crowd.
9:35 p.m. There’s quite a party going on in Sproul Plaza (there’s a surprise). The Daily Cal has some good photos.
9:30 p.m. Looking at the #berkvote Twitterstream, lots of Berkeleyans are elated by the Obama victory, but are puzzled why the No on S forces are doing poorly at this stage. Is there a correlation between Twitter users and S opponents?
9:26 p.m. Let us know in the comments or by tweeting, if there’s anything about these local contests you think we should be reporting. Lots more results should be flowing in soon, but we want to cover the ground.
9:22 p.m. It’s all in the spreadsheet, but Measure M, the streets and watershed bond, is doing well in the early tallies. It’s at nearly 70% support. The countywide Measure B1, which will provide even more money for Berkeley streets, is also doing well, with 63% support. Interestingly for a streets measure, B1 has been hailed by bicycle activists, because of its emphasis on bike-friendly transportation projects.
9:10 p.m. Berkeleyside editors are nothing if not multitaskers. We’re watching the national political coverage while doing our local reporting. Seeing Karl Rove trying to assert his own reality on Fox — don’t count Mitt out yet, he says against all the evidence — we have to wonder whether we’ll have a Berkeley equivalent in the coming hours.
9:05 p.m. Our total of precincts reporting at the top of the spreadsheet is for the whole city. Each district has (obviously) its own number of precincts: District 5, for example, has 14 of Berkeley’s 101 precincts. At the moment, only one of those 14 has reported.
9:02 p.m. We’re beginning to get some precincts reporting (five at the moment). We’re updating the spreadsheet above.
8:58 p.m. R, the redistricting measure, looks in pretty good shape in early voting, with 66% in favor.

8:50 p.m. In other races, Nancy Skinner is leading Eugene Ruyle 26,353 to 3,579 for State Assembly, and Loni Hancock is thrashing Mary McIlroy 64,116 to 9,779 for State Senate.
8:45 p.m. District 6, Susan Wengraf’s turf, is not very contested. She has 100% of the early vote. Write-in Phoebe Sorgen hasn’t yet troubled the scorers.
8:42 p.m. The pools campaign is getting a majority, but it may struggle to get the necessary two-thirds. Measure N is at 56% approval, and Measure O is at 53%.
8:38 p.m. Take note: all these early tallies are from absentee ballots. It’s possible things may swing wildly when today’s voting at polling stations starts getting counted.
8:35 p.m. In other measures, U and V are getting crushed in the early going. For U, the so-called Sunshine Ordinance, it’s 8,415 no against 2,198 yes. On V, the FACTS Ordinance, it’s 6,607 no against 3,889 yes.
8:25 p.m. In the rival rent board slates, early results show a toss-up. Right now, the four candidates leading in the votes are Judy Hunt, Judy Shelton, Nicole Drake and Asa Dodsworth. Two from TUFF, two from TCS.
8:20 p.m. Again, very early results, but Yes on S is ahead by 6,981 to 5,040. On Measure T, it’s for 6,194, against 5,403.
8:17 p.m. Okay. Results are starting to come in for Berkeley. In the early tallies, Mayor Bates is at nearly 60% of the total. In hotly contested District 5, Laurie Capitelli has a narrow lead over Sophie Hahn.
8:05 p.m. The scene, as of earlier tonight, down on Sproul Plaza, with “Laptops and smartphones like fireflies.” Photo by Quinn Dombrowski.
8 p.m. Polls have now closed in Berkeley. The Alameda County Registrar of Voters is pretty efficient about getting early returns out. Stay tuned.
There are some Twitter reports that lots of Berkeley voters are still waiting in lines at polling stations.
7:40 p.m. At least one Berkeley resident was feeling confident about the outcome of the presidential election. As early as two hours ago. Kim Rohrer tweeted a photo of the Zachary’s pizzas and cupcakes that were ready for the Obama celebration party at her home:

7:30 p.m. Voting is still going strongly in Berkeley. Tyler Croy reports that one polling station is on its second box of envelope ballots:

7:15 p.m. Don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves here, but we’re beginning to think some of the local contests will be a lot more exciting than the national race (which we’re really happy about). If it’s the local elections that you care about, we still have plenty of time to go. It looks like plenty of students in Sproul Plaza wanted to get there in time for the national result (click for the photo):

7 p.m. Okay, you’re exhausted by the fourth hour of MSNBC’s national coverage (and you still don’t know anything new). Don’t worry! We’re here on Berkeleyside to take you through the night with every detail of the local elections. Local polls close in one hour, and absentee ballot results should be available around 9pm or so. We’ll keep refreshing the spreadsheet at the top of the page with data as it’s available. The spreadsheet is selective in the races it’s covering, but in the live blog we won’t miss anything.
Berkeleyside’s Emilie Raguso is out and about, posting to our Facebook page and sending us snippets for the live blog.
She found some happy people at La Peña when the networks announced the Massachusetts Senate race for Elizabeth Warren:

Earlier, Emilie spoke to a 64-year resident of Berkeley who was urging people to take voting seriously:
“If we want progress, start by coming out to vote. You have a choice to voice your opinion.”