Prop E is likely to pass
Although there are about 98,500 uncounted ballots, it looks like Prop E will pass by majority vote of the approximately 46% San Francisco voters who turned out for the Primary Election.
We are deeply saddened by the outcome of the election, especially considering that Prop E will have a disproportionate impact on BIPOC communities. Black San Franciscans are 17 times more likely to have force used against them by an SFPD officer and are killed in police chases 4 times as often per capita as white people, while Latine people are killed at a rate 50% higher than white people in these chases.
Prop E, which allows police to be less transparent about use-of-force incidents and gives them the power to engage in more high speed police chases, will without a doubt have an unbalanced negative impact on BIPOC communities in San Francisco.
Knowing what we were up against, Prop E’s passing doesn’t entirely surprise us. The campaign to pass Prop E raised over $2 million including large sums of money from billionaire families and ultra-wealthy tech venture capitalists who are completely out of touch with the on-the-ground effects Prop E will have. Their goal was clear: weaponize voters’ concerns to push a right-wing agenda and make a profit when SFPD starts buying surveillance cameras and AI technology from their companies.
With only $200,000 on our side to defeat Prop E, we were up against 10 times as much money which was used to buy ads that mislead voters into thinking this ballot measure was just about reducing the paperwork SFPD officers would have to do. While we were talking to voters on the phones and at their doors, many of them were surprised to learn about the true facts of Prop E which were not mentioned in the ads they were seeing.
Voters also approved Prop F. The harmful claims that inhumane approaches to our city’s crises are effective is the winning narrative right now, when in reality harsh policing and incarceration are failed tactics that worsen these crises. The infiltration of right-wing talking points into San Francisco politics is why our work to organize and mobilize voters is critical right now. And we have no plans of stopping.
We join others in celebrating the fact that incumbent Judges Thompson and Begert are ahead in votes. We’re glad to see that many voters who participated in this election understand the dire need to leave partisanship out of our judicial races.
We are so grateful to everyone who helped us knock doors, make phone calls, and reach voters on the streets to inform them about the dangers of Prop E. While we may not have mobilized enough voters this time around, with the help of our dedicated volunteers and caucus members, we’ve planted a seed for the future by engaging them in our democracy and sharing vital political education about criminal justice reform in San Francisco.
November is right around the corner and we’re going to need even more support to fight the billionaires and center the needs of working people. Buy tickets for our upcoming event, Hustle & Heart on March 28th, and help us amass the funding we need to take on the ultra-wealthy in November.
