2011 San Francisco mayoral election

2011 San Francisco mayoral election
← 2007 November 8, 2011 (2011-11-08) 2015 →
 
Candidate Ed Lee John Avalos Dennis Herrera
First round 59,775
30.75% 		37,445
19.26% 		21,914
11.11%
Runoff 84,457
59.64% 		57,160
40.36% 		Eliminated
 
Candidate David Chiu Leland Yee Jeff Adachi
First round 17,921
9.09% 		14,609
7.41% 		12,534
6.36%
Runoff Eliminated Eliminated Eliminated
First choice results by county supervisorial district
Lee:      20–30%      30–40%      40–50%
Avalos:      20–30%      40–50%
Mayor before election

Ed Lee

 Elected mayor

Ed Lee

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The 2011 San Francisco mayoral election was held on Tuesday, November 8, 2011, to elect the mayor of San Francisco. The incumbent Ed Lee, appointed to fill the vacant mayoral seat, succeeded in his bid to become the first elected Asian-American mayor of a major American city.[1]

Background

[edit]

Gavin Newsom, first elected in 2003 and reelected in 2007, was elected Lieutenant Governor of California in 2010 and sworn in on January 10, 2011.[2] Ed Lee was appointed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to finish the balance of Newsom's mayoral term and was sworn in on January 11, 2011. Lee initially pledged not to seek election, although an active movement arose to draft him into the race.[3][4] By the end of July observers were expecting that Lee would agree to run.[5] On August 8, 2011, Lee announced he was running for Mayor of San Francisco.[6]

The mayoral election was run using instant runoff voting, which was adopted by a referendum in 2002. This voting method was first in effect for the 2007 mayoral election, but no transfers of votes were needed in 2007 since incumbent mayor Gavin Newsom received a majority of the first round votes.[7]

Candidates

[edit]

There were sixteen candidates running:[8]

Debates

[edit]
  • May 5, 2011: The Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good at the University of San Francisco partnering with a national non-profit, buildOn, hosted 'San Francisco Mayoral Candidate Forum on Service' featuring selected mayoral candidates. In attendance were Michela Alioto-Pier, John Avalos, David Chiu, Bevan Dufty, Tony Hall, Dennis Herrera, Joanna Rees, Phil Ting, and Leland Yee.[10]
  • June 16, 2011: Automattic, the developer of WordPress, hosted 'SFOpen 2011', a town-hall forum focused specifically on open government, citizen engagement and leveraging technology to build better government, moderated by tech entrepreneur Mitch Kapor. The candidates in attendance were Michela Alioto-Pier, John Avalos, David Chiu, Bevan Dufty, Tony Hall, Dennis Herrera, Joanna Rees, Phil Ting and Leland Yee.[11]
  • July 11, 2011: Valencia Corridor Merchants Association and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce hosted a mayoral candidate debate at Public Works at 161 Erie St. In attendance were John Avalos, David Chiu, Bevan Dufty, Dennis Herrera and Leland Yee.[12][13]
  • August 24, 2011: The Raoul Wallenberg Jewish Democratic Club hosted a mayoral candidate debate at the JCC at 3200 California Street. In attendance were Jeff Adachi, Michela Alioto-Pier, John Avalos, David Chiu, Bevan Dufty, Dennis Herrera, Ed Lee, Phil Ting and Leland Yee.[14][15]
  • October 5, 2011: The League of Women Voters of San Francisco, in partnership with UCSF, hosted a mayoral candidate debate at the Robertson Auditorium, UCSF Mission Bay at 1675 Owens Street. Cheryl Jennings of ABC-7 was the moderator. In attendance were Jeff Adachi, Michela Alioto-Pier, John Avalos, Terry Joan Baum, David Chiu, Bevan Dufty, Tony Hall, Dennis Herrera, Ed Lee, Joanna Rees, Phil Ting, Leland Yee.[16][17]

Polling

[edit]
  • Note: Results are for first choice only
Poll source Date(s)
administered 		Sample
size 		Margin of
error 		Adachi Alioto-Pier Ascarrunz Avalos Baum Chiu Currier Dufty Hall Herrera Lawrence Lee Pang Rees Ting Yee Other/
undecided
Survey USA[18] March 10–15, 2011 544 ±4.3% — 12% — 10% — — — 8% — 9% — 17% — — 1% 11% 32%
Survey USA[19] July 30–31, 2011 528 ±4.4% — 7% — 10% — 4% — 10% — 10% — 35% — 1% 1% 8% 14%
Public Opinion Strategies[20] August 14–16, 2011 500 5% 4% — 6% — 3% — 5% 1% 7% — 29% — 3% 0% 7% 28%
Bay Citizen/USF[21] October 7–13, 2011 551 ±4.4% 5.1% 4% — 7.4% — 3.1% — 5.2% 3.2% 8.1% — 31.2% — 2.5% 0.5% 6.5% 21.1%

Results

[edit]

Results summary

[edit]

The following table shows a summary of the instant runoff for the election. The table shows the round in which the candidate was defeated or elected the winner, the votes for the candidate in that round, and what share those votes were of all votes counting for any candidate in that round. There is also a bar graph showing those votes for each candidate and categorized as either first-round votes or votes that were transferred from another candidate.

Municipal elections in California are officially non-partisan, though most candidates in San Francisco do receive funding and support from various political parties.

San Francisco mayoral election, 2011[22]
Candidate Maximum
round 		Maximum
votes 		Share in
maximum
round 		Maximum votes
First round votesTransfer votes
Ed Lee (incumbent) 12 84,457 59.64%
​​
John Avalos 12 57,160 40.36%
​​
Dennis Herrera 11 37,142 22.59%
​​
David Chiu 10 25,267 14.51%
​​
Leland Yee 9 18,016 9.98%
​​
Jeff Adachi 8 15,670 8.43%
​​
Bevan Dufty 7 10,455 5.56%
​​
Tony Hall 6 7,896 4.14%
​​
Michela Alioto-Pier 5 7,378 3.82%
​​
Joanna Rees 4 3,185 1.64%
​​
Terry Joan Baum 4 1,738 0.89%
​​
Phil Ting 4 1,049 0.54%
​​
Cesar Ascarrunz 4 583 0.30%
​​
Wilma Pang 3 469 0.24%
​​
Emil Lawrence 2 397 0.20%
​​
Paul Currier 1 248 0.13%
​​
Write-in 1 38 0.02%
​​
San Francisco mayoral election, 2011[23]
First Round Ballot Summary
Count Share of
Contest
Ballots
Continuing Votes 194,418 98.57%
Over Votes 820 0.42%
Under Votes 2,004 1.02%
Contest Ballots 197,242 100.00%
Registered Voters 464,380
Contest Turnout 42.47%

Vote counts by round

[edit]

The following table shows how votes were counted[22] in a series of rounds of instant runoffs. Each voter could mark which candidates were the voter's first, second, and third choice. Each voter had one vote, but could mark three choices for how that vote can be counted. In each round, the vote is counted for the most preferred candidate that has not yet been eliminated. Then one or more candidates with the fewest votes are eliminated. Votes that counted for an eliminated candidate are transferred to the voter's next most preferred candidate that has not yet been eliminated.

Candidate Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Round 7 Round 8 Round 9 Round 10 Round 11 Round 12
Ed Lee 59,775 59,796 59,822 59,899 60,610 61,747 63,495 65,142 67,542 71,133 78,615 84,457
John Avalos 37,445 37,472 37,481 37,497 38,871 39,320 39,524 41,035 42,877 45,505 48,638 57,160
Dennis Herrera 21,914 21,937 21,958 21,977 22,606 23,531 24,257 27,081 29,673 32,276 37,142
David Chiu 17,921 17,929 17,946 17,994 18,495 18,957 19,326 20,327 22,461 25,267
Leland Yee 14,609 14,621 14,634 14,666 15,030 15,631 16,021 16,691 18,016
Jeff Adachi 12,534 12,557 12,586 12,624 13,156 13,728 15,048 15,670
Bevan Dufty 9,208 9,220 9,230 9,244 9,583 10,133 10,455
Tony Hall 6,930 6,958 7,001 7,025 7,397 7,896
Michela Alioto-Pier 6,648 6,660 6,694 6,720 7,378
Joanna Rees 3,104 3,111 3,143 3,185
Terry Joan Baum 1,665 1,676 1,698 1,738
Phil Ting 1,016 1,022 1,030 1,049
Cesar Ascarrunz 537 551 578 583
Wilma Pang 444 456 469
Emil Lawrence 382 397
Paul Currier 248
Write-in 38
Continuing votes 194,418 194,363 194,270 194,201 193,126 190,943 188,126 185,946 180,569 174,181 164,395 141,617
Exhausted ballots 0 55 144 212 1,272 3,429 6,232 8,401 13,735 20,070 29,828 52,524
Over Votes 820 820 824 825 840 866 880 891 934 987 1,015 1,097
Under Votes 2,004 2,004 2,004 2,004 2,004 2,004 2,004 2,004 2,004 2,004 2,004 2,004
Total 197,242 197,242 197,242 197,242 197,242 197,242 197,242 197,242 197,242 197,242 197,242 197,242

Continuing votes are votes that counted for a candidate in that round. Exhausted ballots represent votes that could not be transferred because a less preferred candidate was not marked on the ballot. Voters were allowed to mark only three choices because of voting system limitations. Over votes are votes that could not be counted for a candidate because more than one candidate was marked for a choice that was ready to be counted. Under votes are ballots were left blank or that only marked a choice for a write-in candidate that had not qualified as a write-in candidate.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ John Coté and Heather Knight (November 8, 2011). "Ed Lee takes large early lead in mayor's race". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved November 8, 2011.
  2. ^ Coté, John; Rachel Gordon (January 11, 2011). "Gavin Newsom changes offices at last". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved January 11, 2011.
  3. ^ Coté, John (January 11, 2011). "Ed Lee becomes the city's first Chinese American mayor". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved January 11, 2011.
  4. ^ McKinley, Jesse (June 30, 2011). "San Francisco Is Awash With Mayoral Candidates". The New York Times. Retrieved July 10, 2011.
  5. ^ Knight, Heather (July 31, 2011). "What happens if Lee breaks his promise?". San Francisco Chronicle. p. C1.
  6. ^ Romney, Lee (August 8, 2011). "Ed Lee announces run for San Francisco mayor". Los Angeles Times.
  7. ^ Sabatini, Joshua (July 10, 2011). "SF mayoral election to change shape as ranked-choice voting debuts". San Francisco Examiner. Archived from the original on December 26, 2011. Retrieved July 10, 2011.
  8. ^ "November 8, 2011 Qualified Candidate List" (PDF). San Francisco Department of Elections. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 12, 2011. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
  9. ^ Cesarascarruns.org Archived 2011-05-23 at the Wayback Machine Candidate website
  10. ^ Devine, Anne-Marie (May 5, 2011). "Mayoral Candidate Forum on Service". University of San Francisco. Archived from the original on June 15, 2011. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
  11. ^ Fretwell, Luke (June 22, 2011). "Closing out SFOpen 2011". sf.govfresh.com. Archived from the original on June 28, 2011. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
  12. ^ "Mayoral Candidates' Forum". Eventbrite. July 11, 2011. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
  13. ^ Video of July 11 debate closing statements.
  14. ^ "9 S.F. mayoral candidates stress Jewish, Israel bona fides". jweekly.com. September 1, 2011. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
  15. ^ "Raoul Wallenberg Jewish Democratic Club Hosts San Francisco Mayoral Candidates Debate August 24". sanfranciscosentinel.com. San Francisco Sentinel. August 23, 2011. Archived from the original on September 13, 2011. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
  16. ^ "ABC7 News' recording of the League of Women Voters of San Francisco October 5 mayoral debate". abclocal.go.com. October 5, 2011. Retrieved October 5, 2011.[dead link‍]
  17. ^ "League of Women Voters of San Francisco YouTube channel's video statements from all the mayoral candidates". lwvsf.org. League of Women Voters of San Francisco. September 14, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  18. ^ Survey USA
  19. ^ Survey USA
  20. ^ Public Opinion Strategies
  21. ^ Bay Citizen/USF
  22. ^ a b "RCV Mayor".
  23. ^ "November 8, 2011 - Consolidated Municipal Election".
[edit]

Campaign websites:

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