Election 2014

Of the more than 800,000 Alameda County citizens registered to vote, only about 28 percent of residents voted in this year’s midterm elections — not including mail-in ballots — a turnout markedly lower than the 2012 presidential election and the 2010 election.

At approximately 11 p.m. on election night, Councilmember Kriss Worthington arrived to his campaign’s viewing party, hours late and poring over papers of hand-tallied votes.

On Tuesday, Berkeley residents voted on seven city measures, one county measure and six state propositions.

With five of nine commissioner seats open on the city's Rent Stabilization Board, all five candidates entering the race were guaranteed a spot.

As of 12:45 a.m., Droste was ahead of three other District 8 hopefuls, with a 1.24-point lead over runner-up Mike Alvarez Cohen, chair of the city’s Zoning Adjustments Board. George Beier, president of the Willard Neighborhood Association, came in third with about 26 percent of the vote. Jacquelyn McCormick, head of the Claremont Elmwood Neighborhood Association, came in fourth with 18.9 percent of the vote.

UC Berkeley School of Law professor Ty Alper, Josh Daniels and Karen Hemphill won the three vacant seats on the Berkeley Unified School District Board of Education.

Incumbent City Councilmember Jesse Arreguin was re-elected in this year’s unopposed District 4 election. This will be his third term in the position.

Measure R, which would have expanded and implemented more stringent regulations for Downtown buildings and created a Civic Center zoning overlay to protect historic parks and buildings, failed to pass Wednesday with 73.87 percent of Berkeley residents voting against the measure.

Vice mayor and 22-year incumbent Linda Maio was re-elected to City Council to represent District 1, defending her seat against challengers Alejandro Soto-Vigil, a rent board commissioner, and Merrilie Mitchell, an activist and gardener.

Measure S passed early Wednesday morning with 64.16 percent of votes in favor, reinforcing the boundaries of a majority student-aged district that spans much of the Southside area.