local elections 2016

About 88 percent of Berkeley voters cast a ballot for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, with finalized election results released by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters on Nov. 22.

The victory for Arreguin, who earned the major endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders and was a frontrunner in the mayoral race, marks a triumph for his youth-driven grassroots campaign which advocated for strong progressive policies.

All city measures passed except for landlord-backed Measure DD, and the minimum wage ballots Measure BB and Measure CC, which had both been running joint "no-no" campaigns.

For many voters, the excitement of their first opportunity to have their say in the general election process was overshadowed by the polarizing national conversation surrounding the two major presidential candidates, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.

Incumbents Beatriz Leyva-Cutler and Judy Appel won the two open Board of Education director positions for the Berkeley Unified School District on Tuesday, defeating their sole challenger Abdur Sikder.

Christina Murphy, Alejandro Soto-Vigil, Leah Simon-Weisberg and Igor Tregub won all four seats for Berkeley’s Rent Stabilization Board, knocking out incumbent Judy Hunt and challenger Nathan Wollman who ran together as part of the FAIR Berkeley slate.

Both incumbents up for election, Darryl Moore and Susan Wengraf, held out in Tuesday night’s city council elections for Districts 2 and 6, while newcomers Ben Bartlett and Sophie Hahn will take over in Districts 3 and 5.

Berkeley voters are heading to the polls Tuesday to choose a mayor for the first time in 14 years, four City Council members, a U.S. senator and a new president. Voters are also deciding on 17 state propositions and 12 local measures.

The Daily Californian has created a handy election guide for all your local, state and national news needs so you can be an informed voter Tuesday. Polls open at 7 a.m. PST and close at 8 p.m. PST.

Sleepless nights, door-to-door canvassing and relentless phone banking are common themes for Berkeley’s mayoral and City Council candidates as they vie for residents’ votes in the election season’s last days.