For posterity, my votes and some commentary:
UPDATE 11/5: Includes results (for California Propositions and SF Propositions)
President and Vice President
Me: Barack Obama and Joe Biden US: Barack Obama and Joe Biden (52% of popular vote)
I voted this way because Barack Obama, in my first impression of him and in nearly every one since then, has appeared to be a calm, reasonable, intelligent, and well-spoken man. He’s someone I would actually want to meet and would trust as a human being, meaning I think of him first and foremost as a real and a decent person, not as a politician.
John McCain strikes me as someone who is stiff, reactive, and generally unpleasant. I don’t want someone with those qualities as my president, nor do I want him to represent us abroad. Eight years of George W. Bush was embarrassing enough, and on foreign policy McCain seems like he might actually be worse. This is all not to mention the terror that is Sarah Palin. As a person, she might be okay. She seems out of her depth, but I would be too, so I can’t fault her as a person. But that’s not a quality you want in someone who, as the running mate to the man who would be the oldest first-term president ever, may have to step in as president. Her ideology scares me, not because I disagree with it, but by how closed off and ridgid it seems. In that way, she reminds me of Bush.
United States Representative
Me: Nancy Pelosi US: Nancy Pelosi
Honestly I put very little thought into this. Call it the Brand Name factor.
State Senator
Me: Mark Leno Others: Mark Leno
Again, not much thought here. He’s a State Legislator already, and he’s a Democrat.
Member, State Assembly
Me: Tom Ammiano Others: Tom Ammiano
Similar reasons as above.
Judge of the Superior Court, Seat #12
Me: Thomas Mellon Others: Gerardo Sandoval
Already a judge.
Member, Board of Education
Me: Norman Yee SF: Norman Yee
Incumbent. Didn’t look into this race.
Member, Community College Board
Me: Natalie Berg SF: Natalie Berg
Same as above.
California State
Proposition 1A: Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act
I would really like this to happen and I didn’t see any real major deficiencies in the proposition, so I voted for it.
Me: YES Cali: YES (52%)
Proposition 2: Standards for Confining Farm Animals
The arguments against this seemed pretty weak, and I do support more humane treatment of animals, so here’s another “yes”.
Me: YES Cali: YES (63%)
Proposition 3: Children’s Hospital Bond Act
Voted against it because there was already money allocated to this.
Me: NO Cali: YES (55%)
Proposition 4: Waiting Period and Parental Notification Before Termination of Minor’s Pregnancy
Honestly this just seems like a stepping stone to attempt to abolish abortion.
Me: NO Cali: NO (52%)
Proposition 5: Nonviolent drug offenses. Sentencing, Parole and Rehabilitation
These offenders just need something better to do with their time, and I’d rather not pay for them to be in prison, possibly just making them even less useful to society.
Me: YES Cali: NO (60%)
Proposition 6: Police and Law Enforcement Funding. Criminal Penalties and Laws
This seemed like a big collection of changes that make it difficult to swallow all at once. I didn’t read the full text of the proposition.
Me: NO Cali: NO (70%)
Proposition 7: Renewable Energy Generation
Sets standards for percentage of renewable energy, helps companies get there. Sounds decent.
Me: YES Cali: NO (65%)
Proposition 8: Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry
Marriages between loving, committed same-sex couples do not destroy the “sanctity of marriage”. Both heterosexuals and homosexuals in bad marriages do. This proposition is focusing on the wrong thing.
Me: NO Cali: YES (52%)
Proposition 9: Criminal Justice System. Victim’s Rights. Parole
As a victim of a violent crime in the past, this one interested me. However, I felt that the arguments for it did not adequately make a case for it.
Me: NO Cali: YES (53%)
Proposition 10: Alternative Fuel Vehicles and Renewable Energy
Perhaps I fell victim to the “Oh noes it be sponsord by a fatkat gasman!” rhetoric, but it seemed convincing enough.
Me: NO Cali: NO (60%)
Proposition 11: Redistricting
One question: why?
Me: NO Cali: YES (51%)
Proposition 12: Veteran’s Bond Act of 2008
Arguments against talked about restricting to people who’d seen actual combat. Besides being, IMHO, very difficult to determine what that really means, I think anyone who decided to go into the military should get this if they choose.
Me: YES Cali: YES (64%)
San Francisco City
Proposition A: SF General Hospital and Trauma Center Earthquake Safety Bond, 2008
Me: YES SF: YES (84%)
Proposition B: Establishing Affordable Housing Fund Using Set- Asides from Property Taxes
Me: NO SF: NO (50.5%)
Proposition C: Prohibiting City Employees From Serving on Charter Boards and Commissions
Me: NO SF: NO (63%)
Proposition D: Financing Pier 70 Waterfront District Development Plan upon Board of Supervisors’ Approval
Me: YES SF: YES (68%)
Proposition E: Changing the Number of Signatures Required to Recall City Officials
Me: NO SF: YES (61%)
Proposition F: Holding all Scheduled City Elections only in Even-Numbered Years
Me: NO SF: NO (55%)
Proposition G: Allowing Retirement System Credit for Unpaid Parental Leave
Me: YES SF: YES (63%)
Proposition H: San Francisco Setting Renewable Energy Goals; Options for Providing Electric Power; Changing Revenue Bond Authority to Pay for Public Utility Facilities
Me: NO SF: NO (59%)
Proposition I: Creating the Office of an Independent Rate-Payer Advocate
Me: YES SF: NO (64%)
Proposition J: Creating a Historic Preservation Commission
Me: NO SF: NO (58%)
Proposition K: Changing the Enforcement of Laws Related to Prostitution and Sex Workers
Me: NO SF: NO (58%)
Proposition L: Funding the Community Justice Center
Me: YES SF: NO (59%)
Proposition M: Changing the Residential Rent Ordinance to Prohibit Specific Acts of Harassment of Tenants by Landlords
Me: YES SF: YES (61%)
Proposition N: Changing Real Property Transfer Tax Rates
Me: NO SF: YES (69%)
Proposition O: Replacing the Emergency Response Fee with an Access Line Tax and Revising the Telephone Users Tax
Me: NO SF: YES (66%)
Proposition P: Changing the Composition of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority Board
Me: NO SF: NO (68%)
Proposition Q: Modifying the Payroll Expense Tax
Me: NO SF: YES (74%)
Proposition R: Renaming the Oceanside Water Treatment Plant
Me: YES SF: NO (69%)
Proposition S: Policy Regarding Budget Set Asides and Identification of Replacement Funds
Me: NO SF: YES (54%)
Proposition T: Free and Low-Cost Substance Abuse Treatment Programs
Me: YES SF: YES (63%)
Proposition U: Policy Against Funding for Deployment of Armed Forces in Iraq
Me: YES SF: YES (60%)
Proposition V: Policy Against Terminating Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) Programs in Public High Schools
Me: NO SF: YES (53%)