Beyond Signatures: How Voters Can Provide Crucial Feedback on Ballot Measures 2%
By Lylah Schmedel-Permanna14%
7/9/2026, 3:00:00 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 11 faulty reasoning types, including Availability Heuristic, Anecdotal, and Unattributed Quote, with Optimism Bias as the most egregious example at 5.6% saturation with 74 hits. Analysis detected 391 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,320 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 13.2% and a BS Rank of 2% (19,652 of 20,061 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 98.00% of the article peer group.
At its June 30 meeting, pictured here, the Board of Supervisors voted to continue consideration of a charter amendment that would establish a public bank in San Francisco.
The supervisors passed the measure on July 7, meaning it will appear on the November ballot.
San Francisco voters will decide on a number of important races and issues this November, from adding revenue streams for public transportation to changing the city charter, the local equivalent to a constitution.
What many don’t know is that they can directly influence the language and details contained in measures that appear on their ballot.
Mission District resident Kieran Nicholas-Fernandez cares about what happens in local elections.
“I enjoy voting.
It’s my civic duty and I think right now it’s especially important,” he said.
Nicholas-Fernandez has already participated in the elections process, having signed two petitions to save public transportation.
But when asked if he knew how petitions got on the ballot, he shrugged.
“I have no clue how things end up on the ballot,” he said.
Signature gatherers in recent months circulated a dozen petitions attempting to get measures on the November ballot.
Six collected enough signatures by July 6 — the deadline to submit them to the Department of Elections — to qualify.
These include one proposal to restore car access to the Great Highway and another to extend the duties of the city administrator.
Many of the petitions have been available to view for months and there are still opportunities for the public to weigh in before they’re placed on the ballot.
Soliciting public feedback is ingrained in the ballot measure process and encompasses more than signing a petition on a street corner.
San Franciscans can also give feedback at various committee meetings and help decide the best way to present a measure to voters before making their opinions clear at the ballot box in November.
How initiative measures appear on your ballot
There are several types of measures, each with its own path to the ballot.
Perhaps most recognizable is the initiative, which requires a certain number of signatures from the community.
Petitions for ordinance measures need signatures from at least 2% of registered San Francisco voters, or a little over 10,500 individual voters.
For charter amendment measures, upward of 52,000 signatures are required.
That’s why we see volunteers and paid signature gatherers scrambling around the city to present petitions to large numbers of registered voters.
Voters can follow the progress of initiatives on the Department of Elections website , which provides information on the petitions’ content and updates each measure’s status as it goes through the signature-gathering process.
When a petition is first filed with the Department of Elections, the city attorney must prepare a ballot title and summary of the proposed measure, which will appear on the petition that will circulate for signatures.
The next phase, “awaiting proof of publication,” indicates that the city attorney has created the title and summary, and now the proponent organization must publish those in a newspaper before collecting signatures.
For example, a proposal this year to make nudity the lowest-priority offense for law enforcement did not make it past this stage.
“Petition in circulation” means the race to meet the required signature count has begun.
A petition to bar former employees of U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol from getting city jobs and contracts stalled out at this stage .
Representatives of the group that coordinated this effort, Melt ICE, told the San Francisco Public Press that they would not get enough signatures in time to make it onto the ballot.
“Signature verification in progress” is the final step before a proposal qualifies for the ballot.
The Department of Elections must verify that the petitioners submitted enough signatures from valid registered voters in San Francisco.
For example, signatures are being verified for a petition that would change how the city collects property transfer taxes to provide funds for affordable housing.
How voters can shape ballot measures
The mayor or the Board of Supervisors may propose local measures, which don’t need voters’ signatures to make it on the ballot.
The supervisors voted on July 7 to place on the ballot an initiative to create a public bank .
San Francisco Unified School District and San Francisco Community College District measures must reach the elections office by Aug.
7.
In 2024, voters passed school district-proposed Proposition A, a $790 million dollar bond measure to improve school facilities, internet access and nutritional programs.
Both districts hold trustee meetings where members of the public can comment on agendized and non-agendized items including ballot measure proposals.
Neither entity has submitted a ballot measure this year.
Both told the Public Press that they have no plans to propose any this election season.
Proposition A passed in 2024 to address poor conditions at schools, including Mission High School.
The bond was put on the ballot by San Francisco Unified School District.
Credit: Jason Winshell / San Francisco Public Press
Finally, voters may see charter amendments on their ballots.
The city charter establishes basic government structure and outlines the powers of city officials.
It was put in place by voters in the late 1800s and may be amended only by voters.
The Board of Supervisors has the power to put a charter amendment on the ballot without voter signatures.
Voters can attend public comment sessions held by the Board of Supervisors’ Rules Committee or Budget Committee before a charter amendment proposal goes to the full board.
The supervisors vote on which amendments to put on the ballot, based on the committees’ recommendations.
The board is considering three charter amendments .
Any additional petitions following this route are due to the board by July 24.
Any voter, including the mayor, may also propose a charter amendment, but it requires more legwork because of the high signature threshold.
Mayor Daniel Lurie has proposed three charter amendments through the initiative measure process.
His ballot measure campaign committee, called Clean Up City Hall, has spent over $3.5 million to gather signatures to qualify the measures for the ballot.
Nini Wu, a spokesperson for Clean Up City Hall , told the Public Press that committee members are “confident that we will gather far in excess of the signatures necessary to qualify.”
Voters can help write ballot language
This month, voters can review and provide feedback on ballot language at Ballot Simplification Committee meetings.
This committee comprises three members appointed by the Board of Supervisors and two picked by the mayor.
The panel edits the language of each approved ballot measure and creates a digest for the Voter Information Pamphlet mailed to every San Francisco voter ahead of the election.
Voters can participate in meetings where the panel takes public comment and may incorporate suggestions into their drafts.
The committee will announce its meeting dates for this election season around July 13, according to the committee’s clerk.
The public has 24 hours to send feedback to the committee after it posts its drafts online.
The committee votes on the final language and submits the voter’s digest to the Department of Elections for publication.
For most of August, members of the public can share their opinions on ballot measures with the Department of Elections.
Any last comments or legal challenges on local and district measures can be made from Aug. 8 through Aug.
18.
Voters can also weigh in on the language that appears in the voter guide, including arguments for and against, the rebuttals and the paid arguments.
The Department of Elections takes feedback in its office in City Hall Room 48 and by email at sfvote@sfgov.org .
For those feeling especially motivated to participate in the process, two elections advisory committees invite members of the public to contribute ideas to make voting more accessible.
They plan to meet publicly in August, September and October.
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