Local election hits final day

An unusually contentious local election has entered the final day, even as many voters have already weighed in on the candidates and issues on the ballot.

For those who have not yet put their ballot in the mailbox or drop box, four Petaluma polling places offer in-person voting on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Voters can vote at any Sonoma County polling place, including in Petaluma at Hermann Sons Hall on Western Avenue, the Veteran’s Building on Petaluma Boulevard South, the Community Center on North McDowell Boulevard, and the Office of Education on Industrial Avenue. Polling places are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday.

More than half of Sonoma County registered voters have already cast ballots, according to the Registrar of Voters, as the coronavirus outbreak has upended the election’s logistics. That has changed the calculus for campaigns, which normally would be focused on closing arguments and get-out-the-vote efforts, analysts said.

“Now that it’s all mail-in ballots, the old campaign strategies don’t apply,” said Brian Sobel, a Petaluma political consultant. “They can still try and scoop up people who haven’t voted yet.”

The Petaluma City Council race has essentially come down to a three-on-three contest with a slate of moderate incumbents fending off a spirited challenge from a trio of progressive candidates. Challengers Dennis Pocekay, Brian Barnacle and Lizzie Wallack have out spent incumbents Kathy Miller, Mike Healy and Gabe Kearney by a 5 to 1 margin, according to campaign finance statements. Robert Conklin and Susan Kirks are also challenging for a council seat.

The campaign has featured plenty of negative advertising — robocalls attacking the challengers, mailers attacking the incumbents, anonymous threats to boycott local businesses for supporting certain candidates — but Sobel said that these tactics aren’t new.

“We know that negative campaigning is effective, so people end up utilizing it,” he said. “This campaign has been pretty standard fare. We haven’t seen anything too egregious.”

The presidential race between President Donald Trump, the Republican, and former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democrat, is most certainly driving the historic early voter turnout. Petaluma voters are also selecting a U.S. Representative between Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, and Dale Mensing, a Humboldt County Republican. State Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, faces Carlos Santamaria, a Napa Republican, while Democratic Assemblyman Marc Levine is running for reelection against Roni Jacobi, a Democrat from Santa Rosa.

Four candidates with extensive education experience are seeking two seats on the Petaluma City Schools District board. Incumbents Ellen Webster and Sheldon Gen face challengers Linda Judah and Carol Ann Street.

Local voters are also settling a host of ballot measures. Besides 12 statewide propositions, Petaluma voters have three countywide measures and two local issues to decide.

Measure CC, a Petaluma Health Care District proposal to sell Petaluma Valley Hospital to a Providence St. Joseph Health affiliate has become surprisingly contentious in the last few weeks as a nurses union is not backing the $52.6 million sale that would keep the hospital open for at least the next 20 years, but only give the birthing unit a guaranteed five more years.

Despite the opposition, Sobel said the measure will likely pass as there are few other options for the hospital’s future. St. Joseph Health System is a client of Sobel’s

“The case for CC is very solid. The choices are stark,” he said. “A voter may ask ‘If not this, then what? What do you do if this doesn’t pass?’”

Voters face a trio of tax measures, capped by Measure U, the one-cent sales tax increase with no end date for Petaluma’s General Fund. There is also Measure DD, a quarter-cent countywide sales tax extension that supports transportation projects and Measure O, a new quarter-cent countywide sales tax to fund mental health programs.

County taxpayer groups and business interests have opposed all tax measures on the ballot saying the pandemic-induced recession is a bad time to ask voters for more money.

“I think taxes of any stripe do not do well this year,” Sobel said. “A lot of it has to do with COVID. The last thing voters are thinking about is sending more money to government. Along with uncertainty, there is tax fatigue.”

Measure P, which would give more power and funding to the watchdog agency for the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, has drawn considerable opposition from the Sheriff and law enforcement unions.

Voters in the Tomales-based Shoreline Unified School District will decide Measure L, an eight-year extension of the district’s $212 parcel tax that funds education programs.

(Contact Matt Brown at matt.brown@arguscourier.com.)