Nearly 20 candidates will be on the ballot, ranging from 3 veterans of military uprisings on the extreme right, to Communists and Trotskyites on the far left.
Recent national polls show Democrats with an advantage on the generic ballot ranging from 3 to 6 points.
This year, San Franciscans have the opportunity to weigh in on who is going to be the city's next mayor, district attorney and sheriff as well as vote on a whole host of ballot initiatives ranging from bond measures to a fundamental restructuring of the pension system for city employees.
In 42 states, voters were deciding on some 158 ballot measures, ranging from tighter gun control in Washington state to an increase in the minimum wage to $10 in Illinois.
Voters in 38 states have been asked to decide on 176 ballot initiatives, ranging from highly contentious to simply unusual.
The area of admissible subject matters may be very restrictive; the number of signatures required for qualifying an initiative for a ballot vote may range from about 1% to one-third of eligible voters; and the time allowed for collecting signatures may be very short.
Republicans are also notching consistent leads over Democrats in the numbers of ballots cast in Front Range suburban Arapahoe, Jefferson and Larimer counties– the three key swing counties where large percentages of unaffiliated voters live and where elections are generally won and lost in the state.
Panel members later voted in a nonbinding secret ballot on five proposals, ranging from tree-lined low-speed parkways to a high-speed, six-lane expressway.
Ballot procedures differ widely, ranging from marking the names of preferred candidates to crossing out those not preferred or writing in the names of persons who are not formal candidates.
They will also weigh in on some 154 state ballot initiatives on topics ranging from gun control and marijuana legalization to minimum wage increases and environmental policy.
