Voter Guide FAQs

Every election, SPUR researches and analyzes selected measures on Bay Area ballots to prepare a voter guide for the public. Our primary goal is to provide voters with the tools to make informed decisions when they vote.

The guide describes what each measure would do, explains what issue it aims to address and how it got on the ballot, assesses its economic and equity impacts, evaluates how effective it would be at addressing the issue, as well as any unintended consequences, weighs its pros and cons, and makes a recommendation on how to vote.

Founded in 1910, SPUR — the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association — is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public policy organization. Through research, education, and advocacy, we work to create a more equitable, sustainable, and prosperous Bay Area.

Yes. The voter guide is free and available to anyone at spurvoterguide.org.

No. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public policy organization, SPUR is not permitted to take positions on candidates for elected office.

SPUR’s expertise lies in six policy areas: housing, planning, transportation, sustainability and resilience, economic policy, and governance. We bring decades of experience on these topics to our ballot analysis process and do not take positions on measures outside our areas of expertise.

SPUR analyzes city measures in San Francisco, San José, and Oakland, as well as Bay Area regional measures and California state measures.

Our recommendations are the product of a three-part process: staff research, committee analysis, and a vote by our board of directors.

Research

SPUR policy staff members review city, county, and state records, relevant articles and arguments, and the official language posted on county and state election websites. We interview the people advocating for and against the measures to better understand the pros and cons. And we watch administrative hearings and review analysis by city and state officials.

Because SPUR has been making policy recommendations for more than a hundred years — and producing a voter guide for over 50 — we don’t look at the current election in isolation. We draw on our archive of past research to understand how today’s proposals connect to past decisions, including what worked, what didn’t, and what we’ve learned since.

Analysis

Recommendations aren’t made by staff alone. For state and regional measures, the Executive Committee of SPUR’s Board of Directors reviews the research, hears directly from proponents and opponents, debates the measures’ merits, and votes to make recommendations. For city measures, members of SPUR’s advisory boards in San Francisco, San José, and Oakland — volunteers with expertise in our policy areas — go through the same process.

Deliberation and Final Vote

Finally, the full SPUR Board of Directors holds a series of meetings to discuss, debate, and adopt each committee’s recommendations. Overturning a committee’s recommendation requires a 60% vote of the board.

Per the process outlined above, SPUR’s Board of Directors votes to uphold or overturn recommendations made by our policy staff and ballot analysis committees.