Updated 11/06/04 9:18 AM
EMERYVILLE -- Pixar Animation Studios will soon be expanding – not quite to infinity and beyond as popular Pixar character Buzz Lightyear would have said – but close.

In the flood of congratulations the White House received after President George W. Bush's re-election, one salutation might have symbolic and immediate significance to the future of U.S. foreign policy and the future of the Middle East.

Updated 11/03/04 2:43 PM
SAN PABLO – Vice Mayor Joe Gomes, who last spring announced he would quit the San Pablo City Council, was re-elected Tuesday – but by the lowest vote margin of the three winning candidates.

Updated 11/03/04 2:38 PM
RICHMOND – Voters in Richmond on Tuesday did something they rarely get a chance to do – they shrank their city council.

Updated 11/03/04 12:32 PM
OAKLAND –Oakland voters easily approved Proposition Z, an attempt to legalize marijuana use in the city.

Updated 11/03/04 12:25 PM
OAKLAND – Designed as a blueprint for legalizing marijuana throughout the state, a city ballot measure requiring Oakland law enforcement agencies to treat illegal possession of the drug as the “lowest priority” won a decisive victory on Tuesday.

Updated 11/03/04 11:01 AM
California voters Tuesday overwhelmingly approved Proposition 59, which will make access to government information a constitutional right.

Updated 11/03/04 10:42 AM
BERKELEY – In Berkeley, where debates over personal liberty and free speech are part of city tradition, voters Tuesday crushed a measure that would have been a first step toward legalizing prostitution.

Updated 11/3/02 12:06 AM
BERKELEY - Berkeley residents, who already pay the highest property taxes in the state, sent a message to their mayor and city council Tuesday: don’t depend on us to keep the city afloat. As of 11 pm, the voters were rejecting four initiatives that would have helped fill city coffers.

Updated 11/5/04 10:31 AM
President Bush appeared headed for victory tonight in an election that has polarized the country, confounded the experts and raised deep concerns about the integrity of the voting system itself.
Bush picked up the key state of Florida and appeared victorious in Ohio, all but ensuring four more years of his presidency. Republicans also had reason for celebration as it looked like the party picked up seats in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

BERKELEY - Berkeley voters may not be ready to move toward decriminalizing prostitution this year despite a highly publicized grassroots campaign. Judging from preliminary results, a wide majority rejected Measure Q, an initiative that would have made prostitution the lowest police priority.

Updated 11/2/04 11:55 PM
SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco voters today narrowly rejected a ballot proposition that would have allowed non-citizens to vote in local school board elections. Proposition F lost by 51 percent to 49 percent, with the close results reflecting a hard-fought campaign that pitted grassroots activists and the Board of Supervisors against the city’s business community.

Updated 11/02/04 11:46 PM
SAN FRANCISCO – In a defeat for Mayor Gavin Newsom, San Francisco voters Tuesday blocked Proposition K, which would have imposed a new business tax.

Updated 11/2/04 11:43 PM
OAKLAND – A ballot measure that would raise nearly $20 million for more police, fire fighters, and social programs in Oakland was narrowly passing, early returns showed Tuesday night.

Updated 11/2/04 11:33 PM
A landslide victory in Illinois by U.S. Senate candidate Barack Obama did little to lessen Democrats' anxiety, as Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle fell 6,000 votes behind Republican John Thune with 91 percent of South Dakota precincts reporting. A Thune win would further solidify the Republicans' control of the Senate, which seemed to be strengthening as returns came in throughout the night.

Updated 11/02/04 11:25 PM
BERKELEY – Max Anderson jumped to an early lead Tuesday in the battle for the District 3 city council seat, signaling a possible end to the 20-year run for 93-year-old incumbent Maudelle Shirek.

Updated 11/2/04 11:15 PM
Buried among 16 ballot measures and a nail-biter of a presidential race, Prop 1A didn’t exactly register high on the list of priorities of voters here. In fact, most Californians went to the polls Tuesday having never heard of the complex initiative that promised to change the way state and local entities provide services to their residents.

They call themselves the Phone Corps, a ragtag army of civilian soldiers focused intently on the battlegrounds to the north and the east -- the swing states.

Updated 11/2/04 11:01 PM
EL CERRITO – With seven of twenty El Cerrito precincts reporting, Measure K took an early lead late Tuesday night. The measure, which would ratify an eight percent existing utility tax, received 64 percent of the votes. The measure requires a majority vote for adoption.

Updated 11/2/04 10:56 PM
California voters Tuesday approved a controversial $3 billion bond measure that would put the state in the business of stem cell research.

Updated 11/08/04 1:45 PM
Wenying Huang, an immigrant from mainland China, voted for the first time in her life in the heart of Oakland’s Chinatown on November 2nd. In a classroom turned polling station, Huang quickly glimpsed through a Chinese language provisional ballot, circled John Kery’s name and dropped it in the ballot box, leaving the rest of her ballot blank.

Updated 11/02 10:44 PM
ALASKA -- In Alaska, where one of the most hotly contested Senate races of 2004 is still unfolding, incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski pulled out a surprising lead over former Gov. Tony Knowles.

Updated 11/2/04 10:43 PM
BERKELEY – A measure that would create a city agency to regulate the trimming and removal of trees was headed for defeat on Tuesday.

Updated 11/2/04 10:32 PM
FREMONT -- At the strip mall storefront that serves as the Alameda County Republican headquarters, Fremont police officer Paul DeJoy stocked up on Bush-Cheney stickers and yard signs.

Updated 11/2/04 10:25 PM
OAKLAND -- The photos of her son -- from childhood until the time of his murder in June of 2003 -- decorate the cover of her Measure Y voter pamphlet.

Updated Nov. 2, 2004 9:44 PM
BERKELEY -- The youth vote was expected to turn out in record numbers this year, but history has repeated itself and young voters stayed at home. Only ten percent of the electorate fell between the ages of 18 and 24 - the same proportion as in 2000, according to exit polls conducted for the Associated Press.

Heavy metal musician Joe Van Fossen climbed into his friend’s 1997 Toyota RAV 4 and road-tripped with his guitarist and one of his best friends 300 miles from Orange County to Las Vegas to knock on doors for John Kerry. Twenty-five year old Kelly Hillman of Newport Beach took a Friday evening flight out to Oregon from Southern California to hand out literature and encourage registered voters to get to the polls to re-elect President George W. Bush.

Updated 11/2/04 9:13 PM
SAN FRANCISCO - After facing long lines at their polling location, residents of the Haight Ashbury neighborhood, known for its political activism and progressive thinking, faced a long and potentially confusing ballot once they got inside the voting booth today.

BERKELEY - With all eyes focused on the swing states today, voting in California had just a few stumbles. The heavy turnout caused long lines at some polling places. At others, voters had requests for paper ballots denied or were forced to cast provisional ballots when their names did not appear on voter lists.

Bruce Harrington still has trouble talking about the death of his younger brother, Keith. It was almost 25 years ago that Keith and his wife, Patti, were killed when an intruder entered their southern California home, raped Patti and then bludgeoned them both to death.

BERKELEY - Instead of television ads, Election Watchdog, a consumer advocacy group campaigning against Proposition 64, has a 16-foot-high inflatable cigarette box that can be set up almost anywhere.

EL CERRITO - Brit Johnson considers himself a liberal democrat. He votes the line on state and foreign policy issues. But on local issues, especially those concerning the city budget, he said, he's becoming increasingly conservative.

SAN FRANCISCO -- With California out of play in the presidential race, a converted office space South of Market buzzing with lawyers in front of computer screens felt about as close as you can get here to the epicenter of election day action.

Not only in Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio are people anxious to know who will be the next U.S. president. Thousand of miles away — in places like Pakistan, North Korea, Iraq, Iran and the Middle East — leaders and citizens know that the outcome of today’s election will have a substantial effect on their lives.

OAKLAND -- Ramona Garcia has spent months canvassing and calling her East Oakland neighbors to encourage them to vote yes on Measure Y, which will fund additional police officers and crime-prevention programs. Yet come Tuesday, Garcia will be unable to cast her own vote.