Congratulations to the 2020 Rent Board Slate

The Tenant Convention Voting has ended and votes have been counted. Here are the top 5 candidates for the rent board slate:

While we are sorry to report that our terrific steering committee members Negeene Mosaed and Stefan Elgstrand did not make the cut; we think that voters selected a great slate. We are grateful to Negeene and Stefan and indeed to all the 13 candidates who ran, and worked hard to get out the vote. We thank them for their commitment to the community.

About 615 electronic ballots and 95 paper ballots were cast, this is an unprecedented turnout. Because of the pandemic, most efforts were done online. Viewers were able to watch the presentation on Zoom, a nd vote online and via paper ballots. BCA members, Friends of Adeline folks, DSA, candidates and many others worked to tell the candidates’ stories and help community members vote.

I am particularly appreciative of the efforts the convention team made to contact folks, who requested a ballot and help the vote. Online voting had its challenges, especially with the high turnout, but we were able to overcome most problems. Thanks also goes to the persistent voters who worked with us to overcome technology barriers and vote.

The team counting the votes made every effort to be inclusive. There were a lot of people getting out the vote, and many young people, older people, and lower income apartment dwellers tenants cast votes; we reached deeper into the various communities of Berkeley and need to continue to do that.

To see the actual votes cast, click this link. Totals for each candidate will be posted soon.

Next the rent board election campaign begins, starting with signature gathering and fundraising.

The BCA Forum for endorsing council members, mayor and school board is coming up Sunday, August 23rd at 3 pm on zoom. Zoom link will be published soon.