San Diego Votes: Supervisors, Sales Taxes, and a Charter Overhaul on the Line
San Diego County voters headed to 221 vote centers Tuesday to decide contested supervisor seats, a congressional race, and a pair of ballot measures that could fundamentally reshape how the county is governed and taxed. A bomb-squad response at the Registrar of Voters building the night before did nothing to disrupt operations.
“A school can post a high graduation rate while still sending students into adulthood without the coursework that opens doors to four-year universities or competitive career pathways.”
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Election Day Arrives With High Stakes and a Scare at the Registrar
San Diego County's 2026 Election Day arrived Tuesday with polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. across all 221 vote centers — and with the county's democratic machinery having already survived an unsettling test the night before. An unattended briefcase spotted in the lobby of the Registrar of Voters building in Kearny Mesa prompted the Sheriff's bomb and arson team to respond, closing surrounding streets at approximately 3:10 p.m. Monday. An explosives-detection dog swept the building, and authorities issued an all-clear at approximately 4:40 p.m. The building reopened less than ten minutes later.
County spokesperson Aiyana Moya confirmed that ballot processing and election services had continued at other locations throughout the incident. The registrar's full schedule of vote centers was never disrupted, and all 221 locations opened on schedule Tuesday morning. Voters still holding mail ballots at home have until 8 p.m. to deposit them at any of the 154 official drop boxes — 122 of which offer round-the-clock access.
The ballot itself is among the most consequential the county has seen in years. Two supervisor seats are contested: in District 4, incumbent Democrat Monica Montgomery Steppe faces Republican Kristine Alessio, a former La Mesa council member. District 5 is an open seat, with former San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones, a Republican, running against Democrat Kyle Krahel to replace term-limited Jim Desmond. Desmond is simultaneously running for Congress in the 48th District against San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert — a race that extends into Riverside County and may take time to resolve after polls close. Four of nine San Diego City Council seats are also on the ballot Tuesday.
Structurally, the most far-reaching items may be the two countywide measures. Measure A would add an independent budget analyst, an independent program auditor, and an ethics commission to county governance, while also extending supervisors' term limits from two terms to three. Supervisors Aguirre, Lawson-Remer, and Montgomery Steppe voted in May to place it on the ballot; Supervisors Joel Anderson and Jim Desmond opposed it. Measure B proposes a half-percentage-point countywide sales tax increase dedicated to health and safety priorities. Results in all races will begin emerging after the 8 p.m. close of polls.
City Dips Into Reserves for First Time in a Decade as Infrastructure Debt Mounts
Beneath the noise of Election Day, San Diego's fiscal condition is flashing warning signs that the next city council will inherit immediately. Voice of San Diego reported this week that the city drew $4.7 million from its general-fund reserves to close fiscal year 2026 — the first such withdrawal in more than a decade. City officials have pointed to a $7.4 million reimbursement from the California Office of Emergency Services that has not yet arrived; Cal OES, for its part, says it is still waiting on paperwork from the city.
The reserve draw does not stand alone. Officials had already closed a $118 million deficit during the current fiscal year, primarily through service cuts, following a $258 million deficit the year prior. The pattern suggests a structural misalignment between ongoing city spending and ongoing revenue rather than a series of isolated shortfalls. Incoming council members in Districts 2 and 8 — seats decided Tuesday — will step into that fiscal environment on their first day in office.
Those new council members will also inherit a reported $7.8 billion infrastructure backlog, roughly 65 percent of it tied to stormwater systems. Candidates in District 2 — Richard Bailey and Nicole Crosby — have already staked out differing positions on revenue approaches to address it. Those philosophical differences will become governing decisions quickly.
On a separate track, the San Diego City Council's 45-day emergency moratorium on data center permitting, approved 9-0 on October 27th, is now in effect. The council also moved to allow childcare businesses to operate near University City, Sorrento Valley, Clairemont, and Mira Mesa — areas currently restricted by airport-compatibility rules associated with MCAS Miramar — though that effort remains in progress rather than a completed approval. Separately, a new uniform water-rate structure approved by the council to comply with the Patz court ruling takes effect January 1st, replacing a tiered system that charged higher rates to heavier users.
Murder Sentence, Dispensary Killing Resolved, Airport-Area Stabbings Remain Open
Larry Millete was sentenced to 25 years to life for killing his wife, Maya Millete, who disappeared in January 2021 and whose remains have never been found. The case proceeded to conviction on circumstantial evidence, digital communications, and testimony about the state of the marriage — without a body. Millete will not be eligible for parole consideration for at least 25 years. Maya Millete's family has said publicly that locating her remains matters to them regardless of the conviction, and that search continues.
Three men — Daveon Hicks, Curry Williams, and Jamal Johnson — were sentenced in connection with the 2020 killing of a 59-year-old security guard at a Spring Valley cannabis dispensary, closing a six-year legal process. Individual sentence lengths were not confirmed in available reporting. A separate, unresolved case involves two stabbings beneath bridges near San Diego International Airport on the afternoon of Saturday, November 1st. The attacks occurred approximately 15 minutes apart, and victims described similar suspects in both incidents. No arrest had been reported as of Tuesday morning.
In North County, Sheriff's deputies are investigating a homicide in Vista following a reported fight late on October 31st; no verified suspect identification had been reported as of November 1st. Fire Chief Tony Mecham lifted the county's burn-permit suspension effective 8 a.m. Monday, November 2nd, allowing holders of valid agricultural and residential burn permits to resume burning on permissible days — 8 a.m. to sunset — subject to CAL FIRE inspection and notification requirements. Cleveland National Forest has planned prescribed burns near Mount Laguna, Palomar Mountain, Campo, and Warner Springs.
El Cajon Sentencing and Santee Ballot Measures Define East County's Election Day
Stephen Mathews Coney, a 30-year-old La Mesa resident, was sentenced Monday to 31 years to life for the fatal stabbing of Albert Johnson, 59, at an El Cajon apartment complex in August 2025. A jury had convicted Coney of second-degree murder in September. The District Attorney's Office described the confrontation as occurring in a parking lot on South Sunshine Avenue, in front of several children. The sentence handed down Monday closes the courtroom chapter of the case.
In Santee, voters are weighing two distinct measures Tuesday. Measure Y proposes a one-percentage-point sales tax increase lasting 10 years, projected to generate roughly $14 million annually and raising the city's total sales tax rate from 7.75% to 8.75%. The ballot language identifies uses including streets, storm drains, public facilities, and emergency response — but the measure is structured as a general-purpose tax, not a restricted one, meaning the City Council retains discretion over how the funds are spent. The measure includes independent audits and a citizens' oversight committee. Measure BB is a separate ask: $30 million in Santee School District facilities bonds, with an estimated property tax levy of $13 per $100,000 of assessed value.
A suspicious-death investigation on Graves Avenue in Santee also remains open. Deputies and firefighters responded October 30th to a medical-aid call in the 8500 block; the person transported to the hospital later died, and the Sheriff's Homicide Unit assumed the case due to the suspicious nature of the injuries. The Medical Examiner is still working to establish identity, cause, and manner of death. Investigators described the incident as apparently isolated. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Sheriff's Homicide Unit at 858-285-6330.
Diplomas Without Eligibility: The Hidden Gap in San Diego's Graduation Numbers
A Union-Tribune analysis published this week draws a distinction that is easy to miss and costly to ignore: graduating from high school and being eligible for California's public four-year universities are not the same thing. California's A-G requirements — a specific sequence of courses in English, math, science, history, foreign language, and elective arts — must be completed for a student to be eligible for UC or Cal State admission. Students can meet graduation requirements without completing that sequence, and many do.
The analysis examines how San Diego-area schools perform when both metrics are measured simultaneously. A school can post a high graduation rate while still sending students into adulthood without the coursework that opens doors to four-year universities or competitive career pathways. The gap between those two numbers is where opportunity is lost quietly — without triggering any alarm, because the headline graduation rate alone looks acceptable. The analysis does not establish school-by-school percentage comparisons, which limits its granularity, but the structural point holds regardless.
For families, the practical implication is that course selection beginning in freshman year compounds over four years. By the time a student discovers they are not A-G eligible, correcting the gap often requires extending time in school or completing coursework at a community college after graduation. The finding lands in the same week that UC San Diego reported its first enrollment decline in 14 years — a development the university characterized as a deliberate pause to absorb earlier rapid growth rather than a reversal of trajectory.
On a more celebratory note, Katie Andan — a fifth-grade teacher at La Costa Heights Elementary in Carlsbad, with the Encinitas Union School District and 20 years of classroom experience — was named one of five California Teachers of the Year and will advance to the national teacher-of-the-year process. Twelve of her 20 years have been spent at the same school, building sustained relationships with students and families across generations. Point Loma Nazarene University, meanwhile, reversed a decision to block Irish poet Pádraig Ó Tuama from speaking on campus — a reversal covered in Tuesday's episode that raises broader questions about how faith-based institutions navigate public pressure around speaker decisions.
The episode's 'What If We're Wrong?' segment this week focused on Measure A, the county charter overhaul. The strongest counterargument to the measure's oversight provisions, the hosts argued, is not that oversight itself is bad but that the specific design — including appointment processes for the ethics commission and the independent auditor — could create accountability in form without accountability in function. The term-limit extension embedded in the same measure, they noted, benefits the very supervisors who placed it on the ballot, a structural conflict of interest worth naming plainly. Voters who back the measure should watch the appointment procedures in the first year after passage as the clearest signal of whether the oversight bodies will have real independence.
What to Watch Tonight: Results, Rain, and a $7.8 Billion Inheritance
Polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday, at which point results will begin emerging from races that will simultaneously reshape the Board of Supervisors, fill four San Diego City Council seats, and determine the 48th Congressional District — a seat that extends into Riverside County and may take longer than coastal races to resolve. Whatever the outcome in each contest, the winners inherit a $7.8 billion infrastructure backlog on day one and a city that has drawn from its general-fund reserves for the first time in more than a decade following back-to-back nine-figure deficits.
Voters dropping off ballots or leaving vote centers after dark should be aware of the overnight forecast: daytime Tuesday along the coast will be sunny with highs in the mid-to-upper 60s and a zero percent precipitation probability. Tonight, however, the National Weather Service puts San Diego's overnight precipitation probability at 20%, with slight chances also in Mira Mesa and Miramar; Oceanside sits around 10% overnight. Light rain is possible, and wet pavement on surface streets is a real consideration for anyone navigating to a drop box after dark. Wednesday is expected to return to sunny conditions with a continuing warming trend.
Marine conditions are also active: the National Weather Service is warning of outer-water gusts of 20 to 25 knots Tuesday afternoon and evening, with a Small Craft Advisory in effect alongside a Beach Hazards Statement. Boaters and beachgoers should check the NWS San Diego page for current details. On the community calendar, the Lakeside Farmers Market hosts its First Thursday event November 5th, starting at 9 a.m. at Equine Event Services at 11055 Moreno Avenue. Fleet Week San Diego is ongoing — schedules and access can shift, so checking with organizers before traveling is advised.