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councilman tonyDAYSOGfor Mayor of Alameda

How to vote

A ballot is coming to your mailbox. Here is the rest.

Alameda's city elections turn on a low turnout and a small number of votes. Your ballot counts for more in this race than in almost anything else printed on it — and this page is here to be useful to you whoever you end up voting for.

Election day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026.

If you take one thing from this page

Make a plan to vote.

Decide now which one you will do — mail it, drop it in a box, or walk into a vote center — and roughly when. People who decide in advance vote. People who leave it to the day mostly do not.

And if you are mailing it, put it in the post by Tuesday, October 27. That is not our deadline — it is the Alameda County Registrar's own recommendation, a week ahead of the legal one. The law only requires a November 3 postmark, but a week of cushion costs you nothing and it is the difference between a ballot that counts and a ballot that ends up arguing about a postmark.

The dates

  1. October 5, 2026

    Your ballot goes in the mail

    Every active registered voter in California gets one automatically. You do not have to request it. You do not need an excuse to use it. It simply arrives.

  2. October 6, 2026

    Drop boxes open

    Official drop boxes open across Alameda County. Using one is free, and so is mailing it — you never need a stamp either way.

  3. October 19, 2026

    Last day to register and be guaranteed a mailed ballot

    Miss this one and you can still vote. California lets you register conditionally at any vote center, right through election day.

  4. October 24, 2026

    Vote centers open

    Alameda County runs vote centers instead of old-style precinct polling places. Any center in the county works. You are not tied to the one near your house.

  5. November 3, 2026

    Election day

    A mailed ballot has to be postmarked today or earlier. If you are dropping it off or voting in person, you have until 8:00 p.m. Not 8:05.

  6. November 10, 2026

    Last day a mailed ballot can arrive

    As long as it was postmarked by November 3, the county still counts it if it lands by today. This is why the results move for a week after election night — nothing is going wrong, the mail is just still coming in.

Check your registration

It takes about thirty seconds. Do it even if you are certain — a move or a name change knocks people off the rolls quietly, and nobody writes to tell you.

What else is on your ballot

The Alameda ballot is long, and the mayor's race is one line on it. Knowing what is coming makes the whole thing faster to fill out.

  • Mayor of Alameda

    Choose one. Tony Daysog, Tracy Jensen, and Malia Vella are on the ballot. There is no runoff and no ranked choice — whoever gets the most votes wins.

  • Alameda City Council

    Choose two. Six candidates are running: Thushan Amarasiriwardena, Maria L. Bondonno, Marcie Johnson, Tyler Savage, Steve Slauson, and Amos White.

  • AUSD Board of Education

    Choose two, from Joyce Boyd, Carrie Hahnel, Gary Lym, Mike McMahon, and Sarah Putnam.

  • Measure L — $300 million infrastructure bond

    Needs two-thirds to pass. Tony was the only councilmember who voted against putting it on the ballot in this form, and he would rather you heard why from him than from a mailer. The objection is the missing itemized list, not the levees. It is explained in full on the climate page.

  • Measures M and N — city charter amendments

    Housekeeping amendments to the Alameda city charter. Simple majority each.

Candidate lists reflect the City Clerk's final roster. If anything on this page looks wrong to you, tell us and we will fix it. We wrote it to be useful whoever you end up voting for, including if that is not Tony.