On Nov. 3, San Francisco voters will decide Proposition D, a charter amendment that would make it harder to put local measures on the ballot. KQED and GrowSF both cast it as a response to long, crowded ballots: the city now requires only 2% of registered voters to qualify a citizen ordinance by petition — about 10,600 signatures — the lowest threshold GrowSF cites among major California cities. See our Nov. 2026 election guide for the rest of the local slate.

What a yes vote changes

According to KQED and GrowSF, a yes vote would:

  • Raise the signature requirement for a regular citizen initiative ordinance from 2% to 8% of registered voters — about 42,500 signatures instead of about 10,600.
  • Keep the special-election petition at 10%, but measure it against registered voters rather than votes cast for mayor, lifting that bar from about 39,000 to about 53,100 signatures. GrowSF notes a standalone special election costs the city at least $5 million.
  • End the mayor's power to place a measure on the ballot alone.
  • Require a Board of Supervisors majority (six votes) to refer a measure, instead of four supervisors.
  • Let all of a measure's proponents jointly withdraw it up to 102 days before the election — something state law already allows for statewide initiatives.

GrowSF's comparison table puts peer cities higher than San Francisco's current 2%: Oakland and San Diego at 10% of registered voters, San Jose at 5%. The controller's office, GrowSF reports, expects a minimal fiscal impact and says costs would likely fall by an amount that cannot yet be pinned down.

How it got on the ballot

Prop D itself arrived by initiative petition. GrowSF says supporters submitted about 80,100 signatures; the Department of Elections certified the petition on July 23, 2026, above the 53,076 valid signatures required for that drive. Peter Leoni is named as the official proponent. The signature campaign was funded by Clean Up City Hall, Mayor Daniel Lurie's ballot-measure committee, which gathered signatures for three charter amendments including this one. SF.gov lists Prop D among qualified Nov. 3 charter amendments, with Lurie as the official proponent argument author and the San Francisco Labor Council as the official opponent author.

Supporters and opponents

KQED lists Mayor Daniel Lurie, Board President Rafael Mandelman, U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, GrowSF and SF YIMBY among yes supporters. Their pitch: San Francisco puts far more measures before voters than peer counties — GrowSF counts 10 local measures this cycle, 15 in 2024 and 2022, and 24 in 2016, versus three in Oakland in 2024 — and laws passed by thin petition drives are hard for the Board to fix later.

On the no side, KQED lists the San Francisco Labor Council, Senior & Disability Action, the San Francisco Tenants Union, the San Francisco Women's Political Committee and United Educators of San Francisco. Opponents warn that a fourfold signature jump would lock out neighborhood groups without big budgets, and that past citizen measures delivered rent control, legal aid, and school and child-care funding.

Prop D needs a simple majority. Related charter fights on the same ballot include Proposition F on mayoral hiring power and Proposition B on a path to a public bank.