Budget and Oversight of Public Elections Committee
2009 2008 2007 2006 ELECTIONS COMMISSION
BUDGET AND OVERSIGHT
OF PUBLIC ELECTIONS COMMITTEE
City Hall, Room 421
City andCounty of San Francisco
Minutes of the Meeting Held
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
(Approved: April 1, 2009)
1. Call to Order and Roll Call. Chairperson Matthews called the meeting to order at 6:02 pm. PRESENT: Commissioners Richard P. Matthews, Rosabella Safont, Deputy City Attorney Andrew Shen and Director John Arntz.
2. Discussion and possible action to approve the Budget and Oversight of Public Elections Committee minutes for March 4, 2009. The Roll Call Vote to approve the minutes was UNANIMOUS.
3. Briefing from the Director of Elections regarding any update of the Elections Department Draft Budget for FY 2009 – 2010.
Director Arntz reported that the Elections Department’s draft fiscal year budget has been entered into the City’s budget process and, to date, there has been no response from the Mayor’s Office. The Director expects comments later this month.
Chairperson Matthews asked if the state would be assisting with the expenses for the special election in May. Director Arntz replied that he expects that the legislature will fund the election since the Governor has signed the letter of intent regarding that election. This would be the same process as was followed for last February’s primary election, which was an unexpected election for that fiscal year’s budget.
4. Discussion and possible action to revise the Election Plan format. Chairperson Matthews reminded the committee that the format has been an ongoing process for several years, and that the San Francisco Charter requires the Department to submit an election plan to the Commission prior to each election, and then for the Commission to evaluate for its effectiveness after each election. Some years ago, some Commissioners wrote the “chassis” of the election plan, but this basic format has not always been satisfactory to the Department or to some members of the public who read the election plan carefully each election. So in the spirit of creating something better, Commissioner Matthews wanted the Director to feel free to discard the current format and start over; provided that the election plan still be comprehensive, informative, and helpful.
He asked the Director to offer any changes he would like to see.
Director Arntz said that he would like to see the plan streamlined and offered the following changes:
- Shortening the Introduction
- Remove Governing of Elections and instead include it in a footnote
- Remove What’s on the Ballot
- Remove Critical Dates and Deadlines from the body of the document and attach the calendar that the Department already prepares for every election in its place
- Keep New Practices but perhaps streamline it
Chairperson Matthews suggested appending the Pollworker Manual to the Election Plan as well, and Director Arntz agreed to do so.
Commissioner Safont agreed and said she liked the Election Plan because it has a lot of information and is a refresher for people familiar with elections and helpful to those who are not. She agreed with the sections the Director suggested removing from the plan.
Chairperson Matthews asked if the script in the Pollworker’s Manual for offering ballots to voters for the next election will be changed. He said that the language used in the early 2008 elections, “you will be given a paper ballot unless you prefer to use a touch screen” was very appropriate because it struck an exact balance and was informative without being coercive, and was created by the Department.
Director Arntz said that the Department can make an explicit statement about the policy regarding voters receiving paper ballots during pollworker training. Chairperson Matthews thanked the Director for this inclusion.
Chairperson Matthews asked when the Election Plan for the May special election would be ready for the Commission to review. Director Arntz answered that he would have a draft for the Commission the week before the April 15, 2009 meeting.
ADJOURNMENT at 6:18 pm.