Elections Commission
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Elections Commission
Approved: June 20, 2007
Minutes of the Special Meeting at City Hall Room 421
June 6, 2007
- 1.CALL TO ORDER. Commissioner Gerard Gleason called the meeting to order at 6:06 pm.
- 2.ROLL CALL. PRESENT: Commissioners Gerard Gleason, Richard P. Matthews, Victor Hwang, Winnie Yu, Deputy City Attorney Jon Givner, and Director of Elections John Arntz. Commissioners Tajel Shah and Arnold Townsend arrived after the Roll Call. EXCUSED: President Jennifer Meek.
The Commission Secretary announced that the next meeting of the Elections Commission would be a Retreat on Wednesday, June 20, 2007 in City Hall Room 034, at Noon.
Deputy City Attorney Jon Givner announced that Deputy City Attorney Ann O’Leary will be returning this week and will be working part-time until August. Both will be sharing Elections Department and Commission assignments. Mr. Givner asked the Commissioners to consider him their primary contact, and if he is unavailable, to contact Ms. O’Leary. Both attorneys will be present at the retreat.
- Director’s Report: Update on securing a voting system for 2007-2008.
Director Arntz reported that the Department is awaiting Elections Systems & Software (ES&S) getting their application in to the Secretary of State’s Office (SoS) to begin the certification process. He said it appears, in the information he has received from ES&S, that the company is combining the certification with the “top to bottom review”. These are separate processes. The “top to bottom review” is for existing certified systems, not for a system that has been updated or that is seeking certification. The Eagle system is not going through the “top to bottom review”; it will require an application for certification to be turned in to the SoS.
Public Comment. Brent Turner said that he spoke to Mr. Lou Dedier of ES&S today and he was easy to reach by phone.
Commissioner Shah asked members of the public to contact ES&S and encourage them to submit their application by Friday.
- NEW BUSINESS
- Presentation of information regarding certification of ES&S voting system for 2007-2008 (ES&S) Commissioner Gleason referred to the statement received from ES&S earlier today, and attached to these minutes. He said that he questioned the wording in the last sentence regarding the 4C’s being able to read “basically” any marking device, when he spoke to ES&S earlier today and was given a vague response that referred him to the Operations Manual.
Director Arntz said that he was informed by ES&S that they intend to have their application in to the SoS by Friday of this week and he doesn’t want to consider preparations for back up plans until the SoS has made a decision.
Public Comment. Brent Turner said that the main point with the tabulator is the source code and that the DoE should continue on the path of “transparent systems”, and that he is in favor of a hand count instead of a machine count without transparency.
- Discussion and possible action regarding steps the Commission can take to ensure that San Francisco has a certified voting system in 2007-2008. The Commission may consider sending a formal request to the Secretary of State or the Board of Supervisors, passing a resolution for distribution to the Board of Supervisors urging action, authorizing one or more Commissioners to speak in person with members of the Board of Supervisors or representatives of the Secretary of State, or other actions to achieve these goals. Commissioner Hwang asked if the Commission had previously sent a letter to the Board. Commissioner Shah answered that the Commission decided not to send the letter at the previous meeting because of timeliness and the Commission authorized the President to speak to the Secretary of State’s Office. Deputy City Attorney Givner explained that there was an interim period of confusion regarding whether ES&S had submitted its application for certification, after the company had pulled out of the “top to bottom review”, and now we know that ES&S hasn’t submitted its application.
Director Arntz said that he hoped that the Commission would contact ES&S and push for them to get their application into the SoS.
Commissioner Hwang MOVED and Commissioner Shah SECONDED that Vice President Townsend telephone ES&S to request that they get their application in to the SoS by Friday of this week and to follow up with a letter regarding this request.
Public Comment. Brent Turner said he had never had a problem reaching ES&S by phone and that they have been responsive to him in the past. Carol Bella said that neither ES&S or Sequoia were any good, and that in a couple of years companies will have a better system. Jennifer Kidder said paper ballots would be better and provided copies of hand counting instructions that were used successfully in New Hampshire.
The Roll Call Vote was UNANIMOUS to contact ES&S.
- Discussion and possible action to approve the Elections Commission minutes of the May 16, 2007 meeting. Commissioner Matthews MOVED and Commissioner Hwang SECONDED the approval of these minutes.
Public Comment. Carol Bella said that she felt that an important part of her comments at the May 16th meeting was not recorded in the minutes. She asked that the Commission allow her to append written comments to the minutes after the meeting. Roger Donaldson complimented the Secretary on the Commission’s accurate minutes and said that he understood that sometimes what a speaker thinks is an important point in that speaker’s statement could be overlooked. Brent Turner asked that the Commission allow him to submit written comments.
Deputy City Attorney Givner suggested, and Commission Secretary Rodriques agreed, that attendees may provide a statement of not more than 150 words which can be attached to the minutes. Commissioner Matthews asked whether merely listing the speakers would satisfy the Sunshine Ordinance. Deputy City Attorney Givner responded that the ordinance requires that the speakers be listed, that the minutes note whether they supported or opposed the motion (if any), and that the minutes include a brief summary of their comments, which may be as short as “Mr. X supported the motion,” depending on the comments. The Commission has the authority to amend the minutes before adoption to ensure their accuracy.
Commissioner Shah MOVED and Commissioner Matthews SECONDED an amendment to the MOTION to allow for attachments to the minutes of statements of no more than 150 words from speakers. The Roll Call Vote was UNANIMOUS for this amendment.
The Roll Call Vote to approve the minutes with the amendment was also UNANIMOUS.
ADJOURNMENT was at 7:09 pm.
ATTACHMENTS:
From: Election Systems & Software:
Statement for the City of San Francisco
4C and Eagle Tabulation Systems
6/6/07
ES&S received from the State of California last Thursday the information needed to move forward
with the California Top to Bottom System Review. ES&S is currently reviewing the new agreement
provided by the State, and is preparing to release a new application that includes RCV for the City of
San Francisco. Working closely with the Secretary State Office, ES&S will try to establish the
earliest testing date possible. We will keep the City of San Francisco informed of our effort, and
planning surrounding this new certification event.
One item that has come up prior to the State certification event concerning the City of San Francisco
is the difference in the scanning capabilities between the 4C central tabulators and Eagle tabulation
machines. The 4C central tabulators rely on visible light technology, and have been run successfully
in thousands of election in the City of San Francisco as well as across the country. Absentee ballots
can be successfully ran through the 4C central tabulators since many different marking devices may
be used. The Eagle tabulation machines which rely on infrared scanning technology have also been
used in thousands of elections. The Eagle tabulators are used in the precincts and have approved
marking devices supplied with them to make sure the scanners properly see the ballot marks. The
major difference from the scanning point of view is making sure that accepted marking devices are
used during in-precinct voting with the Eagle tabulation machines as opposed to the 4C's which can
have basically any marking device.