Elections Commission
2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 City and County of San Francisco
Elections Commission
Approved:02/16/05
Minutes of the Meeting held
January 19, 2005
- CALL TO ORDER. President Townsend called the meeting to order at 7:03 pm.
2. ROLL CALL. PRESENT: Commissioners Arnold Townsend, Gerard Gleason, Sheila Chung, Eric Safire, Richard Matthews, Michael Mendelson, Deputy City Attorney Miguel Marquez and Director John Arntz.
4. DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Director John Arntz reported that the Voter Services, Poll Workers, and Campaign Services Divisions have been updating their data bases and preparing calendars and schedules for the upcoming season. The next election cycle which begins in July. The Poll Locating Division has attained 72% accessibility for all polling sites. The goal is %100 by November. The Budget and Personnel Division has laid off a small number of temporary staff. There is no intention of laying off any of the Department’s permanent employees. The first submission of the budget to the Mayor’s Budget Office for review is due the end of February. The Department’s Technology Division is assisting all the divisions in clearing and creating new data bases, as the Department winds down from the seven elections it has held in the past two years, with five of them in the last 13 months.
The contract with Election Systems and Software (ES&S) expired January 15, 2005. Currently, the DoE does not have a contract with an elections systems provider. The Department is preparing a Request For Proposal (RFP). The Director has been in conversations with ES&S regarding a contract extension but no firm information is available at the time of this meeting. Mr. Arntz said that the most favorable approach would be to get a two-year contract extension because ES&S already has a certified Ranked Choice System. This would be the least expensive route for the Department, however, in preparation for any contingencies, the Department is going forward with the RFP process for an election system to be used this November.
The Director reminded the Commission that the Ranked Choice Voting System portion of the City’s voting system had conditional certification – good for one election only. In February, the Voting Systems Procedures Panel will review that conditional certification and consider how that system performed in last November’s election and the DoE’s opinion of how it performed. The Director said that he had no indication that the certification was being removed and that he remains optimistic.
Commissioner Mendelson asked how many other vendors are there who might respond to the RFP. Mr. Arntz replied that there are four other companies who are certified.
President Townsend asked the Director to inform him if extension of the contract with ES&S is formalized so that he may contact the Board of Supervisors and help shepherd the contract to approval.
Commissioner Safire asked if the Commission must authorize the Director to enter into contract discussions with ES&S. President Townsend answered that the Commission does not have to get involved yet but would consider the matter at the appropriate time in order to provide guidance to the Director whether to extend the contract, and if not, then to go forth with the RFP process.
Deputy City Attorney Marquez agreed.
Director Arntz advised the Commission that he has spoken to members of the Board and feels that they will be in favor of the contract’s extension.
The Director reminded the Commission that the State sold bonds in 2002, under Proposition 41, for $200M to upgrade voting technology. San Francisco was allotted $5.2M for this purpose. The DoE used $2.5M for upgrading the optical scanning voting equipment, leaving a remainder of $3.M. This amount is not enough to pay for touch screens for elections. The estimated cost to do so is at least $15M. Mr. Arntz reminded the Commission that the Help America Vote Acts requires that all polling places be handicapped accessible by January 2006, and this is where he hopes to spend the balance of the Proposition 41 funds.
- Budget and Policy Committee Report
Chairperson Mendelson reported that the Committee met the previous evening with the chair of the Ballot Simplification Committee (BSC) who, among other things suggested that a stipend might encourage more citizens to join the BSC. He said that the Committee agreed that the Director would work on this suggestion.
Mr. Mendelson congratulated Commissioner Gleason on the Elections Plan template he prepared and said that he hoped the other members of the Commission had carefully reviewed it. The Commission Secretary is to collect additions, changes from each Commissioner and incorporate them into a draft for review, first by the Budget and Policy Committee. Once the Committee approves the template, it will be brought before the Commission for final approval.
Mr. Mendelson commended the Director for his work to bring the Department’s budget in line with the budgetary restrictions mandated by the Mayor’s Office. He stated that the DoE hasn’t had to request a supplemental appropriation since the Director’s tenure.
Commissioner Chung asked what was the deadline for feedback on the Election Plan template. Chairperson Mendelson asked that input be given to the Secretary as soon as possible. Commissioner Chung asked if giving it to Secretary Rodriques in time for the next Budget and Policy Committee meeting would be appropriate. Commissioner Mendelson agreed that it would.
President Townsend thanked the Budget And Policy Committee for it’s work on the template because it will eliminate this process in the future and will be a general document for the basis of the plan, with the exception of any specifics for a particular election.
The President asked the Director to keep him informed of any budget hearings before the Board of Supervisors because he plans to attend and give the Director support. President Townsend invited other Commissioners to join him.
7. New Business
(a) Discussion and possible action to approve the minutes for the Commission meeting of December 15, 2004. Commissioner Matthews MOVED and Commissioner Safire SECONDED to approve the minutes. The MOTION CARRIED.
(b) Discussion and possible action to propose an amendment to California Elections Code section 12105, which requires pre-election publication of poll workers and polling places in a newspaper. Instead of newspaper publication, the Department of Elections could post the information on its website and in its main office, as a cost-savings measure. (This item was continued from the December 15, 2004 meeting). Commissioner Mendelson MOVED and Commissioner Safire SECONDED. Director Arntz reported that the California Association of Election and County Officials is attempting to a similar bill through the legislature this month. It would still be a requirement that polling locations be posted in newspapers. Commissioner Mendelson proposed a SUBSTITUTE MOTION: that the San Francisco Elections Commission join in, with other similarly situated election entities, supporting legislation that would change the method whereby polling workers are listed in newspaper publications. Commissioner Safire SECONDED.
Public Comment: David Pilpel asked if the Commission was acting on the proposed substitute motion, and reminded the Commission to report its support to San Francisco’s state legislation committee.
Commissioner Matthews asked Commissioner Mendelson what would be the Commission’s form of support be for the legislation. Commissioner Mendelson answered that the Commission will instruct the Commission Secretary to inform the City’s legislative liaison of the Commission’s motion of support in its minutes. Commissioner Chung asked if the Commission could get a copy of the resolution that is being proposed statewide.
President Townsend said that he opposed this motion because there are numbers of citizens who do not have access to computers to get the names of poll workers.
The MOTION CARRIED, with one opposition vote from President Townsend.
(c) Discussion and possible action to send a letter to the Board of Education and to the private schools whose students served as poll workers in the November 2004 election, thanking them for their invaluable assistance and requesting continued support for future elections. Commissioner Chung MOVED and Commissioner Gleason SECONDED.
Public Comment. David Pilpel said that he felt that the letter should be from the Director and the Commission jointly.
Commissioner Gleason explained that 47% of the poll workers at the November 2004 were high school students, and that this is why he was bringing this item to the Commission. He thanked Commissioner Mendelson for his help in writing the resolution. Commissioner Gleason said that he was aware that the DoE had sent letters to the individual students who had worked at the precincts, and to the schools. He said that in lieu of giving the resolution to each student, the resolution would go to the San Francisco Youth Commission, as custodians, in hopes of building a rapport with a peer Commission. The letter will go to the schools and the School Board to acknowledge this and keep this program going. Commissioner Gleason said that he felt it is important to let the state know that assembly bill 1856 was worthwhile, did not cost the state anything, and was very beneficial to voters.
Vice President Safire stated that his recommendation would be that a letter from the Director would be sufficient to the students and the schools.
President Townsend agreed but added that the Commission should also acknowledge the students.
The MOTION was amended to include sending the resolution to the Youth Commission, a letter to the Secretary of State’s Office, and a copy of the resolution to be included with the letter to the schools.
MOTION CARRIED with two opposition votes from Commissioners Mendelson and Safire.
(d) Discussion and possible action to approve an Election Plan Template. San Francisco Charter section 13103.5 requires that the Elections Commission approve an Election Plan in advance of each election. The template would be used by the Department of Elections to prepare the Election Plan for all future elections.
Commissioner Mendelson MOVED to TABLE, Commissioner Matthews SECONDED. President Townsend stated that this action was in line with the discussion earlier in this meeting under the Budget Committee Report.
THIS ITEM WAS TABLED TO THE CALL OF THE CHAIR.
Public Comment. David Pilpel said there should be a preliminary plan and either an update or a final plan as the Election Plan evolves.
(e) Discussion and possible action to reduce the frequency of Commission meetings. Commissioner Safire MOVED and Commissioner Mendelson SECONDED.
Public Comment. David Pilpel asked what would be the meeting dates.
Commissioner Mendelson said that given the effective functioning of the Budget and Policy Committee, it can meet and give enough lead time so that when the one Commission meeting occurs, everyone would have in their possession the information from the Budget and Policy Committee and this would give Commissioners more time to investigate items, give a written report back to the Commission, and allow for more effective discussion. If there is a need for a Special Meeting, it can be called.
MOTION CARRIED unanimously.
Secretary Rodriques asked if the once a month meeting could be on the first Wednesday of each month because the Budget and Policy Committee meeting date is the Tuesday before the third Wednesday of each month. The President and members agreed that this would be the meeting plan.
8. Discussion regarding items for future agendas. Commissioner Chung asked the Director to report on language access in the November 2004 election and plans for the future. Commissioner Chung requested information on how exhausted ballots (over voted and under voted ones) will be reported in the future. President Townsend asked that the reformation of the Voter Outreach Committee be calendared for the next Commission meeting.
9. Public Comment. David Pilpel suggested that the Elections Commission might be able to use Meeting Room 400 for its once a month meeting.
President Townsend asked if the Deputy City Attorney could check to see if the Elections Commission could have a non-voting high school student or a youth member.
ADJOURNED at 7:55 pm