Elections Commission
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City and County of San Francisco
Elections Commission
Approved: September 21, 2005
Minutes of the Meeting at City Hall Room 408
August 17, 2005
1. CALL TO ORDER. President Matthews called the meeting to order at 7:09 pm.
2. ROLL CALL. PRESENT: Commissioners, Gerard Gleason, Eric Safire, Arnold Townsend, Sheila Chung, and Richard P. Matthews.
EXCUSED: Michael Mendelson.
Announcement of new meeting procedure:
President Matthews announced that the Commission will no longer require a motion to introduce a discussion as long as that discussion is properly noticed on the agenda. Additionally, items listed on the agenda for discussion no longer will be forwarded to Committee at the outset, he said, because the Commission owes the public the opportunity for discussion as posted on the agenda. President Matthews added that the Commission will use two of Roberts’ Rules during discussions: Commissioners will be recognized before they are allowed to speak, and no Commissioner can speak twice on an issue until all Commissioners who wish to speak on the issue have done so.
Commissioner Eric Safire requested that the minutes reflect that he objects to the suspension of Roberts’ Rules of Order.
3. Presentation by Supervisor Sean Elsbernd regarding proposed legislation to allow individuals and organizations to submit only one free ballot argument per measure and establishing new priority level for state and local elected officials registered to vote in San Francisco who submit ballot arguments. Supervisor Elsbernd gave a brief history of the legislation that was first proposed last year by Supervisor Tony Hall. He said the motive was to have a level playing field for each person submitting a ballot argument in the lottery for which there is no official proponent or opponent argument. He reported that in the past, an individual was permitted to submit numerous entries in the lottery, which would increase that individual’s likelihood of having his argument selected when the drawing was conducted. The legislation does not limit the number of paid ballot arguments.
President Matthews said that the Commission was advised by counsel last year, when the legislation was first proposed, of legal issues concerning this legislation.
Deputy City Attorney Moll advised that the Commission was free to discuss policy issues concerning the legislation. But if the Commission wanted to discuss the legal advice, the Commission must first consider whether to waive its attorney-client privilege.
Public Comment – David Pilpel said that in the past, when organizations had a better chance of getting their argument published in the VIP (Voter Information Pamphlet), sometimes individuals created “phony” organizations in an effort to get their argument on the ballot. He said that he was in support of this legislation and urged the Commission to put it on its September meeting agenda.
4. DIRECTOR'S REPORT
Voter Services Division – The division has sent out the 75 day overseas voter notices. Overseas voters must return applications to the Department in order to receive their ballots.
Campaign Services – Last Friday was the deadline for nominations, and staff has been heavily involved in handling the paperwork. The division is interviewing candidates to work the phone bank which begins operation in September.
Poll Locating/ADA – This division has been working with the Secretary of State’s Office to develop a survey that all counties will be using to determine if a poll site is accessible. The division has added four staff for this year’s election. So far, thirty-eight polling locations from last year have cancelled. Staff will need to find replacements
Budget / Personnel – The division is involved in the very paper-intensive project of hiring all the temporary staff needed for November, and processing invoices for materials ordered for the election.
Publications – The Ballot Simplification Committee ended last week and now the materials will need to be typeset. Vendors are being contacted with the goal of the DoE being first on the presses with the ballots and VIP. We want to be the first county to have the information mailed to voters.
Poll Worker Division - The division has brought back staff who worked the last election and has conducted a mock new clerk training class that was attended by managers and the Director. This allowed us to see how the poll workers were being trained. A new inspectors’ class will be implemented in early September. Work continues on the Poll Worker Manual which should be completed two weeks prior to the commencement of classes.
Technology Division – The division has set up the DIMS data base that will allow all divisions to submit data concerning specific elections. They are working with the Controller’s Office on the payroll software the Department will be using. In the past, the Controller’s Office has been processing checks for polling sites and owners of those sites. We are hoping that the process will improve once the Department has direct interface with the software the City uses to create these checks. Additionally, the division is preparing computers for the temporary staff who are being hired for the upcoming election.
Outreach – The division has been attending community events. Two temporary bilingual Chinese, one Russian and one Spanish have been added to their staff.
Brochures, flyers and public service announcements are being prepared.
Request for Proposals (RFPs) – The pilot program went well in City Hall. The vendors were surprised at the turnout. The vendor’s reports will be on the DoE’s website. From August 29 until September 9, the selection panel will have an opportunity to interview the vendors again.
President Matthews asked if the Director knew how many citizens attended the pilot program. Director Arntz said that he doesn’t have a count, but that it was several hundred.
Public Comment. James Soper thanked the City for running the mock election. He said it was impossible for the public to read the tabulations on the computing screen and suggested an additional monitor be placed in the public viewing area.
6. PRESIDENT’S REPORT
President Matthews reported that he had participated in the mock election twice. The first time, he marked the ballots correctly. The second time, he purposely made gross errors to see how the equipment would handle those ballots. He said it was informative to see how each system responded.
7. COMMISSIONERS’ REPORTS
Commissioner Townsend reported that he visited the Department on Monday and joined the Director and ten or twelve journalists representing countries all over the world. The visitors were interested in learning about the Commission and many expressed concern about bribery which seemed to be prevalent in some countries. The Commissioner explained why it wasn’t the case in San Francisco.
8. Budget and Policy Committee Report
Commissioner Gleason reported that the Committee heard a presentation from Eileen Hirst, of the Sheriff’s Department who explained what the Sheriff’s Department does regarding ex-offenders’ voting rights. He said Director Arntz reported to the Committee on steps the DoE is taking to do outreach to ex-offenders as well. The Commissioner said he was very impressed with the new information that will be in the VIP informing the public of ex-offender’s voting rights because the information can reach their friends and family, and the general public who may not have known about the laws.
Director Arntz reported that the DoE has now added a web page to its site with information for ex-offenders regarding their voting rights. By next week the Department will have completed a brochure which will be provided to Prisoner Services. The Community Parole Commission will be reviewing the brochure to determine if it is something they can use as well.
Commissioner Townsend said that he would like to see the Commission approach the State, once San Francisco has a good, working system, to implement state legislation.
Director Arntz replied that this would be a great idea to bring forward.
Commissioner Safire said it was important to include community organizations that are active in this area, like Calvin Jones. These groups and people would be able to let the DoE know where to place the brochures.
Commissioner Chung thanked the department for taking such quick action to include information on the website, the VIP and to create a brochure for outreach to ex-offenders.
Commissioner Gleason reported that the Committee discussed the all-postal-return ballot proposal and will be getting more information from the City Attorney’s Office, will be looking at what might be the barriers, and what the SoS has learned from its investigations into this suggestion. The Committee will continue to explore an all-postal-return ballot.
9. PRESENTATION BY THE DIRECTOR OF ELECTIONS about operations during the six months prior to election Day. Director Arntz presented his report highlighting the important points in each division on a monthly basis:
MAY
Voter Services conducts voter file maintenance using DMV records, SoS files, returned mail and by sending out postcards to voters.
Budget / Personnel prepares information for the Mayor’s Budget Office.
Ballot Distribution prepares for special elections for Health Services, Retirement Board, and Business Improvement Districts.
Other Divisions prepare plans and procedures, review and update materials and attend the monthly new citizen ceremonies.
JUNE
Voter Services begins verifying signatures-in-lieu petitions, contacts agencies and organizations ensuring they are stocked with registration cards: post offices, colleges, libraries and now the jails.
Campaign Services does in-taking of signatures-in-lieu forms and begins holding candidate workshops.
Poll Locating / ADA reviews sites and information on sites as well as continues obtaining accessible polling locations.
Budget / Personnel works with the Board of Supervisors Budget Analyst to finalize the Department’s budget and completes the filing of requisitions to close out the fiscal year.
Poll Worker Division commences holding training advisory board meetings where they invite experienced poll workers to offer ideas for improving training. The division reserves training sites, revises the poll worker manual and begins formatting the letters (which are sent to prospective workers) and printing materials.
Technology assists with the data purges and sets up databases for the other divisions, performs maintenance on servers and personal computers as well as updating the website with election-specific materials such as guides, forms and applications.
Outreach staff attend events, hold community based groups meetings, prepare materials with the input of these community groups.
Ballot Distribution reviews the security plan, prepares materials for vendors to bid on the Absentee Voting (AV) envelopes, prepares for any special elections (Health Service System -HSS, Retirement, Business Improvement Districts- BID).
JULY
Voter Services starts to receive the initiative petitions on July 11, does the random sampling of the petitions, and labeling and reviewing the signatures on these petitions. With the beginning of the new fiscal year, temporary staff is hired to purge files, which is necessary to keep voter records current. This allows the more experienced staff to work on the petitions, update forms and translations, and work on absentee and overseas applications.
Campaign Services begins issuing and receiving nomination petitions on July 18. They hold candidate workshops. July 31 is the deadline for Fair Political Practices Committee (FPPC) filings which produce a very large quantity of paperwork that must be copied and made available for the public.
Poll Locating / ADA updates forms and flyers, begins contacting public facilities to be polling places, mails letters to previous polling places and starts logging this information into the database for use in November.
Budget / Personnel begins requisitions for the new fiscal year, begins the hiring procedures for the temporary employees and secures rooms and services for these staff.
Poll Worker Services seeks temporary staff members, holds training advisory meetings and creates its class schedules.
Outreach Services hires and trains its temporary staff, revises and updates their training curriculum, develops brochures, holds advisory forums, and develops its presentation calendar which will be posted on the DoE’s website.
Ballot Distribution sets street closures with the Department of Parking and Traffic, reserves the Civic Center Garage space for the vehicles we will be using, reviews and plans for the Processing Center, works with the AV envelope vendor on the layout and works with the post office regarding mailing procedures and deadlines.
Publications prepares the official notices in the newspaper, meets with the translation vendor, reviews designs for the VIP covers, arranges for the library to create audio tapes of the VIP, prepares for Ballot Simplification Committee meetings and sends preliminary ballot typesetting to the vendor.
AUGUST
Voter Services begins preparing for early voting in City Hall, and prepares for off-site voting if there is an emergency evacuation. The division assembles mailers to overseas voters and assists in creating election databases with the Technology division.
Campaign Services holds ballot argument workshops, receives and reviews nomination papers, ballot designations and candidate statements.
Poll Locating / ADA seeks its temporary staff, sends poll locating teams to sites after receiving availability letters, and contacts public schools regarding their being polling sites.
Budget / Personnel finalizes the ballot order.
Poll Worker Division hires its temporary staff, prints its manual, sets up training class database, schedules trainers, sets curriculums, meets with vendors regarding voting equipment training, begins production of high school materials for each school, contacts the Community Based Organizations regarding poll worker training, secures materials and transportation for classes, mails and then processes poll worker availability letters, begins preparing the Field Election Deputy (FED) program, and opens the poll worker intake room.
Technology sets up the election in the DIMS data system, does server maintenance, prepares PCs for the extra staff and the election center.
Outreach distributes materials to staff for review, posts materials on the website, develops citywide mailers, attends events, provides demonstrations and holds an advisory forum.
Ballot Distribution prepares the 240 Van Ness Avenue site, begins uplink site meetings and planning, meets with Sheriff’s Office personnel, prepares the City Hall security plan with the Building Services Department, prepares Brooks Hall, receives and reviews the AV envelopes, receives, prepares and labels the Provisional Voting (PV) envelopes, and finalizes the security plan.
Publications holds Ballot Simplification Committee meetings 8/1 – 8/12, prepares measures, bonds, charter amendments, ordinances, legal text for layout, completes ballot typing, begins coding DIMS for elections, prepares notices regarding submission of arguments, prepares for public review periods. prepares ballot measure digests, financial analyses for layout, assists in formatting, then proofreads the ballots, and prepares the translations for the ballot and the VIP.
SEPTEMBER
Voter Services prepares the permanent absentee database, mails official facsimiles of ballots to overseas and military voters, finalize preparations for early voting, sends notices to the 17 mail-ballot precinct voters (these are precincts with 250 or less registered voters) and sends them information regarding two nearby polling places with their ballot type. The division will train temporary staff, prepare ballots for early voting, hospital patient voting, overseas voting, jail voting and begin processing the increasing numbers of registration cards and mail.
Campaign Services prepares and recruits for Election Observer Panel, hires and trains phone bank personnel.
Poll Locating / ADA begins organizing routes for delivery of voting equipment (to the 562 polling places) and inputs final data regarding the polling places for the addressing of the VIPs.
Budget / Personnel begins organizing the vehicles (approximately 200) and drivers and monitoring incoming supplies.
Poll Worker Division conducts high school outreach for student poll workers, assigns poll workers to classes, assigns poll workers to precincts, works with warehouse staff and Ballot Distribution Division to assemble materials for precinct supply boxes, trains DoE staff, hires FEDs and prepares supplies and routes for FEDs.
Technology completes writing the scripts for the Logic and Accuracy testing, and sends the 60-day registration information to the SoS.
Outreach organizes the ethnic media press briefing, attends events and provides presentations, sends artwork to the newspapers, prepares Public Service Announcements for airing, mails Ranked Choice Voting trilingual postcards and sends first outreach newsletter.
Ballot Distribution prepares security badges for DoE staff, prints the labels for the rice bags that are used to hold the ballots provided to the inspectors, works with vendor in ink jetting permanent absentee envelopes, receives and inventories the absentee, generic, duplicate and test ballots. The division prepares the precinct ballots for the inspectors’ rice bags, the FEDs. and the District Vans, as well as prepares and mails ballots to permanent absentee voters.
Publications sends ballot artwork to the vendor, confirms the VIP’s size and weight with the post office, finalizes proofing of the VIP for printing, sends the VIP to the library for audio taping, proofs the Spanish and Chinese VIP and mails the VIPs (not more than 40 days, not less than 21 days before the election).
OCTOBER
Voter Services sends absentee ballots to hospitals, jails, etc., begins early voting, receives AVs and scans bar codes prior to reviewing signatures, processes AV requests, issues second ballot requests, prepares for last day of new citizen voting.
Campaign Services starts the phone bank, conducts open house, prepares for statewide FPPC filing deadline.
Poll Locating / ADA tracks and inputs new poll locations, prepares change of polling place signs, prepares maps of polling places, finalizes route sheets and prepares cor-o-van for deliveries.
ElectionCenter finalizes materials, trains staff, holds mock sessions, meets with DTIS for phones and computer services.
Poll Worker prepares its standby poll worker dispatch plan which operates in the South Light Court on election day, trains poll workers, and ensures that the polls are staffed with sufficient bilingual poll workers.
Technology completes the logic and accuracy testing.
Outreach continues its presentations.
Ballot Distribution finalizes distribution of precinct ballots to the inspectors and mails the last of the AV ballots.
Publications monitors the mailing of the VIPs, and works with the post office to resolve any delivery issues.
Public Comment – David Pilpel complimented the Department for its plan for tracking the chain of custody of ballots. He asked that updated AV ballot information be available daily for campaigns. Jay Martin encouraged the Director to put the information in his report on the Department’s website, and asked that polling place information be printed in larger typeface on the VIPs.
10. NEW BUSINESS
(a) Discussion and possible action to approve the minutes for the Commission meeting of July 20, 2005. Commissioner Townsend MOVED and Commission Chung SECONDED approval of the minutes. Motion CARRIED unanimously.
(b) Discussion and possible action to approve the Election Plan for the November 8, 2005 election. Commissioner Gleason suggested that the plan, on page 23, under guidelines, should show a statement saying that the guidelines listed below were suggested and approved by the Elections Commission at the regular meeting on May 18, 2005. The Commissioner said the plan was very thorough and that he appreciated all the work that was involved in creating it. Commissioner Townsend MOVED, with the amendment, and Commissioner Gleason SECONDED the adoption of the Election Plan.
Public Comment – David Pilpel asked that the letters of the measures be included in the plan, the number of mail ballot precincts, the uplink sites addresses, and a glossary of the abbreviations used in the plan or an explanation when those abbreviations first appear in the plan. Jay Martin said that if a voter went to a different district to cast his/her ballot, that the correct ballot for that voter would be available, and that the plan should state that there will be “no such thing as a wrong ballot type”. Mr. Martin asked that there be a report produced after each election that accounts for the uncounted ballots, disqualified ballots, how many and for what reasons, including the AV that failed.
The Motion CARRIED unanimously.
(c) Discussion and possible action to submit a request to the Board of Supervisors for a waiver allowing certain City employees to work on the November 8, 2005 election. Director Arntz explained that this is the process followed by the DoE for each election if it is determined that more staffing for election day is necessary. Commissioner Chung MOVED and Commissioner Townsend SECONDED the approval to submit this request.
Public Comment – David Pilpel suggested that the motion sent to the Board not be specific regarding the numbers of the positions requested to be filled. This would give the Director the ability to make changes in assignments on election day if needed. Additionally, Mr. Pilpel asked for an updated DoE organizational chart and an election day organizational chart.
Motion CARRIED unanimously.
11. Discussion regarding items for future agendas. Commissioner Safire said that he was interested in learning how Proposition 77, regarding redistricting, will effect the role of the Commission and the Department.
- Public Comment on any issue within the Elections Commission’s general jurisdiction. Roger Donaldson said he participated in the mock election last week and suggested that security should be extended in the Request For Proposal (RFP) contract with whomever is chosen as the selected vendor, as well as standard language and operating systems. Mr. Donaldson suggested that the Department might look at leasing the equipment instead of buying due to obsolescence, and that the Department ask the SoS to invest HAVA funds in research and development. Jim Soper praised the Commission and the Director for their success in Ranked Choice Voting and said he was concerned with wireless transmission of election data because of the chance of security breaches. David Pilpel complimented the Commission on its recent relaxation of Robert’s Rules and said the meeting went much more smoothly and efficiently this evening.
12. ADJOURNMENT at 8:35 pm.