Elections Commission
2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002
City andCounty of San Francisco
Elections Commission
Approved: July 16, 2008
Minutes of the Meeting held
City Hall, Room 408
June 18, 2008
1. President Gleason called the meeting to order at 6:03 pm.
2. COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Commissioners, Gerard Gleason, Richard P. Matthews, Winnie Yu, Jennifer Meek, Joseph B. Phair, Arnold Townsend arrived at 6:10 pm, Deputy City Attorneys Jon Givner and Mollie Lee, and Director John Arntz.
3. Announcements. President Gleason announced that the City Treasurer has made an appointment to complete the term of former Commissioner Tajel Shah. The Commission welcomed Commissioner Rosabella Safont.
President Gleason disclosed that he communicated to the City Treasurer that the Commission had to cancel a meeting recently due to the lack of a quorum and that his appointment to the Commission would be greatly appreciated. He also announced that the some of tonight’s agenda items would be combined or taken out of the order originally posted. He said there were many items on the agenda due to cancelled meetings and some were related and could be consolidated and handled together tonight. The order will be: 7a, 7c, 8b, 8c, 7d, 8d, 7b, 8g, 7a, 8e, and 8f.
4. Public Comment. Tomas Picarello said that he worked for the first time as a Poll Inspector in June 3, 2008 election, and more training for pollworkers and inspectors is needed. He said that 1 ½ hours isn’t enough time to cover all the complexities involved, and although he possesses a law degree, he had trouble. Additionally, he said that in order to get competent and qualified workers, the Elections Department needs to raise the pay scale. Mr. Picarello said that during his instruction, he was told that the Secretary of State told the City that there had to be five people at each precinct using the Edge (touch screen) machine, and he was unable to find authority in the Elections Code. Lastly, he said the City should prohibit City workers from working the elections because there is too much conflict of interest.
David Pilpel said that the language on the agenda for the proposed Close Session needed more detail regarding the names and titles of the individuals involved and he encouraged reducing the number of precincts for the November 2008 election to reduce costs.
Brent Turner said that there will be a demonstration of open source voting systems at “LinuxWorld”, August 5th through August 7th at the Moscone Center.
5. Director’s Report of the June 3, 2008 Consolidated Primary Election.
Director Arntz reported that overall, the election was well organized, in his opinion. All ballots and voter guides were mailed on time, 155,000 Permanent Absentee Ballots were sent out (90,000 were voted), and 82,000 voters showed up at the polls. The turnout is estimated to be 40%, although that count is not official yet. There were 5,500 provisional ballots (PVs) of which 630 were challenged (296 were voters not registered in the City) and 135 people failed to sign the provisional envelope. The Director reported that there were more equipment problems than in the previous two elections and that he felt much of it was due to fatigue – there had been three elections in three months, and people may not have been as careful delivering and picking up voting machines as they had been during previous times. The canvassing at Pier 48 continues and should be completed by next Friday.
Commissioner Phair asked the Director when did he get the requirement from the SoS (Secretary of State) about the five voters on each DRE (Direct Recording Equipment). Director Arntz said that it wasn’t that the Department received notice of the requirement, it was due to the top to bottom review that the State conducted on most voting systems in the state. After that review, the state required all counties that use the Sequoia Voting System touch screen to ensure that five voters use it in each polling place.
Commissioner Phair reminded the Director and Commission that this had been discussed several elections ago and the determination was made that San Francisco was not going to do this, and there would be no training of personal to ensure that at least five voters used each machine. The Director responded that during the first election he didn’t draw attention to the SoS’s requirement because it was not his primary concern. This was the first election with this equipment, there was a very short turnaround between elections, extra manual audits for the absentee ballots, and the Department had only three weeks to get the system in place for the February election. Once the contract was approved after the November election was certified, the Department needed to prepare for the February election. The Director said that he wanted to stay away from the requirement but it is a condition on the system that the SoS, who has the authority to certify systems in California, placed on the system. Director Arntz said that he spoke with the SoS and tried to convince them that to encourage voters to use a piece of equipment or to require volunteers was not the best route to take for the touch screen. But the state said it was a condition and the City has to follow it. The Director said that since there had already been two elections without the condition, he felt it was time to comply with the requirements for the certification of the system.
Commissioner Phair suggested that this requirement be placed in future Election Plans.
President Gleason asked the Director if there was any impact in recruiting pollworkers for November due to the new requirement to file a 1099 Federal Tax Report if the worker is receiving over $600.00. The Director explained that it is a federal requirement that anyone earning a $600.00 stipend within a calendar year receive a 1099 from the City and the income be reported on their taxes. President Gleason said that anyone getting a 1099 must also pay a City business tax of $25.00 if that person is involved in an activity for six days with a given year. President Gleason asked if pollworkers, of which he is one, can check a box that would return their payment to the City, therefore preventing the worker from receiving the 1099. He said this added tax reporting will be a burden on the Department.
President Gleason said that pollworkers who will be impacted by this new tax requirement should be informed early in their training.
Public Comment. Brent Turner said that he was looking forward to seeing the number of equipment incidents from the June election. He said that the tapes that report the counts from the equipment are not proof that they are counting correctly. Roger Donaldson said that he worked as an inspector in the June election and that things went well considering all the ballot types involved. The equipment had problems with the tape at the end of the day and this surprised him because during the training, comments were made about how much better the new equipment was than the old ES&S equipment. Mr. Donaldson said that he had not experienced this problem when he worked with the old system and said that although the pollworker manual didn’t have language regarding encouraging voters to use the DRE’s, the training sessions did emphasize it. Tomas Picarello said that the DRE at his polling place also did not print the day end result tape.
6. Commissioner Report of their experiences and observations of the June 3, 2008 Consolidated Primary Election. Commissioner Phair’s report on his observations of commercial locations used as polling places is in the attachment at the end of these minutes. Vice President Meek will give her report at a later meeting after the June Election has been certified. President Gleason reported that he worked as a pollworker and had 218 voters at his precinct, 10 provisional voters, and 35 absentee ballot drop offs. He complimented the DoE on the supplies it provides to the precincts and the equipment deliveries before and during the election. He said he was surprised to hear about recruiting five voters to randomize the voting at precincts when he went to his training the Saturday before election day. He said that the other pollworkers at his location had not heard about this recruitment. Vice President Meek asked Commissioner Phair about the comment on page 3, Precinct 2116, #4 of his report that read: “Inspector reported that numerous voter records errors that were identified by voters at last election and reported to DoE were not corrected”.
Commissioner Meek asked Director Arntz if corrections marked on the sign in sheets at the polls were transferred to voter’s records. Director Arntz replied that changes made on the rosters are made in the data base when the voting history is recorded after the election.
President Gleason asked the Director if the yellow pages at the back of the rosters were for recording corrections. The Director replied that this was also correct and that corrections are made from both places.
Public Comment. Tomas Picarello said that the 40% turnout was very low, and asked if there was data about numbers of voters who vote in commercial establishments.
Commissioner Townsend said that there is a difference between discussion in a public place and electioneering.
Commissioner Safont shared that she votes at a Starbucks on Portola, and originally had concern especially because it is crowded in the morning, however she has never observed a problem.
7a. Commissioner Matthews will continue his report of his observations and activities related to the conduct of the February 5, 2008 Presidential Primary Election as well as the June 3, 2008 Statewide Primary Election. Commissioner Matthews’ informative powerpoint presentation regarding DRE usage in the February and June elections is summarized in a print out attached to these minutes. The Commissioner reported that during the June election he observed inspectors and pollworkers encouraging voters to use the DRE equipment without mentioning the availability of paper ballots. He discovered that these staff were instructed at pollworker training to “push” the DRE equipment (the Commissioner said he spoke to over thirty staffers at the polls on election night). This training differed from the written script in the Pollworker Manual and differed from the prior agreed upon policy between the Commission and the Director.
During his presentation, Commissioner Matthews asked the Director if the instruction to the pollworkers had been: if there were one user of the DRE at a polling sight, then four more users needed to be sought. The Director said this was correct.
The Commissioner said that half the users of the DREs came from just fourteen precincts. And that there were real added costs involved in greater DRE usage. In February, it took four teams three days to check the votes, and in June, because of the greater numbers of DRE users, there were six teams working more than 7 days, although June had only 63% of the voters who voted in February.
Commissioner Matthews asked Director Arntz about the discrepancies in the Pollworker Manual and the verbal instructions at the training. Director Arntz replied that he, himself, did not experience these discrepancies and that he felt it was only a small sample of pollworkers who did. After President Gleason informed the Director of his experience as a training pollworker, the Director said he encouraged the trainers to follow the script and he thought they were doing so. The Director said he wants the pollworkers to provide the choice of both paper and the touch screen, and if there were less than five users of the touch screen by the end of the day, the FEDs were to go to the polling sites and help the pollworkers find the balance of the five voters requested in the SoS’s directive. The Director said that the message to the voters about the use of the touch screen voting equipment can be fine tuned.
Commissioner Matthews said that whenever the written instruction differs from what is taught, or what is in the Election Plan, or in the manual, there is a problem.
The below items were taken out of order from the agenda:
7(c). Discussion regarding randomization and posting of precinct election results from use of the DRE (Direct Recording Electronic) voting machines at polling sites. (San Francisco Charter Section 13.107.5)
and
8(b). Discussion and possible action regarding randomization and posting of precinct election results from use of the DRE (Direct Recording Electronic) voting machines at polling sites and related procedures that occurred during June 3, 2008 Statewide Primary Elections in San Francisco(San Francisco Charter Section 13.107.5 and California Election Code Section 15281).
Discussion: President Gleason said that the California Elections Code does not require the posting of vote results outside polling sites on election evening if those results are machine tabulated. Deputy City Attorney Givner explained there is a Charter requirement and the SoS’s certification for the machines that San Francisco is using which require the posting. President Gleason said that the pollworkers are hand transcribing the information that is on the screen of the Edge (touch screen) machines. President Gleason said that he would like to see no disclosure until the machines reach the Department of Elections and this would eliminate the need to recruit five voters for the Edge voting machine in order to increase voter anonymity.
Deputy City Attorney Giver said that his office will look at the Charter provision, examine it and report back to the Commission.
Commissioner Townsend asked if it has been decided that this is the direction in which the Commission wants to proceed, and if not, perhaps further discussion on the issue should not take place. The Commissioner suggested that the discussion be should the Commission recommend that the Department not comply with one or the other of the requirements and then go into discussions on that topic.
Deputy City Attorney Givner said that the Commission could adopt a general policy or authorize one or more members to speak with the Secretary of State regarding the certification, but the Commission should not take the position of not complying with the Charter or with the Secretary of State’s policy.
Commissioner Matthews said that the SoS can alter her certification criteria. Therefore, the Commission can engage her office in conversation regarding this concern.
Commissioner Matthews MOVED that the President be authorized by the Commission to engage in discussions with the Secretary of State aimed at amending the certification of the Sequoia Edge Equipment in at least two respects: One, relief from the requirement of posting results from the Edge at the end of election day at polling sites; Two, to reduce the manual tally from 100% to a lesser number. SECONDED by Commissioner Phair.
Public Comment. Brent Turner said that in the spirit of transparency, he is in favor of postings. Additionally, he said that pollworkers should be trained properly and that staff from Sequoia Systems should not be in control of that training.
The Roll Call Vote was: Commissioner Matthews – Yes, Phair – Yes, Yu – Yes, Safont – Yes, Meek – Yes, Gleason – Yes, Townsend – No. The Motion CARRIED.
8 (c). Discussion and possible action to adopt a policy that preference is given to the use of paper ballots for voting in all public elections in San Francisco, that DRE machines are not regarded as preferable or even equally desirable except for voters who would prefer to use DRE for any reason, and that voters will not be “encouraged” to use DRE machines rather than paper ballots; and that the Department of Elections shall ensure that all employee and pollworker training includes material that reinforces this policy. [Matthews]
This item was CARRIED OVER to the July meeting.
Public Comment. Brent Turner said that he advocates the use of paper ballots to the greatest extent possible.
7(d). Discussion and possible action to investigate, adopt a policy, and/or recommend action regarding how the City provides information to voters to determine their registration status when those voters have cast provisional ballots because the Department has no record that they are registered, or voter disputes political party registration as appears in Department voter registration data. Draft letter to Secretary of State regarding the issue to be discussed and possible action. [Gleason]
and
8 (d). Discussion and possible action to adopt a policy and/or recommend action regarding public access to source documents and information allowing individual voters to determine their voter registration status and pursue having provisional ballot counted. [Gleason]
Discussion: President Gleason said that he has a concern with the Provisional (PV) Ballot Envelope’s instruction to voters regarding how to determine their voting status. He said that voters are unaware of their rights to do so. The information on the envelope tells voters (in very small print) that they have the right to determine the status of their provisional ballot no sooner than 40 days after an election. However, the election is certified in 29 days. President Gleason wants voters to be able to go to the Department, look at their original registration form, or go to the Department of Motor Vehicles and pursue their “motor voter” change of address form, which if filled out 15 days before an election, means that voter is registered per the Elections Code. Other counties have the same language on their PV envelopes and therefore this is a state issue. The remedies (going to their elections official or the Superior Court) for the voter to determine early whether their ballot will be counted must be done before the canvass is completed and this is a contradiction and must be addressed.
The President’s draft letter to the SoS (presented in the package for this meeting) was reviewed by the Commissioners who offered two typographical corrections. President Gleason MOVED and Commissioner Matthews SECONDED that the amended letter be sent to the Secretary of State.
Commissioner Phair reminded the Commission that in the recent Mayoral Election in Vallejo, California, the candidate was elected with a majority of only five votes. He said that this is why every vote is important and that a provisional ballot that is dismissed improperly could be instrumental in an election. He said that the first obstacle is to remove the 40 day limitation given to PV voters and then to encourage a response from the SoS as soon as possible.
The Roll Call Vote was: Commissioner Matthews – Yes, Phair – Yes, Yu – Yes, Safont – Yes, Meek – No, Gleason – Yes, Townsend – Yes. The Motion CARRIED.
7 (b). Discussion and possible action to approve the Elections Commission Operations Calendar.
and
8(g). Discussion and possible action to set Commission meeting for First and Third Wednesdays for the months of August, September, October and December 2008.
Commissioner Matthews MOVED and Vice President Meek SECONDED the approval of the Operations Calendar and the two meetings a month from August through December 2008, excluding November due to the presidential election that month. The Roll Call Vote was UNANIMOUS. The Motion CARRIED.
8(c). Discussion and possible action to approve the Minutes of the May 7, 2008, and May 27, 2008 Special Commission Meetings.
Commissioner Matthews MOVED and Vice President Meek SECONDED this item. The Roll Call Vote was UNANIMOUS. The Motion CARRIED.
8(e). Discussion and possible action regarding line items related to the City’s proposed budget for the Department and Commission, including staffing for Department and Commission.
President Gleason advised the Commission that for the past two years, the Mayor’s Office approved a budget for the Elections Commission Secretary at 50% time and the DoE came up with 25% more to pay the Secretary at 75%. This year, the Mayor’s recommendation is still 50% and the DoE, due to more cuts in its budget, is unable to provide the 25% it has in the past.
Commissioner Townsend said that it is not a good policy to have staff unsure of their employment status and requested that the Commission send a letter to the Board of Supervisors advocating the Secretary’s salary be approved at 75%. Vice President Meek said that she would draft the letter, and individual Commissioners could call members of the Board to support the Elections Commission Secretary’s position.
Commissioner Townsend MOVED and Vice President Meek SECONDED this item. The Roll Call Vote was UNANIMOUS (Commissioner Matthews was not present). The Motion CARRIED.
8(f). Discussion and possible action for the Commission (or members of the Commission) to request a meeting with the California Secretary of State regarding issues that impact elections in San Francisco County.
President Gleason asked that this item be TABLED to the call of the chair until such time as the Commission needs broad general contact with the Secretary of State.
9. Closed Session. This item was TABLED.
ADJOURNMENT at 8:51 pm.