Elections Commission
2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002
City and County of San Francisco
Elections Commission
(Approved: 10-23-02)
Minutes of the Meeting held
October 2, 2002
1. President Mendelson called the meeting to order at 7:02 pm.
2. COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Commissioner Robert Kenealey, Commissioner Brenda Stowers, Commissioner Richard Shadoian, Vice President Alix Rosenthal, President Michael Mendelson.
ABSENT: Commissioner Thomas Schulz.
3. FLAG SALUTE
4. PUBLIC COMMENT. None.
5. President Mendelson stated that there was no need to confer with counsel and therefore there would be no closed session.
6. MOTION to approve the Elections Commission Minutes for the Special Meeting held September 16, 2002 and the regular meeting held on September 18, 2002.
Public Comment. None.
MOTION 10-02-02-1
That the Minutes for 9/16/02 and 9/18/02 be approved. PASSED.
8. DIRECTOR’S REPORT: Mr. Arntz reported the following.
Voter Service Division - Current on registration cards and applications for absentee voting. There is no backlog.
Campaign Services Division - Initiated phone bank system last week, hired two people. More hirings will take place this week. Total will be 10 people by Election Day. Phone calls have been steady but not heavy.
Election Support Services Division – Poll worker recruiting has been successful. Currently all positions are filled. There is a need for a few Spanish-speaking staff. The Poll Worker Manual has been completed – the information is now more concise and condensed, repetition from previous versions was removed. The cost to print was $8,000 compared to the $35,000 cost for March.
Management of Information Systems (MIS) - Software used for registration data was updated last week and has been tested. It’s now in use by the entire department.
Purchasing - We are caught up – there are no outstanding purchases anticipated at present.
Personnel - Linda Crawford gave a presentation outlining the Staffing Plan. She stated that, to her knowledge, the DOE has never had a plan for staffing of this kind. The plan shows the number of staff per pay period and plots the increase to the day of the election and beyond. Ms. Crawford gave credit to the DOE’s managers for the staffing being on track. Staffing levels have been closely monitored by the managers and the 124 temporary employees originally thought to be needed may now only be 120 workers. Ms. Crawford explained the year-round staffing proposal for 18 core staff who would remain after December to prepare for the next election and implementation of the new touch screen voting system.
Commissioner Stowers asked if temporary employees were from the DOE budget or are they employees from other departments. Linda Crawford answered that these employees come from the DOE temporary budget plan. On Election Night there are temporary workers who come from an outside agency who are paid from a contract that is not part of the staffing budget. Ms. Crawford added that overtime is not shown on the plan.
President Mendelson asked how overtime was determined. Acting Director Arntz answered that the DOE is working to not have overtime. There are isolated instances like upgrading software over a weekend or having a VIP so big that longer hours were necessary to have it completed on time, but basically there should not be the hours of overtime seen in past elections. Staff who feel that they need to work overtime must make their case directly to Mr. Arntz who will make the decision.
In the past, Mr. Arntz explained, there would be over 200 people packed shoulder to shoulder, running around the department at this point before an election, trying to figure out what to do next. But due to the DOE’s careful planning for this election, other City Hall staff have commented on their surprise to see how peaceful and under control the department is. Mr. Arntz credited the managers and their feeling of being challenged to create their own plans to get the work done. He stressed that the budget for personnel for the runoff election is in a reserve fund, therefore it’s not from the baseline budget. The DOE is being very careful to track the costs of the runoff to get the funds from the reserve. Commissioner Kenealey asked how these reserve funds get released. Mr. Arntz said the Mayor’s office sets up the fund and the complete process is not clear, but the Board of Supervisors may also be involved.
Vice President Rosenthal complemented the Acting Director and the DOE saying that the calendar and the planning was “fabulous and shows a lot of foresight”.
Preparation for the November 5, 2002 – The biggest item is the Voter Information Pamphlets (VIP). All the ballots are now in for the election and next Monday is the first day for early voting. President Mendelson asked how San Francisco is doing in relation to the other counties in the State. Mr. Arntz replied that we are the first county in the state to receive its optech cards. In fact, San Mateo County, which always likes to say they do things better than San Francisco, is just getting theirs to the printer! President Mendelson asked how this compares to the last election. Mr. Arntz answered that some of the March ballots weren’t received until the day of the election. Each Commissioner was given a copy of the Voter Information Pamphlet.
President Mendelson asked the Acting Director to give a synopsis of where the department is this year compared to the last election regarding the VIP. In the past, Mr. Arntz said, the department had the VIP two weeks before the election. This time we have them a month before the election and the mailing process has already begun. This is the largest VIP in memory. Mr. Arntz displayed VIP’s from other counties. The San Francisco VIP has from 275 to 290 pages, depending on ballot type. Sacramento’s has 47 pages. Other counties were similar in size to Sacramento, including Los Angles County. San Francisco is the only county with paid arguments in the VIP – this accounts for its great size. There has been a lot of national media interest. Vice President Rosenthal asked if the press angle has been one of ridicule against the City. The Acting Director said the interest tended to be one of “wonderment”.
Mr. Arntz told the Commission that the VIP is also translated into Chinese and Spanish but the paid arguments in those languages are not sent unless they are requested by a voter. Chinese requests have been running at about 20,000 and Spanish requests are running at about 3,500.
President Mendelson asked about postage costs for mailing the VIPs. Acting Director Arntz said for this election, because the department met and negotiated with the post office, the cost to mail the VIP is 30 cents each. This is because the Post Office walked DOE staff through the process and showed how money could be saved. The DOE’s original estimates for total VIP postage cost was $1.8 million. But now the cost will probably be only $150,000. Last year, for a much smaller, and lighter weight VIP, the cost was $200,000. Mr. Arntz credits the cost reduction to the DOE’s good relationship with the Post Office.
Acting Director Arntz explained the incredible challenge that paid arguments pose for the Department to receive, format, process and print. There are 346 paid arguments in San Francisco’s current VIP, and the DOE was able to produce the VIP in three weeks.
Vice President Rosenthal asked if the Acting Director could, at a future date, provide a report comparing San Francisco’s costs for its VIP and other counties. Mr. Arntz replied that he already had comparisons. For example, Sacramento pays $200,000 to create and mail its pamphlet. Mr. Arntz held up the Sacramento VIP which is much smaller in dimension to the City’s.
Mr. Arntz reported that he appeared before the Rules Committee on 10/01/02 and spoke regarding the waiver for City employees to work for the Elections Department during the next election. The new version of the waiver states that people who are civil servants but not “at will” employees, can work as FEDs (Field Election Deputies). In addition, people from the City Attorney’s Office who are at will employees can assist the DOE but cannot work as FEDs.
Mr. Arntz also spoke on “retallying” and “recanvassing” of ballots when he was before the Rules Committee. He explained that he had been in discussions with the Secretary of State for the last two months and expressed to him the difficulty to recanvass the November 2000 election due to the disorganization of the cards and materials, and the lack of data from which to draw upon. The Secretary of State, although not pleased by this information, has accepted this explanation and has withdrawn his interest in the recanvassing. However, the Rules Committee has on its agenda a recanvassing and retallying of the November 2000 election. A recanvass is comparing the cards on hand with the number of cards purchased. A retally is a counting of each vote. This issue was held over to the next Rules Committee meeting which will take place after the election.
President Mendelson asked why the Rules Committee was interested in a retally. Mr. Arntz stated that there was a lot of attention drawn to that particular election and people want to insure the integrity of that election. Mr. Mendelson asked if the Committee was aware of the potential cost to retally. Mr. Arntz said that there had been a bid process and only one vendor applied. That three stage bid was $250,000 to do both a retally and recanvass.
Deputy City Attorney Julia Moll explained the terms further. She explained that a “recount” is as a term of art under state and local law, and means that a new result will be stated. However, even if the ballots are recounted in this case, there will not be a different result. The results have already been certified for the November 2000 election. There cannot be a change in who was elected or which measure was passed. This is why the term “retally” is being used, because it would be a recount that would not change the official results of the election,
Vice President Rosenthal asked the Deputy City Attorney what the Elections Code says regarding destruction of voted ballots. Ms. Moll replied that this depends on the type of election. She said ballots involving Federal offices must be retained for 22 months. Ballots for local and state offices must be retained for six months. Ms. Moll cautioned the DOE to not destroy the November 2000 ballots until the Secretary of State agrees that all of their concerns have been resolved.
Acting Director Arntz announced that actual ballots will be used for the early voting which begins on Monday, October 7th. Also, 43,000 permanent absentee ballots will be mailed out on that day. Commissioner Shadoian asked when was the last day to register to vote. Mr. Arntz answered that October 21 was the final day to register.
8. Old Business
Public Comment – Peter Fries asked Acting Director Arntz which employees had he stated could not work at FEDs. Mr. Arntz replied that City Attorneys could not work as FEDs because they are not Civil Servants.
MOTION 10-02-02-2
To approve the Election Plan for the November 5, 2002 election. PASSED
9. New Business
i. Discussion and possible action regarding a year-round Elections Department. President Mendelson passed the gavel to the Vice President so that he could make a special comment. President Mendelson stated that one of the major failings of the DOE has been that it hasn’t had full time staffing. The plan is to create a politically independent civil service department. Mr. Mendelson said that it was important to have professionalism and institutional memory but we must offer employees job security. This motion enables the DOE to be a full time department. Mr. Mendelson reported that David Howe of Strategica, who was provided to the DOE by the Secretary of State at no cost, is doing an evaluation and will have an evaluation for us at the next Commission meeting. Mr. Howe is very much in favor of full time staffing.
Public Comment – Peter Fries questioned the statement in the motion regarding “other significant factors necessary to create a politically independent, year-round Election Department”.
RECESS for ten mutes at 7:50 pm
Meeting reconvened at 8:02 pm
MOTION 10-02-02-3
To have a general Commission policy establishing a year-round staffed Elections Department; further, that such year-round Department staff have civil service status; further, the Director should report to the Commission, regarding structure, civil service status, and other significant factors necessary to create a politically independent, year-round Elections Department within a reasonable time after the last election this year. PASSED.
ii. Discussion and possible action to adopt a Public Notification Policy. Vice President Rosenthal asked if the Public Notification Policy outlined by Commissioner Shadoian was consistent with what is currently being done in the Department. Mr. Arntz replied that all announcements are not currently being kept at the front desk, all media are not contacted when there’s a news release because there are hundreds of small neighborhood newspapers and media outlets. The DOE does send the releases to the major outlets. The Department does not translate everything into Spanish and Chinese; only material required by law to be translated. Announcements that are election related, like poll worker recruitment, are translated into other languages. Vice President Rosenthal suggested that the policy may need some tailoring and suggested it be given to the Budget and Policy Committee. MOTION was made to refer this item to Committee, seconded by Commissioner Kenealey.
Public comment. Peter Fries advised the Commission that it already had a motion on the floor to adopt. President Mendelson advised Mr. Fries that he was incorrect. Mr. Mendelson stated that a main motion can be replaced by a subsidiary motion to refer to committee.
Commissioner Stowers stated that she wanted to make sure that details of such a policy comport with what is required of the DOE by law, is feasible and doesn’t overly burden the staff. These issues can be examined in committee.
Commissioner Shadoian asked if it was possible that the committee meet before the next regular meeting of the Elections Commission.
MOTION 10-02-02-04
To refer the adoption of a Public Notification Policy to the Budget and Policy Committee. PASSED.
iii. Discussion and possible action to obtain the services of a Parliamentarian. Commissioner Shadoian made a MOTION to obtain the services of a Parliamentarian. There was NO SECOND. MOTION FAILED FOR WANT OF A SECOND.
Public comment. Peter Fries commented that “belt tightening” should not allow the hiring a Parliamentarian.
iv. Discussion and possible action to adopt a voter fraud policy. Commissioner Shadoian made a MOTION to adopt this policy. Commissioner Rosenthal SECONDED. Commissioner Shadoian said that there was no policy in the Procedures and Policy Manual of the DOE to cover fraud. Commissioner Shadoian stated that at the last election, there were claims of voter fraud that were not followed up by the former Director. This policy would say that the DOE has a “zero tolerance for voter fraud and that all complaints will be turned over to the appropriate City or federal agencies to be investigated”. Vice President Rosenthal stated that she was against voter fraud and that the other commissioners were as well. She said it was extraneous to have a policy against voter fraud.
Deputy City Attorney Moll reminded the Commission that elections are highly regulated and that there are many laws on the books against voter fraud. She said there is no reason why the Commission couldn’t make a policy restating those laws. Chapter 18 of the Elections Code deals with penalties for corruption of the voting process, corruption of voters, intimidation of voters, improper signature gathering, voter registration, nomination of candidates and more provisions for violations of general mandates imposed by the code.
Commissioner Shadoian stated that he was interested in a policy within the Department so that “if someone comes to the front desk with a complaint, that there is someplace that complaint goes.”
Vice President Rosenthal suggested this issue be sent to the Budget and Policy Committee to consider at its next meeting.
MOTION 10-02-02-5 to refer the policy of voter fraud to the Budget and Policy Committee.
Public comment. Espanola Jackson said that Commissioner Shadoian’s suggestion was a good one and that allegations off voter fraud was the reason the Commission was created. Peter Fries said that the Deputy City Attorney and Commission Vice President were trivializing the importance of a policy regarding voter fraud.
MOTION PASSED.
10. Items for future agendas. Commissioner Shadoian stated that the Personnel and Policy Committee adopted procedures for hiring a new Director of Elections several months ago and he’d like to see it brought before the full Commission.
Public comment. Peter Fries stated that he felt a policy on voter fraud was important.
Meeting Adjourned at 8:28 pm.