Elections Commission
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Elections Commission
Approved: August 15, 2007
Minutes of the Meeting at City Hall Room 408
July 18, 2007
1. CALL TO ORDER. President Jennifer Meek called the meeting to order at 7:05 pm.
2. ROLL CALL. PRESENT: Commissioners Gerard Gleason, Winnie Yu, and Victor Hwang, Deputy City Attorney Jon Givner, and Director of Elections John Arntz. EXCUSED: Commissioners Arnold Townsend, Tajel Shah, and Richard P. Matthews.
3. Announcements.
President Meek announced that Commissioner Shah is not present due to the impending birth of her child.
5. Public Comment. Chandra Friese gave the Commission a resolution passed by the Board of The League of Women Voters the previous evening. The League’s resolution offers assistance to the Department of Elections in recruiting its members and members of the general public to count votes for the November 2007 election. Alec Bash said that his group, Democracy Action offers its services as well. Carol Bella said that she and others in the audience are from the San Francisco Election Integrity League and offer their services too.
4. Director’s Report.
Ballot Distribution: The Division is working with vendors to outsource the permanent absentee ballots, and to purchase paper for the Voter Guide.
Budget/Personnel: The Budget has been passed, and now the Department is submitting invoices for the upcoming fiscal year. There are plans to tighten the tracking and forecasting processes regarding expenditures.
Campaign Services: The nomination period began July 16, and ends August 10. There are currently 28 potential candidates for Mayor, 4 for the Sheriff, and 1 (the incumbent) for District Attorney. The Fair Political Practices (FPPC) filing deadline is July 31, and 10,000 filings are expected. Staff are scanning the files of these documents, which will allow for the removal of file cabinets in the DoE lobby area. The space is needed to assist in reconfiguring the counter area to provide accessibility for persons with disabilities.
Outreach: The Division has sent letters to 300 organizations requesting to attend their functions and help get out the vote. The Director asked the Commission to contact him with the names of any organizations Commissioners would like contacted.
Poll Locating and ADA: The Division put together a report of accessible polling places that will appear in a chapter of the CACEO’s (California Association of Clerks and Election Officials) manual that will be used by counties statewide to help establish guidelines to assist voters with specific needs. Additionally, the staff is sending out “availability letters” to all past polling sites to determine availability for our upcoming election cycles.
Pollworkers: The Division is interviewing for temporary staffing for the upcoming elections and developing letters to send to past pollworkers. Bilingual worker placements are being reviewed. Something new this year will be that all signs, formerly placed throughout polling places, will be in one location on one large stand. Past pollworkers who received favorable reviews will no longer need to take the standard class that new pollworkers must take, these experienced workers will have a question and answer session with trainers and staff. These workers often have good ideas and these sessions with offer a forum.
Technology: Staff have developed a tracking system for staff hours and relating the information to the procedures manual, and our budget expenses. The Division is also working on databases for the Outreach and Pollworker divisions and for ballot reconciliation after the election.
Voter Services: An initiative unexpected petition has been received with 18,000 signatures within the last week. Verification of a random sample of these signatures will begin, along with the processing of registration cards and signatures in lieu of filing fee petitions that are coming into the Department.
Publications: This Division is preparing for the Ballot Simplification Committee’s work which begins the end of July. This Committee (made up of private, citizen-volunteers) prepares shortened descriptions of the measures on the ballot. The Division is also working with vendors on ballot and voter guide formatting and timelines.
Commissioner Hwang asked Director Arntz if there is outreach to domestic violence or transitional shelters (in which approximately 200 women are residents at a given time) whose clients may be displaced from their regular voting addresses. Director Arntz replied that he believed there was outreach to these centers, but if not, he would see that there is and will report back to the Commission. Additionally, Mr. Arntz said that the Department will conducting outreach in the SROs (single room occupancy locations). Commissioner Hwang said that he would be available if the Department needed contacts to reach these voters.
Update on securing a voting system for 2007-2008: Elections Systems and Software’s (ES&S) provided an application packet to the Secretary of State (SoS) approximately three weeks ago. The Director checked with the SoS, in preparation for tonight’s Commission meeting, and was advised that the application is not complete and technical documentation is still needed from ES&S. The SoS needs the missing information to prepare a test plan. The Director spoke to ES&S after his discussion with the SoS and was told that they were “waiting for the test plan”! ES&S says that it will arrange a conference call with the SoS and Director Arntz tomorrow.
Brief Overview of Manually Counting and Tallying Votes for November 6, 2007 Election. (Memo to the Board and Mayor, June 28, 2007): Director Arntz explained that the memo’s purpose was to show the scope of a hand count, he was not advocating for one nor was he discouraging the use of one.
Update regarding positions and facilities not funded in the new fiscal budget and update of the Director’s request to the Mayor’s Office for a written explanation of why these were not funded. (Requested by Commissioner Shah at the June 20, 2007 Retreat): Director Arntz reported that he is attempting to change the categories of the temporary positions so that the Department will not lose them once staff reach their 1040-hour limit. The new category is called “Category 18” and will keep the positions for three years. President Meek said that Commissioner Shah may have intended for someone from the Mayor’s office to come to a Commission meeting to explain their cuts to the DoE budget and that this can be held over to another meeting when Commissioner Shah will be present.
Public Comment. Alec Bash said that he feels that RCV (Ranked Choice Voting) may not be important in this November’s election because there are few serious opponents to the incumbents. Jennifer Hammond questioned a footnote in Director Arntz’ June 20, 2007 letter regarding the possibility that a system may still be used if it is not certified before August 3rd. Brent Turner said that the hysteria in the newspaper was unnecessary and that we shouldn’t worry about conditions beyond our control, and that he hopes the Director issues a new RFP. David Pilpel said that after reading the memo on hand counting it was not clear at what point a decision must be made that ES&S is not happening, that there is no other automatic system we can use and that we must go to a manual count. He said it would be important to have a date, and to know when to ask for supplemental funding for the hand count. Sacha Ielmorini asked if the DoE has been in contact with the SoS regarding options if the machines are not re-certified.
5. Deputy City Attorney’s Report
Update on restrictions for Commissioners signing petitions, attending fundraisers at which the Commissioner has made no monetary contribution. Deputy City Attorney Giver said that the Charter generally proahibits Commissioners from attending fundraisers raising monies for a local committees or candidates, even if the Commissioner is not paying to attend but is attending with out charge. If a Commissioner is invited to a fundraising event held by a group that may make contributions, the Commissioner should speak to the City Attorney’s office for advice depending on the circumstances.
Regarding signing petitions, the Deputy City Attorney said that will be handled in a written memo.
Update on legality from a federal, state, and city view of contracting with a vendor who does not yet have a certified voting system. Deputy City Attorney Jon Givner explained that Section 19201 of the California Elections Code states that no voting system shall be used unless it has received the approval of the SoS prior to any election at which it is first to be used, and no jurisdiction may purchase or contract for a voting system in whole, or part, unless it has received the approval of the SoS. Regarding the ES&S contract extension, Mr. Giver said, we have not contracted for a new voting system, but merely for service and maintenance on the system we currently have and are in compliance with the Elections Code provision. Regarding Sequoia, although they do not have a system that’s been specifically certified for RCV in San Francisco elections, it does have a system that’s been approved by the SoS, and the contract negotiated with Sequoia several months ago provides for certification in advance of an election.
Commissioner Gleason said that the State’s wording of “continued use” seems to say that a system has to be certified the first time before being used in an election. He asked if there is something that says we have to have certification for continued use once it has been certified? As an example, in the case of ES&S, it has been certified, and if we forego the RCV portion? Director Arntz answered that RCV makes the system go back to the SoS for certification. He added that this opens the system for review. If there were no RCV component and no “top to bottom review”, the answer would be “yes, the system would remain certified and allowed for continued use.”
Commission Gleason asked if we have the ability to remove the RCV portion. Director Arntz replied that normally the answer would be yes, but there is the second issue now of the “top to bottom review” that all systems must now receive.
Deputy City Attorney Givner said that he could brief the Commission on the legal issues related to the “top to bottom review” at the next meeting but it will be over by then. President Meek said the purpose of the review, although it is inconvenient for the DoE right now, is to ensure that we are using systems that are safe, secure and reliable.
Public Comment. Brent Turner said that all the systems are basically the same and that there has been no great progress technically. Mr. Turner added that Sequoia Systems and Software has threatened to sue the City. David Pilpel said that he recalled that there were several steps that ES&S needed to take to certify the contract amendment: one was insurance. He asked if those steps had occurred and has the contract amendment been approved. Director Arntz answered that this has happened. President Meek asked if it was true that Sequoia has threatened to sue the City. The Director replied that he had not received such a threat.
6. Discussion and possible action regarding securing a voting system for 2007-2008. President Meek said that she placed this item on the agenda because the full Commission was meeting only once a month and wanted to be able to take suggestions from members. This will be a continuing item until it is resolved.
Public Comments. An unidentified speaker said that, although the Commission is not required to answer questions from the public, she hoped that the Department and Commission are hearing the questions and taking them into consideration. Carol Bella said she would like the footnote explained from the Director’s June 20 memo that she says claims that the City will not have a hand count because the SoS will probably certify ES&S. David Pilpel asked at what point will the DoE determine whether to use a partial or full machine count or not as it relates to ballot design. Director Arntz replied that it is a “fluid situation”, and that the outcome of the testing and how the SoS uses her discretion all play a part in this decision. Jennifer Hammond said that she is still confused regarding the August 3 deadline mentioned in the June 20 memo. Director Arntz explained that in the SoS’s communication regarding the “top to bottom review” The SoS indicated that any system that was decertified after August 3 could most likely be used for the November and February elections and that changes would be for the June 2008 election. Brent Turner thanked the Director and the Commission for their attention to the seeing that the City’s upcoming election will not be the “fiasco” predicted in today’s newspaper story. Roger Donaldson suggested that the Commission send a letter to the Examiner newspaper to correct their perception of the upcoming election and reminding them that this is a statewide problem.
7. CLOSED SESSION discussion on possible reappointment of current Director of Elections.
Public Comment. David Pilpel said that it would be an excellent choice to reappoint the current Director. Brent Turner said he appreciated Director Arntz’ good work and wanted to see him continue.
Closed Session Began at 8:04 pm
In attendance were: Commissioners Gleason, Hwang, Yu, Meek, Deputy City Attorney Givner, Secretary Rodriques.
Closed Session Ended at 8:13 pm
8. Discussion and possible action regarding disclosure of Closed Session pursuant to Ralph Brown Act, section 54956.9, and Sunshine Ordinance, section 67.10(d)
Commissioner Gleason MOVED and Commissioner Hwang SECONDED to not disclose the discussion during Closed Session. The Roll Call Vote was UNANIMOUS.
Announcement. President Meek announced that the Commission voted unanimously to appoint John Arntz to another five-year term, as Director of Elections, to begin May 2008.
9. NEW BUSINESS
(a) Discussion and possible action to approve the Elections Commission minutes for the Retreat and Special Meeting of the June 20, 2007. Commissioner Hwang MOVED and Commissioner Yu SECONDED approval of the minutes after corrections made by Commissioner Gleason and Mr. David Pilpel. A roll call vote was UNANIMOUS to adopt the minutes with these corrections: Page 5, change Deputy District Attorney to Deputy City Attorney; Page 7, change Department to precinct; include the names of all persons present during Closed Session.
(b) Discussion and possible action to send a letter of recommendation to the Board of Supervisors, Mayor, and State Senators Boxer and Feinstein regarding the nomination of Hons von Spakavsky to the Federal Elections Commission. (Commissioner Townsend) President Meek reported that Commissioner Townsend wanted this item held over until the next meeting when he would be able to attend and make comments. Deputy City Attorney Givner suggested that if the Commission does decide to send a letter or pass a resolution, that it be addressed to the Board and Mayor, rather than the senators, encouraging the Board and/or the Mayor to contact the senators directly, because of the Commission’s role under the Charter and the powers and duties that are reserved to the Board of Supervisors.
Commissioner Yu asked if there was conflict of interest because the Commission would be discussing a political appointment. Deputy City Attorney Givner said there was not a conflict with the policy discussion and that he could advise further at a meeting that included Commissioner Townsend.
Public Comment. David Pilpel said that any letter should be addressed to the Board and/or the Mayor because they have the power, in the Administrative Code, to advocate for legislative matters at the federal level. He asked that a bio or other information be included in the packet for the meeting when this topic is again discussed. Chandra Friese gave the Commission a copy of a print out from a newspaper website, purported to have been written by Greg Gordon of McClatchy Newspapers, about Hans von Spakovsky and read from the article. Alec Bash said that San Francisco is very non-partisan and that this person does not appear to be the kind of person this City would want to support. An unidentified speaker said he supported sending a letter opposing the nomination.
This item was TABLED until the next meeting.
(c) Discussion and possible action to amend the Bylaws to conduct personnel reviews for the Secretary of the Elections Commission and the Director of Elections annually and to determine a formal process for these reviews. (Commissioner Meek) President Meek asked that Deputy City Attorneys Givner and O’Leary work to write bylaw amendments for annual personnel reviews. Additionally, President Meek asked for someone to volunteer to research the process for conducting the reviews. Deputy City Attorney Givner said that he would draft the amendments and return to the Commission with that language and information about the process for the reviews.
This item is HELD OVER until the next meeting.
(d) Discussion and possible action to approve sending representatives of the San Francisco Elections Commission to observe the Baja State ( Mexico ) elections on Sunday August 5, 2007. The City & County of San Francisco will not be responsible for any expenses or liability incurred for commissions to travel to and observe the Baja State elections. Commissioner Gleason said that he asked that this be on the agenda because he and Commissioner Matthews were invited by personal contacts, that pre-date his working in the DoE and being on the Commission, to view international elections. The Commissioner said that he is asking the Commission to allow him to go as a Commissioner, at no expense to the City. There will be a precinct hand count at the end of the Baja State election and the entire process will be informative. Commissioner Matthews would also like to attend. There are expected to be other California elections officials present.
Commissioner Gleason MOVED and Commissioner Yu SECONDED approval for interested Commissioners to attend.
Public Comment. David Pilpel said that this observation of the Baja State election met with his approval and that the visiting Commissioners not discuss matters that may come before their Committee while together. He said it would be “nifty” to have a report from the Commissioners at the next full Commission meeting.
The Roll Call Vote was UNANIMOUS to approve the visit to Mexico.
- Discussion of Ideas for Improving Commission and Future Plans, Projects, and Agendas (Forwarded from Retreat -- Commissioner Meek) President Meek said that this was carried over from the Retreat because there wasn’t enough time to cover the topics. She said the current plans are to do the annual reviews for the Secretary and Director and to revise the Election Plan, which is now in Committee. Commissioner Hwang suggested that the Commission monitor any federal legislation. President Meek said that the Commissioner’s topic would be on future agendas.
Public Comment. Brent Turner suggested that the Commission get involved in a study session or live demonstration regarding open source, and offered to help make the arrangements. Sylvia Johnson spoke about her experiences getting information and her need to get glasses to help her read. Alec Bash agreed with Brent Turner regarding the Commission scheduling an open source demonstration at a meeting.
ADJOURNMENT at 8:40 pm.