Elections Commission
2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002
City and County of San Francisco
Elections Commission
Approved: December 21, 2005
Minutes of the Meeting at City Hall Room 400
November 15, 2005
1. CALL TO ORDER. President Matthews called the meeting to order at 7:35 pm.
2. ROLL CALL. PRESENT: Commissioners Gerard Gleason, Sheila Chung, Richard P. Matthews, Arnold Townsend, and Jennifer Meek. EXCUSED: Commissioners Michael Mendelson and Eric Safire.
3. Public Comment: Roger Donaldson said he had worked as a Field Election Deputy (FED) during the recent election and presented a letter he wrote regarding the voting system.
4. DIRECTOR'S REPORT
The November 8, 2005 Consolidated Special Statewide Election. – All polling sites were open at 7:00 am on election day, this is the first time in several elections that this has been accomplished. During past elections when a site was not open at 7:00 am, curbside voting would occur. The Director praised the poll workers for this extraordinary achievement. There were fewer (only 750) phone calls into election center and (only 1800) to the phone bank. This is an incredible decrease in calls and the Director attributed the decline to better poll worker and FED involvement. These workers were more eager and able to resolve problems because they were better trained.
Director Arntz said that voters were concerned that their ballots were frequently rejected by the Eagle machines because they did not complete all three columns. This is partially attributed to the Department not having enough funding to conduct pre-election outreach to voters. Community outreach would have enhanced voters awareness of how the ballots needed to be marked in order to be counted efficiently. Therefore, voters were less prepared to vote in this, the City’s second ranked choice election. Also during the development of RCV in San Francisco, the majority of public comments wanted voters to be alerted if all three columns were not marked. People were concerned RCV would not be successful if voters did not have every opportunity to mark all three columns.
This year, for the first time, voters were asked to fill out voter-feedback-forms. This survey asked voters about their experience at the polls. The Director reported that voters really took their time filling out these surveys and were happy to do so. The overwhelming majority of the responses to the survey questions and the comments section of the survey were positive to the Department.
For the November election, there were: 2,808 Poll Workers, of those, 1,240 were High School students (many assisting in the bilingual services needed at the polls); 473 polling places had bilingual Chinese workers (at 84% of all sites); 183 polling places had bilingual Spanish workers (at 32% of all sites); 46 polling places had bilingual Russian workers (at 8% of all sites); 116 standby Poll Workers, which is the lowest number in recent memory; and 56 FEDS. This demonstrates that the Inspectors, FEDs, Poll Workers who chose to work this year’s election actually showed up in greater numbers than before.
The Director reported that he expects that once all the ballots are counted, over 50% of the registered voters will have turned out to vote. This is higher than expected. Of the 138,000 absentee ballots that the Department mailed to voters, 93,000 were mailed back.
Director Arntz asked the Commission to review the implementation of programming ballot accepting equipment so that voters will be able to make only one selection of a candidate for an office without the tabulating equipment automatically rejecting that ballot as being under-voted, thus requiring Poll Workers to ask the voter if this was, indeed, the voter’s intention, and therefore, perhaps, invading a voter’s privacy.
President Matthews thanked the Director and the Department for running the eighth consecutive great election. Commissioner Townsend said he had visited the Department several times before election day and observed the operation during those critical last days. He reported that everything ran smoothly, he was impressed with the hard work of the staff and he wanted to make sure that the Department sends “Thank You” letters to the Poll Workers.
Comments regarding State Senate Hearing in Oakland regarding RCV (Ranked Choice Voting): Director Arntz was invited to the hearing by Senator Bowen because the City of Berkeley is interested in implementing RCV. He was asked to share San Francisco’s experience and answer questions. The Director informed the Commission that his office provides many documents and CDs of documents to persons inquiring about how RCV is implemented in San Francisco.
Commissioner Chung asked if other jurisdictions contact the Department about RCV. Director Arntz responded that North Carolina, for example, called his office today because that state is considering using RCV because in that state’s primary election, if neither candidate gets 40%, the person coming in second place can ask for a run off election.
Public Comment: Chris Jardonek asked if the ballot image report on the website could show the totals for absentee and non-absentee votes. He asked that blank and non-blank exhausted ballots be tallied separately on the website, and suggested that more than one race be put on the same ballot card.
5. Commissioners’ Reports
President Matthews reported that he had participated in discussions, along with the Director, with various City Hall budget officers, regarding budgeting issues that will be affecting the DoE beginning in December. He said that these talks represent the Commission’s effort to secure the needed funding to carry out the June 2006 election with the same quality that the City has received in recent elections. President Matthews said that the tradition of well-run elections must continue.
Commissioner Townsend reported that he and Director Arntz have also met with members of the Mayor’s office and with the Mayor’s budget office regarding getting appropriate funding for the upcoming June election and the need to keep the quality of the City’s elections at the same high level as recent elections.
Commissioner Townsend and Commissioner Chung participated in a spirited panel discussion regarding RCV that was attended by citizens and representatives from other cities. Attendees came from as far away as Minnesota and Colorado.
Public Comment: Roger Donaldson presented and read from a GAO report to the Commission. This report is titled: United State Government Accountability Office Report to Congressional Requesters, September 2005, Elections - Federal Efforts to Improve Security and Reliability of Electronic Voting Systems Are Under Way, but Key Activities Need to Be Completed (GAO-05-956). Steven Hill spoke about putting more than one contest per ballot card, and incorrect reporting of exhausted ballots on the Department’s website.
6. Commissioners’ Reports of their observations and activities on Election Day.
Commissioner Townsend reported that due to his having an accident and not having an automobile, he spent Election Day watching the City Hall operations and occasionally answering questions from the public. He said he was impressed by the morale of staff, even when dealing with difficult citizens.
Commissioner Chung reported that she attended 20 hours of Field Election Deputy (FED) training to prepare to work her 23 hours on Election Day. She complimented the Department staff for their excellent training program. The Commissioner singled out Lucy and George for their instruction. The High School students were lauded. The coordinators at City Hall were responsive and were praised as well. Commissioner Chung said that the biggest issue for the FEDs was the Eagle machines. Eight times out of ten a ballot would become stuck somewhere in the machine. The Commissioner said that she and the other FEDs were grateful that they had received adequate training on the Eagle machines because they found that a big part of their duties was to provide technical support. She said that the messages from the voting machines when the ballots were rejected was not clear, and voters may have felt embarrassed when their votes were initially not accepted. For many voters it was their intention NOT to vote the entire ballot, but the equipment rejected those ballots and those voters had to give up their privacy and verbally explain that their vote was intended. However, there were voters who were pleased that their ballots were rejected because they did not realize that there were other races on the reverse side of their ballots. Commissioner Chung asked that at future elections the Sheriffs and FEDs should be coordinated in their pickups when the poll closed.
President Matthews reported that he served as an Elections Inspector during this election at precinct 2122, at George Washington High School. The Commissioner complemented Jasmeer and Alex who were his trainers. He said that the trainers highlighted respect and comfort for the voters and secrecy of the ballot. This was the first election for the FED in his precinct, however, she was well trained and President Matthews commended the FED manual with its many checklists for the success of the FEDs in this election. He also complimented the high school students as exceptional poll workers.
President Matthews reported that he had not anticipated the problems that could arise at his precinct site (a school). There were state ballot measures which were about teachers, and he was concerned that there might be some electioneering near by. One teacher proceeded to have “very loud” political conversations near the precinct and the Commissioner explained the laws regarding electioneering; after the second offense, he advised the teacher that the Sheriff would be called if his activities continued.
President Matthews explained that in his conversations with poll workers, FEDs, and inspectors he found that a very high percentage of voters intended to leave particular contests un-voted, or expressed a preference for less than three candidates.
After observing operations at City Hall with Commissioner Gleason for a short period around 9:00pm, President Matthews and Commissioner Gleason went to Pier 29 to observe their completely organized election day operations. The following DoE employees at 240 Van Ness Avenue who were responsible for getting all the supplies to the FEDs, Inspectors, and Polling Sites were singled out by the Commissioner for commendations: Cuong Quach, Alan Samatra, and Aura Mendieta.
Commissioner Gleason complimented the Department’s training efforts to ensure that all workers understood that voters did not need to speak English. He said that he worked as an Inspector at Precinct 2213. The scheduling for training was convenient, and the pick up of supplies at 240 Van Ness was very efficient (4 minutes for getting the supplies). Although the training last year was “fantastic”, Commissioner Gleason reported that the training this year went “beyond that”. He singled out Jim Dowling for his excellent training classes, and suggested that keeping good trainers for future elections may not be possible because these workers are temporary and may not be available to work with the Department next year. The Commissioner suggested that the City take a look at how keeping good staff is important for maintaining good elections. The training emphasized “good customer service” and is getting better each year.
Commissioner Gleason showed the Commission members and audience a sample custody form and sample ballots to explain some of the responsibilities of an Inspector, and how ballots are tallied at the polling sites. He suggested that wording on reports be adjusted to show “exhausted” and “eligible” ballots, and that there be a post mortem on this past election with employees and interested parties to work on clarifying the wording used to explain voting procedures and “best practices”. The Commissioner commended the people who pushed forth Ranked Choice Voting and said that by using RCV, the City did save money this election and RCV was a real service to the taxpayers and to the voters.
“The City is running two systems to do the same operation” Commissioner Gleason said when comparing the numbers of voters who were permanent absentee and precinct voting, this is one reason costs are up. The number of people needed to open and count the growing number of absentee ballots needs to be budgeted.
Commission Secretary Rodriques reported that she assisted staff at the City Hall Election Day voting counter who handled over 1100 voters that day. There were five counter employees available to handle 222 voters each. Staff was polite, efficient and a tribute to the Department.
Director Arntz complimented the Commissioners for their valuable participation in the election and said he looked forward to working with members in the future. He said that it is encouraging that the Commission and Department work together to benefit the City’s citizens and that in past years no one had stood up for the Elections Department. Many good people have left the Department because of the demands of the work and the lack of resources.
Public Comment: Roger Donaldson, FED #7 during the election, said that the training classes, and materials were very complete, thorough and useful in carrying out the duties of election day. He said that he was amazed that a Department of seven full time employees could get 2500 people together, and in one day complete an election. President Matthews, on behalf of the Commission, thanked Mr. Donaldson for his work and contribution as a FED. Steven Hill said that the ES&S system worked better than in the previous election, and deserved credit for this improvement.
President Matthews thanked Commissioners for their participation before, on, and after election day and noted that there will be two elections next year that will also require Commissioners' on-site observations and participation; before, upon, and after election day. For personal calendaring purposes, those dates are June 6 and November 7, 2006.
7. New Business
(a) Discussion and possible action to approve the minutes for the Commission meeting of October 19, 2005. Commissioner Townsend MOVED and Commissioner Chung SECONDED. The roll call vote was UNANIMOUS to approve the October 19, 2005 minutes.
(b) Discussion and possible action to approve a resolution authorizing the Department of Elections to accept and expend a grant in the amount not to exceed $98,521.74 from the California Secretary of State as reimbursement funds in assisting the implementation of HAVA (Help America Vote Act) Section 261, to improve Elections Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities (EAID), by improving accessibility to and participation in the elections process. Commissioner Townsend MOVED and Commissioner Chung SECONDED. The roll call vote to approve this resolution was UNANIMOUS.
(c) Discussion and possible action concerning what the Commission can do to ensure that the Department’s budget is adequate.
• Discussion of Commission’s standards of service to be incorporated in future Budget considerations.
The President said that it is his intention to keep the heading of this item as a continuous subject on the Elections Commission’s agenda, and then asked the Director to report the status of budget negotiations and ways in which the Commission may assist the Department. Director Arntz reported that the budget had not, yet, been adjusted and that he would be meeting with the Mayor’s Budget Office the following day to discuss the June 2006 election because currently the Department is projected to not have funds for temporary staffing for that election. The following week, the Director will be meeting with the Controller’s Office regarding the budget. Mr. Arntz said that he thinks it is critical that the Commissioners continue meeting with the Mayor’s Budget Office and the Controller’s Office.
The Director said that his meeting with the Mayor’s Office with Commissioner Townsend was an example of how important it has been to have the support of the Commission in budget meetings. He reported that his experience in that meeting might have been more difficult had not the Commissioner accompanied him. The requisitions for the FEDs were released, as a result of this meeting, allowing the Department to have the number of deputies it needed to run the election efficiently.
Commissioner Townsend suggested, again, (this suggestion was originally made at the last Commission meeting) that the Director make a presentation or conduct a workshop to a Board of Supervisor’s Committee about the Elections Department’s funding needs, and that the Mayor’s Budget Office attend as well.
President Matthews summarized the suggestions brought forth in this meeting and reiterated that the Director is to look into the feasibility of a workshop type of presentation to the appropriate Committee of the Board of Supervisors.
Public Comment: Steven Hill suggested that the DoE is a victim of its own success, in that when the Director asks for more money, the budget people don’t understand why more money is needed when the previous election was successful with a given budget, and suggested that the Department make a case for improvements in outreach, on-going education and registration. Mr. Hill suggested that the Department look at other cities to see how much is being spent, per capita on their elections. Roger Donaldson suggested that the Department ask poll workers, FEDs, and Inspectors if any of them would do the work without a stipend.
• Discussion and possible action to send a letter to the Mayor, Controller and Board of Supervisors explaining that the Elections Department budget is insufficient for the Primary Election in June 2006.
Commissioner Townsend MOVED and Commissioner Gleason SECONDED. the roll Call Vote was UNANIMOUS. The President said that he would work with the Director to draft this letter.
8. Discussion regarding items for future agendas.
President Matthews reminded the Commission Secretary that item 8c of the agenda for this meeting is to be a standing item on future agendas; and that consideration of changing the parameters to permit the optical scan machines to accept the ballot cards which have no choice or less than three choices marked, should be calendared.
Public Comment: Roger Donaldson reminded the Commission that voter equipment security and what options are available had been suggested as a topic for discussion at a past Commission meeting. President Matthews responded that Commissioner Gleason expects to have a public hearing on this topic after the first of the year. Steven Hill said that the error notification on absentee ballots which require staff to hand inspect the ballots doesn’t make sense and should be remedied. He suggested that all predictable races be on the same card, i.e., the City Attorney’s race was uncontested and the Treasurer’s race “everyone knew who was going to win”, and that the error notification for that card be turned off.
President Matthews thanked each member of the Commission, staff and audience for being available to attend this meeting on a different day and time than usual.
ADJOURNMENT at 9:40 pm