Elections Commission
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City and County of San Francisco
Elections Commission
Approved: July 16, 2003
Minutes of the Meeting held
June 18, 2003
- President Rosenthal called the meeting to order at 7:08 pm.
2. COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Commissioner Robert Kenealey, Commissioner Brenda Stowers, Commissioner Richard Shadoian, President Alix Rosenthal, Commissioner Thomas Schulz, Vice President Michael Mendelson and Commissioner Arnold Townsend.
3. CLOSED SESSION: The Commission MOVED to go into closed session at 7:14 pm. The Commissioner returned to open session at 7:37 pm. It was MOVED to not disclose the closed session discussion. Motion CARRIED.
4. PRESIDENT’S REPORT: President Rosenthal told the over flow audience that the Commission welcomed their input. She reminded the audience that the topic of Ranked Choice Voting Outreach would also be on the agenda for the next meeting on July 2, 2003.
5. COMMITTEE REPORTS: Chairperson, Brenda Stowers announced that the Budget and Policy Committee was not ready with its report but would present at a future meeting.
6. Presentation by Representative of Election Systems and Software (ES&S):
Joseph Taggard, Regional Sales Vice President of ES&S, explained that his company has been contracted to provide an automated solution to ranked choice voting (RCV) for implementation in the November 2003 election. The company submitted a 104 page application for certification to the Secretary of State’s office (SoS) on June 2, 2003. This application was submitted one month earlier than originally planned. Mr. Taggard said that the process is now taking its prescribed course. Additionally, the SoS requested that ES&S provide testing materials, which ES&S has sent, and a working production unit, which will be ready on June 26, 2003.
The working model will go through an exhaustive testing period by the consultant that the SoS has chosen.
Commissioner Townsend asked if Mr. Taggard knew how long this test would take. Mr. Taggard replied that he did not but that he felt the SoS will give it immediate attention, and that after the consultants produce their report and either recommend or not recommend certification, it becomes a consent agenda item of the Voting Systems Panel of the SoS.
Commissioner Schulz asked at what point in time it would be possible or not possible to have an automated solution available for the ballot as designed. Mr. Taggard responded that in his opinion, it can be as late as September first.
Commissioner Kenealey asked if approval is given, was there some manufacturing that must be done to make sure that the existing eagle voting machines have the hardware and software needed for the election and how long would that take. Mr. Taggard replied that a four person team, over a two week period, could upgrade the 682 eagle voting machines to make them RCV ready.
Mr. Taggard told the Commission that he had visited the DoE the previous day and met with the Director and staff who were responsible for RCV Outreach. He offered ES&S’s assistance in the form of a possible Public Service Announcement, posters, other collateral materials and even onsite discussions in the various City communities.
7. PUBLIC HEARING REGARDING OUTREACH PLAN TO BE IMPLEMENTED FOR RANKED CHOICE VOTING.
Rachel Gosiengfiao, Outreach Manager for the Department of Elections, reported that a target of the outreach will be older voters, voters with English as a second language and areas of low voter turnout. The DoE will be working with community organizations in its efforts to educate voters about Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). Grass roots organizations will submit a Grant Proposal Survey, which contains eleven questions and five requirements to meet, to the Department by June 20 but the deadline may be extended, depending on the number of submissions received by that date. The selected organizations must show how they will effectively reach out to all voters and must meet the following criteria: non-profit/nonpartisan with 501(c) status, a minimum of three years experience in community organizing, a proven record with working with other groups in the community, providing a minimum of 50 Chinese or Spanish bilingual poll workers for the November 2003 election. The DoE will select one organization per district. $526,000 is budgeted for Outreach.
Public Comments regarding the Department’s Outreach Plan for Ranked Choice Voting.
The following people spoke on this subject or on Ranked Choice Voting:
Tab Buckner Susan Vaughn Greg Kamin Rufus Davis
Susan Hall James Bryant Bill Henslin Robert Haaland
Myrna Lim Denis Mosgofian Willie Ratcliff Esperenza Macias
Mark Stout Ron Dicks Salli Fune Edward Mendoza
Susan Peters David Schmidt Joe Rowe Tony Brasunas
Lucy Colvin Howard Wallace Daisy Anarchy Sally Ann Buchmann
Richard Ow Jennifer A. Waggoner Jerry Threet Philip Nguyen
Jon Golinger Cedric Jackson Steven Hill Deborah Glenn-Rogers
Brenda Henry
Commissioner Townsend stated that half the speakers commented on what they thought about Ranked Choice Voting not on the topic of the hearing, the Department’s Outreach Plan. He also commented on the statement echoed by several of the speakers, that voters need to know how to vote and not how the system of selecting the winning candidate works. The Commissioner said that this attitude was insulting to voters. Additionally, the Commissioner commented that he would like to see more African-American newspapers included in the DoE’s outreach. He invited the audience to come back to the next meeting of the Commission and be prepared to let the Commission know their suggestions to the Department’s Outreach plan.
Commissioner Shadoian asked how many flyers were sent out asking for groups to apply for a grant to participate in the outreach. Rachael Gosiengfiao answered that the information was sent out by fax to over 200 organizations last Friday. The deadline of June 20 for the survey may be extended. The Commissioner asked Ms. Gosiengfiao to reconsider the criteria that each district recruit 50 poll workers who either speak Spanish or Chinese because some, for example the Marina, may find this difficult. Ms. Gosiengfiao replied that she would look into changing or rewording the criteria.
President Rosenthal encouraged everyone in the audience to consider volunteering to work at the polls for the election.
8. Director’s Report
John Arntz reported that Elections Chief, John Mott Smith of the Secretary of State’s office (“SoS”), and the General Counsel for the SoS visited the Department to observe the demonstration for hand counting ballots. The demonstration began in Brooks Hall and showed the media and the SoS representatives the difficult conditions under which DoE staff must work. The demonstration originally included two precincts, but was reduced to one precinct and then to one-half of a precinct in order to have enough time to demonstrate the full process. There have been no substantive responses from the SoS on the manual process demonstration.
On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors passed two ordinances to fund the contract amount of $1.6 million for the ES&S contract modification and $526,000 for voter education and outreach. The Board’s Finance Committee placed $250,000 on reserve, for which the DoE must submit a plan for outreach before the funds are released.
Commissioner Townsend asked the Director what was his estimate of how long the hand count would take, if it is needed, for the November election. Mr. Arntz replied that it would take all of November to capture the information from the ballots, to enter that information into the data base and then to run the algorithm.
Budget – Thursday, June 12, 2003 was the first time the DoE put forth its budget to the Finance Committee of the Board of Supervisors. Next the Budget Analyst examines it and makes cuts. The next time the Director will go before the Committee will be June 19, 2003, and by then the Budget Analyst’s initial comments will have been made. The Mayor’s Budget office returned $500,000 for Paid Ballot Arguments to the DoE’s budget.
Poll Locating – All site reviews and reprecincting lines have been completed. Information regarding the November and March elections will be sent to the sites. The Director plans to include information for a runoff in December just in case the certification from the State has not happened in time for the November election.
Commissioner Schulz asked about the potential impact of the recall election on the Department. Mr. Arntz replied that the recall election should happen at the same time as the Mayoral election and should have no significant impact on poll locations and workers. The recall, however, will be similar to the ranked choice selection because voters will be asked to choose a governor if they vote to remove the current governor. That ballot may complicate things because if the voter does not indicate his or her decision whether the governor should be recalled and then votes on a gubernatorial candidate, that ballot cannot be counted. This will require additional outreach.
Outreach – The Department is currently translating the “Ranked Choice Voting” brochure it has created into Spanish and Chinese to distribute to a wider audience. Once more staff is in place, translations into other languages will be done. Staff members are going to Naturalization and Immigration Services events to address new citizens. The DoE also sends staff to non-English radio stations to speak on-air about voting.
Training – The person in charge of training is also the elections day coordinator and is currently working on organizing City Hall space usage, badges, and parking for November and March. In addition, he is working on obtaining security for these events.
Ballot Distribution – Last week the staff was involved in getting everything in place for the SoS visit to observe the hand count demonstration. In addition, they are working on the ballot for the November election and preparing for the special Union Square Business District election and that ballot.
Voter Services – This group has begun review of signatures on the recall petitions. In addition, they continue to process registrations, changes, cancellations and purges to clean up voter files, and they are working on election time line calendars.
Election Support Services – Today this division sent out the first letters to potential poll workers and will begin recruitment next week.
Technology – This division spent most of last week preparing for the SoS visit. They are putting up a Ranked Choice Voting website, and the new reprecincting information. The DoE, along with DTIS (The Department of Telecommunication and Information Services) has the most accurate and up to date map of the City ever in existence. There is no better source of San Francisco geographical information.
Campaign Services – Rachel Gosiengfiao reported that a Brown Bag Luncheon for the candidates and campaigns was held last week and another is due next week. The division is issuing and receiving “signatures in-lieu” forms. A new initiative, the minimum wage ordinance, has just come into the DoE and will be in circulation soon. The deadline for turn in of all public initiatives is July 7, 2003. There are six initiatives and one charter amendment so far.
President Rosenthal reminded the Director that Commissioners Kenealey and Stowers had requested at the last meeting that he provide some type of timetable or schedule of events for RCV. The Director replied that his marker is still July 1 for completion of certification. He reminded the Commission that the SoS must give a 30 day notice if it certifies any system before the VSP (Voting Systems and Procedures panel) meets. The further into July or even into August this goes makes if more difficult for the DoE to get the other necessary steps completed.
Commissioner Kenealey said this explanation from the Director was satisfactory and that he didn’t need further at this time.
Commissioner Schulz asked if the Director’s plan for the new Fiscal Year to allow his staff to work 40 hours per week instead of cutting back on their hours to meet the Mayor’s budget request for the last fiscal year, was still valid. Director Arntz replied that although the budget will be tight, he plans for staff to work full weeks.
Commissioner Townsend asked if the threat that the DoE’s long term temporary workers might be “bumped” by other City employees from other departments was still an issue. Director Arntz replied that the true duties and responsibilities are being explained in the job descriptions being put forth in permanent requisitions so that workers with no elections experience will not automatically take these jobs. This will protect the knowledge and expertise the DoE hopes to maintain.
Public Comment – Steven Hill asked if anyone had called the SoS’s office to see if the 30-day timeline has begun? Angela Ramsey thanked the Commission for scheduling the hearing on RCV and asked the Commission to make sure that there will be system integrity for handling the election data. Tony Brasunas said that the most important thing was to show voters how to vote but not to bar them from also knowing how that vote is counted.
9. New Business -
(a) Discussion and possible approval of Elections Commission Minutes for Commission Meeting held on June 4, 2003. Commissioner Shadoian MOVED for approval. Commissioner Schulz’s obligation to not vote because he was absent for the meeting for which these minutes report was MOVED, SECONDED, and CARRIED. The remaining members of the Commission voted and the MOTION to approve the minutes CARRIED with six votes.
(b) Discussion and possible action to approve an amendment to the Commission Bylaws, Article VII, to create a single standing committee for the Commission. Commissioner Shadoian MOVED to have this item tabled until the next meeting due to the late hour. TABLED until July 2, 2003 meeting.
(c) Discussion and possible action to approve an amendment to the Commission Bylaws, Article XI, deleting the word “annals” and inserting instead “annual report,” and providing that the President prepares the annual report, with the approval of the Commission. Commissioner Shadoian MOVED to have this item tabled until the next meeting due to the late hour. TABLED until July 2, 2003 meeting.
10. Discussion regarding items for future agendas.
Commissioner Shadoian suggested that within 60 days of an election, the Director prepare a written report that includes suggestions for improving the process and the success and the problems encountered be on a future agenda. Commissioner Townsend suggested that outreach to high school juniors and seniors to educated them about voting and encourage them to become voters be on a future agenda. Commissioner Schulz suggested a discussion about the role of the Commission in outreach on subjects such as RCV be on a future agenda.
11. Public comment
Steve Hill urged the Commission and Director to consider doing the potential hand count for the November election on the eagle machines.
Meeting ADJOURNED at 10:40 pm.