Elections Commission
2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 City and County of San Francisco
Elections Commission
Approved: December 19, 2007
Minutes of the Meeting at City Hall Room 034
November 20, 2007
- CALL TO ORDER. Vice President Arnold Townsend called the meeting to order at 5:10 pm.
- ROLL CALL. PRESENT: Commissioners Gerard Gleason, Arnold Townsend, Tajel Shah, and Richard P. Matthews, Deputy City Attorney Ann O’Leary, and Director of Elections John Arntz. Commissioner Winnie Yu arrived at 5:11 pm. EXCUSED: Commissioner Jennifer Meek
- Announcements.
Deputy City Attorney Ann O’Leary introduced Deputy City Attorney Andrew Shen and said that they will be sharing duties in the future.
- Public Comment. Alec Bash complimented the Department of Elections on a good job under difficult circumstances during the November 2007 election and urged the use of hand counts to ensure future elections. Tim Meyer said he observed two precincts and was glad to see that the clerks working those precincts offered voters the correct pens to mark their ballots. Brent Turner said he also observed several precincts and compared San Francisco’s election to San Mateo’s. He congratulated San Francisco for its good work. Steven Hill said that “error notifications” should be used more judiciously, because there was no need for the amount of errors reported for this election.
5. Director’s Report.
Ballot Distribution:
There are eleven teams doing the canvassing. The division is reviewing and tallying write-in votes and reconciling ballots. Staff is organizing absentee ballot envelopes and remake ballots for record retention. After the canvass, they will organize the ballots for storage and recycle the unused ballots. Of the remakes, 49401 were precinct ballots and 60676 were absentee ballots. Approximately 37 of all ballots and 70% of the RCV ballots processed required remaking. The division is already working on the February 8, 2008 election ballot order, inventory and place requisitions for supplies and reviewing procedures and preparing precinct materials.
Budget/Personnel:
The division has submitted its 4 month report and is preparing its 6 month report. Staff is still processing hiring documents while also preparing the documents for laying off temporary workers. Additionally staff is preparing to work with managers on the 08/09 budget.
Campaign Services:
The deadline for submission of paid arguments was yesterday. The deadline for arguments was last Friday. The division is preparing the Candidate Guides for the June Primary.
Outreach:
Division has represented the Department at 250 events so far and handed out nearly 15,000 brochures. 180 organizations have been contacted and provided voting materials. Currently staff is assisting with ballot processing and canvassing. The division is preparing for the February election.
Publications: Work has begun on the February VIP (Voter Information Pamphlet). There will be three measures, probably 144 pages in the VIP. The ballot for this election will be Two Cards. Staff is awaiting the status of a possible state bond and translations. The SOS has requested that San Francisco participate in its “Ballot Translation Advisory Group”.
Poll Locating and ADA:
The division is contacting polling places to confirm availability for the February election and has already begun relocating some polling sites. Staff has completed the retrieval of voting equipment from the polling places and is inventory equipment and supplies in preparation for February.
Pollworkers:
High School recruitment will begin next week. The division was able to mail the poll workers their checks a week earlier than scheduled. Plans are being made for the February elections and poll workers are being contacted to work. Staff is receiving many calls and the website has been update for the next election. The Field Election Deputies (FEDs) are being debriefed to determine how to improve services, recruitment, retention, training and election day processes.
Technology: .
The division is creating the IRIS (incident reporting information system) reports for the November election, resizing voter registration and transaction databases, and conducting inventory for equipment, such as laptops, scan guns, cables, cords, website housekeeping. Staff is setting up Brooks Hall for the canvass. And de-installing the Election Center and Cor-O-Van locations.
Voter Services:
The division is beginning it post-election work, completing roster reconciliation – looking for duplicate records from scanning or names missed, updating voter history, recording after-deadline registration cards, conducting duplicate analysis of records, and superior court and health department records.
Update on the November 7, 2007 Municipal Election:
Director Arntz reported that 70,072 voters went to the polls for this election. This is 17% of the registered voters. The Department mailed 148,121 absentee ballots and 54% of them were cast. This is 19% of the registered voters. The total turn out was 36% with 150,098 voters voting. Of the4641 Provisional Ballots submitted, 4012 were accepted, 629 were challenged, 405 were non-registered voters and 112 had no signature. DoE staff worked 24-hour shifts the first two days after the election, then 18-hour shifts until the Sunday after the election and are currently working 12 hour shifts to complete the ballot count. The canvass is ongoing.
Update on securing a voting system for 2007-2008: Director Arntz reported that there will be a December 5, 2007, demonstration to show that Sequoia Voting Systems has done work on their RCV component, and a February demonstration to show that reports regarding RCV can be generated. The Sequoia Contract was continued by the Rules Committee until their December 5, 2007, meeting and the Full Board could vote on the contract, if it passes the Committee, on December 11, 2007.
Public Comment. Steven Hill asked, if there would be damages awarded, should Sequoia not meet the contract goal to demonstrate RCV (Ranked Choice Voting) abilities. Carol Bella said there should be a full demonstration of the Sequoia System, asked if precinct volunteers could work without pay to save the City money, and complimented the Director on the way he handled the media to calm fears. Alec Bash requested that the Department do a 10% manual audit for future elections. Steven Hill asked how the AutoMarks performed during this election. Director Arntz responded that they did not surpass expectations. Brent Turner suggested that today’s meeting’s start time of 5 pm maybe a problem since all Commissioners didn’t arrive until after 5 pm.
6. Commissioner’s Reports.
Commissioner Richard P. Matthews reported that he visited 31 polling places in all eleven supervisorial districts on election day, concentrating mostly along the southern and western parts of the City, followed by observing election night activities at Pier 29. In addition, he attended three training sessions before election day, and said that the training gets better with each election. He also observed some of the logic and accuracy testing at Cor-O-Van, and reported that operations were going smoothly. Following election day, he observed the processing of absentee ballots and remakes in City Hall and the manual tally in Brooks Hall. Overall, things went well, and Commissioner Matthews said that there are no questions to be raised about this election.
However, Commissioner Matthews pointed out a few issues he observed, saying that these might be one-time occurrences or they might be issues worth revisiting for future elections, possibly in terms of training more on some issues:
(a) The AutoMark machine/inadvertently steering voters to use it. Most places Commissioner Matthews observed had no voters who had used the AutoMark, but a few places had several and one polling place in particular had a short line of people waiting to use it while no other voters were marking their ballots at the regular booths. According to the inspector, the ballot clerk was saying something that seemed to be more suggestive or inviting for voters to use the AutoMark than is really intended. Commissioner Matthews raised the question of whether the current script that ballot clerks are supposed to use was from a directive issued by then-Secretary of State Bruce MacPherson sometime in 2006; Director Arntz did not recall, but Deputy City Attorney O'Leary indicated that she thought she recalled that. In any case, Commissioner Matthews asked that this issue be revisited for revising the ballot clerk script and/or training on this issue so that people who don't need to use the disabled-accessible equipment at least understand that they have the choice to mark their ballots with the pens. Commissioner Matthews's opinion was that he saw enough voters who thought that they were being advised to use the AutoMark rather than merely offered the choice of it - and they were mostly dissatisfied with their voting experience -- that it is worth further exploring by the Department of Elections.
(b) Ballot secrecy after voting. In about one-third of the polling places that Commissioner Matthews visited, there were varying degrees of pollworkers touching voted ballot cards, for example feeding them into the Eagle scanners. There were a handful of occasions he observed when the Eagle scanner would beep and give the alarm about the ballot card, and rather than reading the tape or the script, the Eagle clerk would come around to the front of the scanner and look at the voter's ballot to detect what the issue was. A lack of sensitivity to secrecy of a voted ballot card is probably a training issue.
(c) In about half the polling places Commissioner Matthews visited, there was some confusion on the part of the Eagle clerk as to what to do when the Eagle signaled some issue with the ballot card. They were not consistently following the script, and seemed somewhat surprised that the machine beeped, despite over 80% of ballots triggering this signal all day.
(d) Red Box seals. There was a wide disparity of how or even whether to secure the red box among polling places Commissioner Matthews visited. Some had no seals on the box, and several had a seal only on one side of the box, thus rendering it completely unsecured. This is a training issue.
(e) The Voter Information Kiosk. Commissioner Matthews again expressed how much he likes the newly introduced kiosk, that it was very helpful for organizing the tables at the polling places, and that it was a great idea.
Commissioner Gleason reported that he served as a pollworker (inspector) on election day. As usual the department did a terrific job organizing the election. The precincts were well supplied this year, and the Commissioner commended the department on the innovative information kiosk which was easy to set up and was a big help with consolidation of space needed to post voter information. He concurred with Commissioner Mathews on voter confusion with the purpose of the Automark machine...noting that the brand name "AutoMark" is a bit of a misnomer. He stated that he continues to be truly disturbed with the situation of the wholesale hand duplication (remaking) of 110,000 ballots and considers the Secretary of State to be in error ordering the massive number of remakes, which are typically only used in extreme cases of not being able to process a ballot. Last, he said he believes the Commission should look into the issue of voters who arrive at the polls, to not find their name on the roster. Many of these voters state they register to vote with DMV motor-voter. The expectations of these voters are not being met and this is in fact systematic denial of voting to such individuals.
President Meek reported that she observed the media reports on election day, talked to people in her neighborhood about their voting experiences, observed the ballots being processed and was disappointed in the low voter turnout.
Public Comment. Alec Bash complimented Debra Bowen on doing an excellent job. The said the problem with RCV may be that the ink pens were not working correctly during the testing earlier in the year. Mr. Bash reported that he helped to register 250 new American citizens and suggested that new citizens not be sworn in on Election Day so that the Department of Election can help to register more new voters. Tim Meyer said the U.S. standard should be complete transparency. Steven Hill said the Secretary of State may do other things to effect elections in the future and accused her of not doing her homework and said she should have contacted San Francisco for input and suggestions. Brent Turner said some press reporters appear to him to be “pro-Sequoia”.
- NEW BUSINESS
- Discussion and possible action to start full Commission meetings at 6 pm.
President Meek MOVED and Commissioner Matthews SECONDED this discussion. Vice President Townsend said that he had concerns that the public might be inconvenienced by a 6:00 pm start time for Elections Commission meetings. Commissioner Matthews reminded the members that the Election Commission only meets one night a month and that other Commissions meet earlier throughout the day.
Public Comment. Alec Bash said that he knew of several Commissions who meet early in the day, including the Ports Advisory Commission and the Planning Commission.
A Roll Call Vote to was: Yu – yes; Shah – no; Matthews – Yes; Gleason – Yes; Townsend – No; and Meek – Yes. The MOTION PASSED 4 to 2.
(b) Discussion and possible action to approve the minutes of the October 17, 2007 Elections Commission meeting. Commissioner Matthews MOVED and President Meek SECOND approval of the minutes.
The ROLL CALL Vote was UNANIMOUS to approve the October 17, 2007 minutes.
(c)Discussion on assessing effectiveness of November 7, 2007 Election Plan. President Meek asked that this item be TABLED to the Call of The Chair.
(d) Discussion on effectiveness of November 7, 2007 Election Plan activities completed thus far. President Meek asked that this item be TABLED to the Call of The Chair.
8. OLD BUSINESS
(a)Discussion and possible action regarding securing a voting system for 2008 elections. Commissioner Shah MOVED to support the signing of the Sequoia Systems contract by sending a letter to the Board of Supervisors, and Commissioner Matthews SECONDED the MOTION. Commissioner Gleason said that he wants to communicate to the Board of Supervisors that we support San Francisco getting a voting system as soon as possible.
Public Comment. Brent Turner read from the printed information he presented to the Commission regarding open source voting machines. Tim Meyer said we already have a voting system and that not having a source code has cost votes in other cities. He cautioned to never buy “proprietory machines”. Alec Bash spoke against sending the letter of support for the contract and said there was nothing in the new parts of the contract for security.
The ROLL CALL VOTE was UNANIMOUS to send a letter to the Board of Supervisors supporting the signing of the Sequoia Systems contract.
9. Discussion regarding items for future agendas. Commissioner Matthews suggested the subject of Commissioner access to election procedures be on a future agenda.
ADJOURNMENT at 7:05 pm.