City and County of San Francisco
Elections Commission
Minutes of the Meeting at City Hall Room 408
November 17, 2010
APPROVED
1. Call to Order:
6:06
2. Roll Call: Present:
President Joseph Phair, Commissioner Rich Matthews, Commissioner Arnold Townsend, Gerard Gleason, Vice President Winnie Yu, (arrived at 6:09) Commissioner Rosabella Safont, (arrived at 6: 15)
Present Also:
Director John Arntz, Deputy City Attorney Mollie Lee,
3. Announcements:
President Joseph Phair, put forth a MOTION. Deputy City Attorney Mollie Lee, request there be a deadline of 1 week prior to the meeting. President Joseph Phair, request that Deputy City Attorney, assist the Commissions Secretary on preparing this Motion and to give advice on preparations for Close Sessions. Commissioner Rich Matthews, Ask for more time regarding the Directors Review criteria by next year. President Joseph Phair, Agreed, the review will be done in closed session and Commissioners must have their information submitted by January 12th before the next scheduled meeting scheduled for January 19th.
The roll call vote was unanimous to approve the Motion.
Public speaker: Otto Duffy observed several polling places as he has for several Elections and compares the pollworkers he now sees as a trend of slight improvement.
Public Speaker: Debra Benedict worked at a polling place near Stonestown Shopping Mall and wishes to report that a person who was assigned as the Field Elections Deputy promised to return back to the polling place around 9:00pm however did not return until nearly 11:00pm. Information was reported and all was well. President Joseph Phair, apologized.
4. Discussion and possible action to approve the Minutes of the October 20, 2010 Elections Commission Meeting:
The roll call vote was unanimous to approve the Minutes.
5. Directors Report:
Ballot Processing: There are approximately 6,200 ballots remaining and some 32,000 ballot cards remain and we have started the Provisional Ballots, but we have not begun to process for district 3, 4 and 11.
Budget/Personnel: All workers have been disbursed to various operations. Employees verse temporaries all have return to our office and working on requisitions for materials and supplies.
Campaign Services: We have been very busy with Observers, there have been quite a number that have come thru we have sometimes been working until 12:00am thru the Thursday following the Elections Day.
Out Reach: Disbursed and in the canvass.
Publications: All are currently in the canvass
Canvess: Nearly complete estimates should be complete by next week before Thanksgiving, we have cut back on overtime.
Ballot Processing: Will be complete by next week.
Pollworker Division: Working on the Pollworkers payroll.
Technology: Working on information from the different departments and campaigns request.
Voter Services: Since the day after elections we have been working with approximately 209,000 Vote by Mail (VBM), 141,000 precinct, this is 67% return rate. We have not finished with the tally sheets we will be able to provide information by next week.
President Joseph Phair: Inquires if there are any close races? Director John Arntz, We have been focusing on district 2 and 10 and state wide race for Attorney General Harris vs Cooley, both campaigns have been talking about recounts. Propositions, we don’t foresee any problems at this time. President Joseph Phair, Inquires how did you perform as far the budget? Director John Arntz, Good, by doing things more efficiently, having more people working on VBM, it appears VBM is approximately 60% this may be a tipping point we are seeing more VBM and roughly 16,000 provisional. President Joseph Phair: Do we have many voters VBM, who turn ballots in at the precincts? Director John Arntz, currently are no stats on this information.
Commissioner Gerard Gleason: Do we scan the roster before processing Director John Arntz, Yes.
Commissioner Rich Matthews: Do we have an update on the person who made away with the ballots? Director John Artnz, Yes, ballots have been located at the Palace of Fine Arts, in the pond and that person has been charged with three felonies. The Memory Pack has not been located at this point we estimate that approx. less than 75 ballots were involved. This occurred in district 11 however voters were able to continue voting. The wet ballots are being kept in the office and this point, I feel certain that the information can be retrieved, it will take time for them to dry and the paper is of a good quality which helps in this process. Commissioner Rich Matthews, It was reported that two polling places did not open on time? Director Commissioner John Arntz, Yes this was handled and all went well.
Public Speaker: Debra Benedict states she was an observer and is inquiring about the machine used for counting that resembles a conveyor belt located outside Room 48 at City Hall. Director John Arntz Yes this machine worked well, information was recounted to assure that it was correct and performing as it should.
Public Speaker: Otto Duffy, Comments on precincts located in the Tenderloin with comparisons to previous years, no real complaints.
6. Commissioners Report:
Commissioner Gerard Gleason, Commends the vendor for a job well done on the Ballots, everything from the perforation worked wonderfully. While in the polling place he surveyed there were more Vote by Mail (VBM) than pass elections with 16 provisional in which voters complained that had not received ballots. The pollworkers training did a great job with good quality workers and he hopes we are able to retain them for future use. Two voters claim to have registered with Department of Motor Vehicles and as the story goes, they did not receive their ballots. It was stated by the trainers at the pollworkers training class that this election is in your hands, he feels this is important because at this point pollworkers are important to the elections being that they work directly with the voter . Questions from a voter was presented to him in regards to whether or not a daughter could vote for a hospitalized mother, Commissioner Gerard Gleason, answer was no and a call was made into the help line, where the person receiving the call was not sure of the answer and caller was directed to Jerry Ashley and Nathtila who arranged for a ballot to be taken to the hospital. Commissioner Gerard Gleason, request that Hospital Ballots be a topic for discussion at a future meeting.
Commissioner Arnold Townsend, states that during the campaign he had several people to inquire information regarding Rank Choice Voting (RCV). In the past extensive training had been done to educate voters regarding Rank Choice Voting however new voters, who have w reached the age of being a first time voter have not given information to educate them on this method every few years. Commissioner Arnold Townsend, states that several community organizations commented how pleased they are with how knowledgeable and helpful that the Elections Department has been and wants Director John Arntz to be aware of this.
7. (a) Deleted, was final at last meeting
(b) Discussion to hire Commission’s Secretary President Joseph Phair, has obtained approval to hire however the rank has been adjusted. Vice President Winnie Yu, says that she has received several applications from HRs link and once she has a sufficient number she and Commissioner Safont, will begin working together to make a determination. Commissioner Rich Matthews, ask how long this position would remain on the job posting? Commissioner Rosabella Safont, it will remain until the position has been filled.
8. New Business: Commissioner Gerard Gleason, Contingent with the election being certified Measure I (Saturday Voting) he is asking that it be added to the agenda. President Joseph Phair, ask the Director to notify once this has been certified we will hold over tentatively for December’s or January’s meeting.
Commissioner Rich Matthews, states that he has been contacted by Voting Systems Task Force, they would like give a presentation of things they would like to see implemented. President Joseph Phair, Agreed.
Deputy City Attorney Mollie Lee, recommends at the December’s meeting there be a discussion to consider outside counsel, should there be any conflicting issues. Attorney lee states her recommendation is for the City of San Mateo’s counsel to be used.
President Joseph Phair, request the Annual Report be discussed.
President Joseph Phair, in December we will be holding elections for all commissioners that desire a position of President or Vice President he encourages them to submit the necessary documents.
9. Meeting adjourned: 6:55