Saturday Voting
(Proposition I; passed November 2, 2010)
SECTION 1.
This Act shall be known and may be cited as the “Saturday Voting Act” (the “Act”).
SECTION 2.
The San Francisco Municipal Elections Code is hereby amended to add a new Article VII which will read as follows:
Article VII: SATURDAY VOTING ACT
SECTION 700. PURPOSE AND INTENT.
(a) San Francisco residents deserve a voting system which corresponds to the schedules and lifestyles of working families. Allowing voting on Saturday would encourage parents to involve their children in the democratic process and help teach children the importance of civic engagement at an early age.
(b) San Francisco residents deserve an election schedule based on current housing and workplace patterns, transportation networks, and technological developments. When American civic leaders first decided over 150 years ago that elections should be held on a Tuesday, Americans lived in an agrarian society and most voters had to travel a great distance to the polls.
(c) The United States is ranked 132nd out of 179 developed nations in voter turnout. In the 2008 Presidential election, the United States had its largest turnout in over 50 years, yet only 60 percent of eligible voters participated. Despite San Francisco’s politically-involved and educated population, voter turnout averages approximately 46 percent, and some recent elections have seen turnout as low as 23 percent. Citizens have indicated that scheduling of the election is a major barrier to voting.
(d) A national grassroots movement called “Why Tuesday?” has proposed moving election day from Tuesday to the weekend, and has introduced legislation to implement this change to Congress several times over the past decade, though this legislation has not yet been put up for a legislative vote.
(e) This initiative would create a pilot program in connection with the November 2011 General Municipal Election in the City and County of San Francisco which would require the Department of Elections to open satellite locations for early voting at each of the approximately 400 polling places throughout the City and County on the Saturday prior to the Tuesday election.
(f) This pilot program would use the same safeguards and voting system applied to Tuesday voting in order to have the Saturday voting experience replicate the voting experience currently in place.
(g) The pilot program would be at no cost to the taxpayers. The initiative creates a “Saturday Voting Fund” to accept donations to cover the cost of operating the satellite voting locations, all of which would be publicly disclosed on the Department of Elections’ website. The pilot program Saturday Voting would not be required if the Saturday Voting Fund does not raise the sufficient funds to cover the costs of operating the satellite voting locations.
(h) The purposes and intent of this initiative are: to increase voter turnout at elections held in the City and County; to make voting more accessible for today’s working families; to provide a voting system that encourages parents to involve their children in the democratic process; to teach the importance of civic engagement at an early age; to increase access to the polls on a day when the majority of residents are not working; to serve as an example to the rest of the country that offering Saturday voting increases voter turnout; and to study the efficacy of continued Saturday voting.
SECTION 701. OPERATION OF SATELLITE VOTING LOCATIONS.
(a) On the Saturday before the November 8, 2011 General Municipal Election, the Department of Elections shall operate a satellite location for early voting, as authorized by California Elections Code section 3018, at each polling place which will be utilized for election day voting on November 8, 2011.
(b) The Department of Elections will not be required to operate satellite locations for early voting at each polling place which will be utilized for election day voting on November 8, 2011, if the Saturday Voting Fund does not contain sufficient funds to cover the costs of operating the satellite locations. The determination regarding whether the Saturday Voting Fund contains sufficient funds to cover the costs of operating the satellite locations will be made by the Controller.
SECTION 702. SATURDAY VOTING AT FUTURE ELECTIONS.
(a) The Department of Elections shall prepare a study of the efficacy of Saturday voting,
including the effect on voter turnout, impact on working families, and educational benefits, to be completed no later than February 1, 2012.
(b) If this study shows that Saturday voting could further the intent and purposes of the Act, then the voters urge the Department of Elections, Elections Commission, Mayor, and Board of Supervisors to take all necessary steps to develop and fund Saturday voting for future elections in the City and County of San Francisco.
SECTION 3.
The San Francisco Administrative Code is hereby amended to add a new Section 10-100.371 which will read as follows:
SECTION 10.100-371. ESTABLISHMENT OF SATURDAY VOTING FUND.
(a) Establishment of Fund. The Saturday Voting Fund is established as a category eight
fund into which shall be deposited all donations, grants, gifts, and bequests for the purpose of operating satellite locations for early voting at polling places in the November 8, 2011 election. The acceptance of any gift of cash or goods into this fund shall not be subject to the approval process required by section 10.100-305.
(b) Use of Fund. The monies received into the Saturday Voting Fund are hereby
appropriated exclusively to pay the necessary expenses that the Department of Elections incurs in connection with the operation of the satellite locations for early voting at each polling place for the November 8, 2011 election as required by Municipal Elections Code section 701. Any monies remaining in the Fund after paying these necessary expenses shall be used exclusively to develop and fund Saturday voting for future elections.
(c) Administration of Fund. The Director of the Department of Elections shall submit a
written report of all receipts and expenditures of the Saturday Voting Fund to the Department of Elections, Elections Commission, the Mayor, the Controller, and the Board of Supervisors by February 1, 2012.
(d) Transparency. The Department of Elections shall post the names of all donors and donation amounts to the Saturday Voting Fund on its website within 15 days of receipt.
SECTION 4.
This Act shall be interpreted so as to be consistent with all federal and state laws, rules, and regulations. If any section, sub-section, sentence, or clause (“portion”) of this Act is held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a final judgment of a court, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this Act. The voters hereby declare that this Act, and each portion, would have been adopted irrespective of the fact that any one or more portions of the Act are found invalid. If any portion of this Act is held invalid as applied to any person or circumstance, such invalidity shall not affect any application of this Act which can be given effect.
This Act shall be broadly construed to achieve the purposes stated in this Act. It is the intent of the voters that the provisions of this Act be interpreted or implemented by the City and County, courts, and others in a manner that facilitates the purposes set forth herein.
SECTION 5.
This Act shall become effective upon approval by the voters of the City and County of San Francisco.
Item # ___________
San Francisco Elections Commission Wednesday February 16, 2011
Forwarded from Budget and Oversight of Public Elections Committee meeting February 2, 2011
Consideration for Implementation of Saturday Voting
- Recommended Deadline for proposed budget for Saturday Voting operations.
- Recommended Deadline for determination by City Controller that Saturday Voting can be implemented.
- Recommended lead-time needed to secure available polling place locations, recruit and train Saturday polling place staff.
Consideration of Saturday Voting Operations in relation to Proposition I and California Elections Code
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Saturday / Tuesday Voting Replication
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Satellite Voting Operation
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Are Saturday Voting operations an exact replication of standard Tuesday precinct voting?
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Is Saturday Voting an early voting station similar to the Early Voting Station operated at City Hall with Vote-By-Mail ballots issued on site and collected for later central processing?
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Is there requirement that polling places be the exact same number and location as Tuesday voting?
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Can Vote-By-Mail ballots be issued off a roster for a precinct?
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Same hours as on Tuesday (7AM-8PM)?
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Can Vote-By-Mail ballots be issued to a voter not on a roster or from a different precinct?
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Use of same Roster?
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Can Provisional ballots be issued on Saturday?
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Are Indexes to be required and posted?
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What are the hours?
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Same Index for Saturday and Tuesday?
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Will voters be informed of any operation on Saturday which is not an exact replication of standard Tuesday precinct voting?
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Can voting Machines be used (Insight & Edge)?
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Are Indexes to be required and posted?
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If voting machines are used, is it the same exact same machine(s) on Saturday and Tuesday?
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Can Provisional ballots be issued on Saturday?
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Would any or all voted ballots and elections materials which need to be secured (i.e. rosters, unvoted ballots) need to be removed on Saturday and returned to the precinct Inspector before Tuesday?
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Required Post Saturday Voting evaluation and study
· Who is responsible for the costs?
· Who gathers data which is not part of standard election reporting produced by the Department Elections?
· Who decides what constitutes a valid survey?
Minutes Draft
Elections Commission Meeting
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
6:00 p.m.
City Hall Room 408
Order of Business
1. Call to Order: 6:03 & Roll Cal
Present: President Richard Matthews, Vice President Winnie Yu, Commissioner Arnold Townsend, Commissioner Gerard Gleason, Commissioner Rosabella Safont.
Also Present: Director John Arntz, Deputy City Attorney Mollie Lee.
2. Public comment on any issue within the Elections Commission’s general jurisdiction.
Public Speaker John Schenone says he is disappointed that his memo he read at the previous meeting had not been published. He said that the Elections Commission is not doing its job to service the public as he feels it should. Deputy City Attorney Mollie Lee explained that written materials of a 150 words or less that have been provided can be published however written material that exceed 150 words it is up to the discretion of the commission to summarize; however, a copy is kept in the public binder at the Department of Elections Room 48.
3. Announcements
1. President Matthews announced that he has appointed Commissioner Gleason as Chair of the Budget and Oversight of Public Elections Committee (BOPEC) and Commissioner Rosabella Safont continues to serve. President Matthews will continue to serve on BOPEC, but would like to leave, and asked that if one of the other commissioners would like to serve as a member of BOPEC please let him know.
2. President Matthews asked that commissioners who wish to put forth a motion would please send it to him one week in advance for inclusion in the agenda; second best would be to bring it in written form to the meeting and will be edited and given to the secretary. Either way it is important that we get the motions into the minutes verbatim, and these are the most efficient ways of doing that.
3. President Matthews clarified the policy regarding correspondence among commissioners: commissioners who wish to send correspondence to the full commission should send it to the secretary and she will forward it to all commissioners and place a copy in the public binder.
4. Approval of Minutes
Discussion and possible action to approve the Minutes of the January 19, 2011 Elections Commission Meeting
Vote was unanimous to approve Minutes of January 19, 2011 Elections Commission
meeting.
Vote was unanimous to approve Minutes of January 19, 2011 Elections Commission meeting.
5. Director’s Report
Updates on activities of the Divisions:
Administrative Division: It is gathering information for the Controllers; this information has a deadline of next Tuesday. There have been no changes to the budget since the last Budget and Oversight (BOPEC) meeting. An email was sent to all the commissioners including information of what may be put on reserve if there is a consolidation of the June Election.
Campaign Services: New interns are being brought in from Youth Works the service that the Mayor’s Office organizes and the Department uses to identify high school students who are interested in working in the Department. The guidelines are currently being reviewed that clarifies what their services can include.
Technology Division: A database has been centralized for supplies and equipment held at the warehouse. We are now able to electronically track and have a more efficient means of keeping records of the inventory.
Voter Services: The time tracking has been completed that allows us to have information that allows the Department to know how much manpower and time will be needed to perform a job.
Outreach: Has extended the list of organizations which it will work, and added long-term care facilities. Approximately 92 new organizations have been added to the Department’s contact list and 15 long-term care facilities. This division is also developing a survey form to provide the public the opportunity to give their feedback to the Department’s outreach presentations and materials.
Poll Worker Division: Sent out surveys to 2,400 pollworkers to find out whether they would be interested in working both on Saturday and on Tuesday for the November 2011 election; approximately 92% replied yes to working on either or both. A survey of those who have made their homes or businesses available as polling places regarding their willingness to allow access both Tuesday and Saturday revealed that 20% would not want their sites to be used for two days of voting.
Publications recently met with the vendors to see what efficiencies involving Spanish and Chinese publications they can implement.
Saturday Voting: The Department is awaiting the decision from the Secretary of State (SOS) regarding the use of the Edge machine on Saturday prior to the Tuesday election day. Any use of the Edge machine prior to Tuesday must be in the presence of employees of the Department of Elections, and pollworkers do not meet that definition.
The Department is getting closer to having a solution of using the Roster at polling places, possibly a version that would have peel-off labels to be placed on the roster to show that the voter voted on Saturday, which would be scanned and updated on Sunday, with that information forwarded to the precincts in advance of Tuesday to prevent double-voting. Increasingly, it appears that Saturday voting would be Vote by Mail (VBM) at the polling places, with the possible use of the Edge touch screen machines for disabled access. Ballots submitted on Saturday would not be counted until after the Election Day.
Redistricting: The department has received several calls regarding the deadlines, which are not discernible yet due to the census information not yet being released. It is expected in mid to late March, following which the Director has 60 days to report to the Board that redistricting has been triggered by a greater-than-one-percent shift in precinct population, following which the Board has 60 days to create the Task Force. This could make the creation of the task force in approximately July. The Director said that he has received some questions from staffers of the Supervisors about resources available from the Department; the Director has told them that the Department does not have the space or the personnel to support the Task Force and that Charter requires the Board to “convene and fund” the Task Force
Special Election in June: It appears that the media are quite sure in their reporting that we will have a Special Election, but there has been no formal announcement from the State.
· Update on budget for FY 2011-12
Vote was unanimous to approve Budget for fiscal year 2011-2012
6. Commissioners’ Reports
Commissioner Townsend said that despite the fact that he left the January meeting early and was not present for the nominations or elections of officers, that he nevertheless had an opinion of concern that the position of commission president has been held for five years by the same three white men. [This is incorrect, as Jennifer Meek was president within that time frame, and President Matthews was not.] President Matthews said that members who are women and/or minorities have been asked to serve, but have not agreed to be nominated.
7. Old Business
(a) Discussion and possible action to approve the minutes of the December 15, 2010 Elections Commission Meeting.
Vote was unanimous to approve Minutes of December 15, 2010 Elections Commission.
8. New Business
(a) Discussion and possible action to approve the proposed budget for FY 2011-12. Possible report from the Budget and Oversight and Public Elections Committee on this item.
Commissioner Gleason reported that BOPEC considered the draft budget as submitted, and voted to move it forward to the full Commission with a recommendation to adopt it.
Vote was unanimous to approve the Budget for fiscal year 2011-2012
(b) Discussion and possible action to adopt policy related to possible Saturday voting, its budget estimate, its logistics, its legal requirements and constraints, its fundraising, or other considerations related to implementation of the measure. Possible speaker from the Office of the Controller.
President Matthews referred to Commissioner Gleason’s document submitted at the BOPEC meeting and copies were attached to the agenda which lists questions that need clarification. He spoke with Alex Tourk, who is a proponent of the Saturday voting ballot measure that passed last November; Mr. Tourk was unable to attend this meeting and intends to attend the March meeting.
Commissioner Gleason said we still have questions that need to be clarified, only a few of which are:
1. What is the proposed Budget that is to be paid for by private funds?
2. What is the deadline by which we need to know from the Controller whether there are enough funds, and how will that deadline be determined?
3. Will the Vote by Mail (VBM) ballots used on Saturday be different or a replica of the other VBM ballots?
4. What constitutes a valid survey, and who will decide and design that survey?
Deputy City Attorney Lee said that the ordinance refers to Polling Place as a Satellite and that any Polling Place that is open on Tuesday must be open on Saturday.
President Matthews said that this will be an ongoing item for discussion and possible action by the commission and that the document generated by Commissioner Gleason will be referred to and amended as guidance for the Commission’s discussions of possible policy.
(c) Discussion and possible action to adopt criteria for the selection of the Elections Commission’s three appointees to the Redistricting Task Force. In 2002, the published criteria were: (1) Represent San Francisco’s diverse population; (2) Have not been paid by a campaign in the past two elections; (3) Have knowledge of San Francisco’s neighborhoods, geography, and demographics; (4) Be registered to vote in San Francisco (required); (5) Do not reside in the same supervisorial districts as each other; (6) Have flexible schedule for attending meetings; (7) Do not have conflict of interest.
President Matthews explained that if the San Francisco Redistricting Task Force might start its work in July, then the Commission must make its three appointments before then, and thus we have some time to consider our criteria, but also need time to open up the application period, decide our process for considering applicants, and make formal appointments not later than June.
President Matthews said he included in the agenda the criteria used in 2002 as a starter for discussion. He expressed that he would like to revise these, including requiring that applicants not have been involved in campaigns for longer than two years; Commissioners Townsend and Yu agreed. Commissioner Townsend said that we should not require that applicants be policy wonks.
Vice President Yu referred to the website www.wedrawthelines.org for some definitions of criteria for the state’s redistricting commission.
Commissioner Townsend said that he would be more comfortable considering this matter at a future meeting, as he had not read the 2002 criteria before this week.
President Matthews said that this item will be on the March agenda for further consideration.
9. Discussion regarding items for future agendas
President Matthews repeated that the issues of Saturday voting and the redistricting task force will be on the next agenda
10. The meeting adjourned at 7:01 p.m.
Materials contained in the Commission packets for meetings are available for inspection and copying during regular office hours at the Department of Elections, City Hall Room 48. Materials are placed in the Elections Commission's Public Binder no later than 72 hours prior to meetings. Any materials distributed to members of the Elections Commission within 72 of the meeting or after the agenda packet has been delivered to the members are available for inspection at the Department of Elections, City Hall Room 48, in the Commission's Public Binder, during normal office hours.