Elections Commission Regular Meeting

Wednesday, July 17, 2024

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    Overview

    San Francisco Elections Commission regular July meeting.

    The meeting video and transcript is posted below.

    Agenda

    1. July 17, 2024

      Call to Order & Roll Call

      The San Francisco Elections Commission acknowledges that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone, who are the original inhabitants of the San Francisco Peninsula. As the indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions, the Ramaytush Ohlone have never ceded, lost, nor forgotten their responsibilities as caretakers of this place, as well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory. As guests, we recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland.  We wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors and relatives of the Ramaytush Community and affirming their sovereign rights as First Peoples.

    2. General Public Comment

      Public comment on any issue within the Elections Commission’s general jurisdiction that is not covered by another item on this agenda.

    3. Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes

      Discussion and possible action on previous Elections Commission meeting minutes.  Re June 5  - will be reviewed at August meeting.

    4. Director's Report

      Discussion and possible action regarding the July 2024 Director’s Report.

    5. Commissioners' Reports

      Discussion and possible action on Commissioners’ reports for topics not covered by another item on this agenda: Meetings with public officials; oversight and observation activities; long-range planning for Commission activities and areas of study; proposed legislation which affects elections; others.

    6. Closed Session

      Discussion and possible action regarding the annual performance evaluation of John Arntz, the Director of Elections.

      1. Public comment on all matters pertaining to this agenda item, including whether to meet in closed session. 
      2. Vote on whether to meet in closed session to consider this agenda item pursuant to California Government Code§54957(b) and San Francisco Administrative Code§67.10(b). (Action) 
      3. CLOSED SESSION. Closed Session is held pursuant to Brown Act section 54957(b) and Sunshine Ordinance section 67.10(b) to discuss the performance evaluation of a public employee. (Discussion and possible action) 
      4. If closed session is held, reconvene in open session. 
      5. Discussion and vote pursuant to Sunshine Ordinance section 67.12(a) on whether to disclose any portion of the closed session discussion regarding the public employee performance evaluation. (Action) 
      6. Disclosure of action taken, if any, that must be disclosed pursuant to Brown Act section 54957.1 and Sunshine Ordinance section 67.12(b).
    7. Agenda Items for Future Meetings

      Discussion and possible action regarding items for future agendas.

    8. Adjournment

      There will be an opportunity for public comment on each agenda item.

    Date & Time

    Wednesday, July 17, 2024
    6:00 pm to 9:00 pm

    City Hall, Room 408

    1 Dr. Carlton B Goodlett Place
    San Francisco, CA 94102
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    Webinar number (access code): 2660 509 7496
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    Elections Commission July 17, 2024 meeting video

    Transcript:

    welcome everyone to the July 17th

    2024 regular meeting of the San

    Francisco elections commission I’m the

    president Robin Stone The Time Is Now

    6:07 p.m. and I call the meeting to

    order before we proceed further I would

    like to ask commission secretary Marissa

    Davis to briefly explain some procedures

    for participating in today’s

    meeting thank you

    um sorry secretary Davis can you make

    sure your microphone is turned

    on Can You Hear Me Maybe just pull it

    closer can you hear me yes okay there we

    go thank you as authorized by the

    elections commission’s February 15 2023

    vote members of the public May attend

    the meeting to observe and provide

    public comment either at the physical

    meeting location or

    remotely details and instructions for

    participating remotely are listed on the

    commission’s website and on today’s

    meeting agenda public comment will be

    available on each item on this agenda

    each member of the public will be

    allowed three minutes to speak six

    minutes if you are on the line with an

    interpreter when providing public

    comment you are encouraged to state your

    name clearly once your three minutes

    have expired staff will thank you and

    you will be muted please direct your

    comments to the entire commission and

    not to a specific commissioner when

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    participating in real time interested

    persons are encouraged to participate in

    this meeting by submitting public

    comment in writing by 12:00 p.m. on the

    day of the meeting to elections.

    commission

    sfgov.org it will be shared with the

    commission after this meeting has

    concluded and will be included as part

    of the official meeting file thank you

    president

    Stone thank you secretary Davis will you

    please proceed with item one commission

    roll

    call President Stone present vice

    president Parker here here commissioner

    bernh holes here commissioner Dy here

    commissioner loli here commissioner Wong

    present president stone with six members

    present and accounted for you have a

    quum thank

    you the San Francisco elections

    commission acknowledges that we are on

    the unseated ancestral homeland of the

    raay to shalone who are the original

    inhabitants of the San Francisco

    Peninsula as the indigenous St of this

    land and in accordance with their

    Traditions the to shalone have never

    seated lost nor forgotten their

    responsibilities as caretakers of this

    place as well as for All Peoples who

    reside in their traditional territory as

    guests we recognize that we benefit from

    living and working on their traditional

    Homeland we wish to pair respects by

    acknowledging the ancestors and

    relatives of the rsh community and

    affirming their seven rights as First

    Peoples it closes agenda item number one

    and we’ll now move to agenda item number

    two general public comment public

    comment on any issue within the election

    commission’s General jurisdiction

    jurisdiction that is not covered by

    another item on this

    agenda just a

    moment so you on YouTube right I mean

    it’s too bad because whatever uh yeah

    it’s Theory yeah maybe you know me from

    other places in the city hall basically

    I’m going to develop a little more on

    what I said uh the first time I came to

    see you on May the

    15th precise for people to check it out

    together okay we are dealing with a dead

    hand here in the system of Elections

    because uh it’s not really intelligent

    to pretend not to know that it’s

    technology allowed the system to be

    rigged basically so we

    are we need we cannot avoid a sort of a

    revolution in the system we can’t about

    it otherwise that’s it it’s the end of

    see so the way I I put it last time was

    to say

    okay obviously some people won’t like it

    that’s normal

    because you need to Pro to proceed with

    the system of election by

    drawing so basically you have five

    candidates let’s say five candidates for

    any important post you know any

    government you select 12 citizens at

    random the let present a program

    okay then after that the one that stand

    by drawing from the citizens are drawn

    again the winner is drawn understand

    with only one mandate the first mandate

    for only one

    year which makes

    corruption almost impossible that is if

    the candidates elected by drawing

    doesn’t do what he said on this program

    sorry you

    out that’s the only way we can solve the

    problem here that’s called real

    democracy now well you are in a tough

    situ position here I perfectly

    understand it’s the only way to go I’m

    here to serve that’s it that’s my

    mission

    so in France too by the way but after

    have a good night thank you

    thank

    you are there any other public

    commenters there are no other public

    commenters okay thank you secretary

    Davis um that closes agenda item number

    two we’ll move to General uh to excuse

    me to agenda item number three approval

    of previous meeting minutes discussion

    and possible AC on previous Election

    Commission meeting minutes and actually

    we won’t be able to move forward with

    this because I realized right before the

    meeting that the minutes are not posted

    on the website and so um in order to

    give the public time to review the

    minutes um we we have to postpone this

    uh this agenda item so I actually have

    to move to agenda item number four

    director’s report discussion and

    possible action regarding the July 2024

    director’s report I’ll hand it to

    director Ernst thank you president Stone

    uh I don’t have more more to add than my

    report we are in the we have started the

    second nomination period for the other

    local offices and then also we’ll be

    receiving the local

    measures and any District measures as

    well um but uh so right now we’re

    basically just uh gearing up for uh

    November and then moving through the the

    the nomination period uh we have been

    doing a lot of Outreach events uh

    recently U we’ve been consistently going

    to the U the naturalization ceremonies

    on a weekly

    basis and um I don’t know I think from

    there I can take questions from from the

    commission on the report or any other

    topic

    so thank you director erns I’ll take

    questions from commissioners

    anyone yes vice president

    Parker

    oops so I’m set up um is that okay yeah

    um I don’t have a lot um thank you as

    usual for your really detailed report um

    I know we ask you this like every month

    but are you getting any better sense of

    the ballot length even though we haven’t

    hit all of the deadlines yet for

    measures and candidates so I don’t know

    the number uh but the number will be

    less than 30 is my uh perception at this

    point which is Big because it 30 was

    sort of the breaking point I think uh

    for us so if we’re around 15 to 20 then

    uh I don’t think I have not seen the

    ballot questions all the ballot

    questions I’ve not seen the state ballot

    questions for the state measures but I

    don’t think we would exceed six cards at

    this point okay which you know was the

    big issue uh for lot of reasons uh and

    so if we get even if we get 15 measures

    local measures for instance then

    potentially we even have a five card

    ballot which be which be actually

    wonderful so okay great thank you I

    wasn’t sure that you’d be able to give

    me any answer but I thought I’d ask um

    okay I think let’s see uh a couple of

    comments um I really appreciate the

    thoughtful theme for November I liked

    how you spelled it out for us you know

    how you got there uh so thank you for

    that um I also um a couple other

    appreciations in report um I appreciate

    the recommendation from the language

    advisory councils to include caregiver

    um in that non-citizen voting

    information super relevant and necessary

    here so I appreciate that they made that

    recommendation I um already sent you a

    note earlier today I really liked the

    video and brochure on rank Choice voting

    I thought they were um useful and I plan

    on sharing them with my network because

    I I’m still continue to um be surprised

    at how many people don’t understand both

    how to fill out their ballot and how it

    Works um so thank you for that um I also

    appreciated the Safety and Security

    brochure especially after the

    conversation we had last year to or last

    month to uh understand more all the

    security measures you all um have been

    taking so thank you for that I

    appreciate the transparency and I think

    if at least the public can access it who

    knows if they will but at least it’s

    there um and then the two questions I

    had um are for the the RCB and ncv

    grantees um that you listed in the

    report are they you’re doing training

    with them is that to be coordinated with

    the the messaging of the department um

    around the election um or is it just

    managing a grant I’m just what I’m

    wondering is um how we can get a sense

    of what it is the grantees will be doing

    to support those two

    efforts so the grantees provide plans

    yeah so that could provide the plans

    that were they submitted in response to

    the

    rfps okay I was just ious are they

    already on the website somewhere or is

    that something we would just ask to see

    I don’t know if they are on the website

    it’s mostly just curiosity on my part to

    see what kinds of things they’re doing

    um okay so I can follow up with you on

    that um and then the other question um

    the note about adding Vietnamese um

    because the threshold being lowered uh

    for the 2026 ballot I was curious about

    what kind of fiscal impact you expected

    for um related to that we haven’t

    started looking at the costs for that so

    I don’t I don’t have a number on that

    right now either um but it would I mean

    we were adding another language so

    everything all the materials and all the

    actions we take around the the current

    languages would be replicated with

    Vietnamese for Vietnamese uh

    so it is

    significant uh addition for us but we

    haven’t done the cost analysis yet um

    when that decision was made um did you

    get any sense that the city would

    recognize that when it comes to giving

    budgets to the department because will

    we have the same sort of budget but have

    to serve more languages or do you think

    that they’ll account for that to our

    budget and still have to provide

    languages well I hate to think that but

    okay but there wasn’t some like we’ll

    make sure we funded it won’t be like an

    unfunded

    correct all right that’s all from

    me thank you vice president Parker any

    other

    Commissioners yes please

    commissioner bernh hols uh thank you

    president Stone um hi director arens two

    quick questions my usual question have

    there been any security incidents either

    digital or physical in the last

    month hello commissioner bernel no

    there’s been no instances uh in our with

    our department last month okay and then

    the second question quickly looking at

    the um 15 nonprofits are these are there

    any differences between this and the

    last round

    there are

    some that I know there’s some that

    didn’t make right did now receive grant

    funding this round I don’t know if all

    the name all all the groups are the same

    though um compared to last round I can

    just do a compare and contrast but yeah

    it looked like there was some difference

    okay thank you you’re

    welcome thank you commissioner

    burnol I a follow-up question to

    commissioner bernh hols were all of

    those did all those grantees receive

    equal amounts of funding or was it

    different based on the proposals correct

    the lad based on their yeah that’s what

    I would figure okay any other

    Commissioners

    okay thank you director ARS keep up the

    good work ahead of November hopefully

    folks are taking vacations

    now um and uh doing some self-care ahead

    of a busy couple of months y um that

    let’s move to public

    comment uh no public commenters hands

    raised thank you secretary Davis that

    closes agenda item number four let’s

    move to agenda item number five

    commissioner Commissioners reports

    discussion and possible action and

    commissioner reports for topics not

    covered by another item on this agenda

    uh meetings with public officials

    oversight and observation activities

    longrange planning for commission

    activities in areas of study proposed

    legislation which affects elections and

    others I’ll open the

    floor anything to

    report okay let’s move to public comment

    for commissioner reports

    No Hands raised okay thank you secretary

    Davis moving right along

    um uh we’ll move to agenda item number

    six closed session discussion and

    possible action regarding the annual

    performance evaluation of director John

    of John ARS the director of Elections

    let’s move to 6A public comment on all

    matters pertaining to this agenda item

    including whether to meet in closed

    session so let’s move to

    public

    comment No Hands

    raised thank you secretary

    Davis uh we’ll move to 6B vote on

    whether to meet in close session to

    consider the agenda

    item I move that we uh uh move to meet

    and close session to consider this

    agenda item second thank you vice

    president Parker

    let’s move to a roll call

    Vote Yes

    VI

    yes

    I

    I

    yes

    yes

    okay thank you okay we will now move

    into close session thank you director

    Arts that was very was record time um

    enjoy your evening see you next

    month um let’s just take a quick moment

    to make sure our Tech is supported for a

    Clos session

    and then I want to make sure also that

    we’ll still be able to see

    Lucy Lucy can you hear us

    still yes I can okay

    [Music]

    good and the record we should pause the

    recording as well because that will be

    harder to truncate

    View transcript

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