BOPEC (Elections Commission) Special Meeting

1. Call to Order & Roll Call

okay welcome everyone to the January 31st 2023 regular meeting of the San

Francisco elections commission's budget and oversight of public elections committee I am the chair Chris jordanick the time

is now 305 pm and I call the meeting to order this meeting is being held remotely on

the online WebEx platform as authorized by California government code section 54953e and mayor breeds 45th supplement

to her February 25th 2020 emergency Proclamation members of the elections

commission may attend this meeting remotely and that event those members will participate in vote by video members of

the public May attend the meeting to observe and provide public comments online

in addition to participating in real time interested persons are encouraged to participate in this meeting by

submitting public comment and writing by noon on the day of the meeting to elections.commission at sfgov.org it

will be shared with the commission after the meeting has been concluded and will be included as part of the official

meeting file public comment will be available on each item on this agenda each member of the public will be

allowed three minutes to speak opportunities to speak during the public comment period are available via phone

call by calling

area code 415-65501 again the phone number is

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agenda okay so I will now proceed to the roll

call for the meeting um commissioner Hayden Crowley present

uh commissioner Stone present and I'm commissioner jordanick I'm also present

so we have a quorum all members present okay so um

next as part of agenda item number one a member of the commission will state

our land acknowledgment um would would either of the members like to State the acknowledgment for

today I'm happy to do it um every time I'm unused

unmute loud sound it's not making that sound is it okay no we don't hear it I'm happy to

I'm happy to do the land acknowledgment okay the San Francisco elections commission

acknowledges that we are on the unseated ancestral homeland of the mighty shalone where the original inhabitants of the

San Francisco Peninsula as the indigenous stewards of this land in accordance with their Traditions their

mind to shalone have never seated lost nor forgotten the 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 ramitus community and affirming their seven rights as first peoples out

okay thank you very much commissioner Stone so or president Stone

okay so let's move on to General Public comments public comment on any issue within the committee's general

2. General Public Comment

jurisdiction that is not covered by another item on this agenda

so we have one member of the public whose hand is raised so Mr Turner

I am unmuting you you have three minutes can you hear me

yes we can hear you okay great thank you um and I can see uh today is different

uh on the on the visual display because I can see now the Commissioners as well

as their names just uh for the record that's appreciated okay so

um the uh I wanted to give a brief update uh for general public comment uh

Shasta County has now uh their supervisors voted to remove Dominion

voting systems from the county um based on uh their

um uh lack of appropriate performance within that County so I think that is a

story to be uh investigated by our commissioners

um it just shows that it is possible for the support of Supervisors just to stand up and say

um that we don't want intellectual property protected software code uh in

the voting system for obvious reasons we don't want corporate control over the systems and

we want to inspire public confidence so that is something to take a look at also

in New Jersey a senator there has put forth legislation mandating open source

paper ballot systems so uh the proprietary systems would become illegal

at that point in the state of New Jersey and um they're hoping to join Mississippi

and New Hampshire moving toward open source software paper ballot systems so

I just wanted to give a brief update there and thanks for your time

okay thank you Mr Turner so are there any other members of the

public that would like to comment okay

okay seeing no further people with their hands raised we will move on to the next item and at this

3. Remote Elections Commission Meetings

point just regarding the next uh my policy stuffing City attorney quotas um uh the commission met uh two weeks ago I

think and um already approved this resolution and the

resolution covers subcommittees so you no longer need to adopt this resolution during your subcommittee meeting

okay um but we should still have the agenda item though since it's listed or

um I mean you're not is it okay for me to skip the

item um yeah I mean I think you could take public comment if anybody wants to comment if Mr pill calls there

okay so I guess yeah we'll press here to the next time but before we do that I'm we're just going to do an administrative

step where I'm going to transfer the um the host privileges to president Stone so she can manage the public comment

version of the meeting so let me just um see if I can figure out how to do that

okay so I think you should be the host now president Stone so you'll be able to

manage the public for um the items going forward okay

so let's move on to agenda item number three discussion possible action and resolution and continuation of remote

collections commission meetings so as Deputy City attorney Flores said we don't need to um adopt a motion for

this item but um let's um

open it up to public comment for starters there are no hands raised

okay so our commissioners is there any um discussion or would you just like to

move on to the next item I think we can just move forward okay sounds good so agenda item number

4. Department of Elections’ Proposed 2023-2025 Budget

four discussion of possible action on Department of Elections proposed 2023-2025 budgets the commission is

required to conduct two reviews of the Department's budget no less than 15 days apart on Friday January 27th the

director of Elections submitted its budget for commission review this will be the first review with the second

follow to follow at the February 15th regular commission meeting upon its approval the budget will be submitted to

the office of the mayor new later than February 21st okay so I'd like to turn it over uh to

your direct currents to um you know introduce your budget you know really appreciate all the work you put into

this um you know as you do every year and I also appreciate the additional

information that you added that we had requested um over the summer I think it was so

thank you very much director Arts you're welcome and thank you commissioner Jordan so just briefly so the

Department's budget proposals from for the next two fiscal years I represent around 20 just over 24

million dollars for fiscal year 23 24 and around 27.6 for fiscal year 2425

our budgets are fairly consistent from year to year and really what drives our

budgets are the number and types of Elections that we need to conduct with the upcoming upcoming presidential

primary and general election Cycles those are the bigger elections uh

in the series and so we tend to also have higher turnout greater number of cards and larger voter for information

pamphlets which of course increases our budgets compared to let's say the

gubernatorial Cycles uh going into this budget period the

mayor's office issued instructions for departments to seek to reduce their budgets by five percent in fiscal year

23 24. and then again eight percent in fiscal year 24 25.

so what also happened in November 2022 was voters approved proposition local measure h

which moved the local contest that would were scheduled to appear on the ballot

November 2023 to have them appear instead in the November 2024 election

uh which essentially uh saved the cities and also affected the Department's

budget by nine million dollars now overall the costs savings or move

for not having election November 2023 is not the full nine million dollars because around 2.1 needs to move into

fiscally for the next two elections in the next two fiscal years uh and so

we're saving about seven million dollars total uh this year that when you combine

the effect of that seven million dollars in the next two fiscal years we're actually meeting the the target the 13

reduction targets the mayor's office put forward now with that said we're still looking for efficiencies in our processes and in

ways that we can reduce costs we're not just relying on the fact that we're that we've lost an election essentially uh

for the upcoming fiscal year you also see in our budget that nearly half our costs are from the

non-personnel operating cost category and what's in that category is ballot production and assembly voter

information pathlet production the voting system lease the warehouse lease translation costs and really a lot of

other operational type costs that we that we encourage election and in the

memo that we provided to the commission those costs we try to break those down for you so you get a sense of how the

individual cost uh combined with within that larger category

another legislative change that occurred that's affecting our costs the upcoming fiscal years is assembly bill 1416.

uh assembly Bill 1416 allows for or requires the printing a proponent and

opponents on for State measures to be printed on on the ballots

and just our initial mock-ups of ballots we think that will increase the space

required for State measures by almost 50 percent uh going into the presidential

primary that's certainly going into the presidential general election we do expect to have more at least one more

card based on having this additional text in the uh in the state measures and it's

not only just the English that we have to include but it's also the the Filipino and the Spanish which requires

more space than does the English and the Chinese and we have to set up the English ballots in this with the same spacing as

we do with the Filipino and Spanish languages because of the of the way that

the the the where the the voting targets are positioned on the card and so even though the English might require less

space we still have to provide the same amount of space on the cards the voting targets line up in the same area on the

on the ballot cards for the voting system to read uh our our budget does include costs

associated with the elections Commission uh and if the commission wants to we

didn't make any changes these are what are called carry forward costs so the costs that are in the proposed

budgets for the commission are essentially costs that were moved forward from the previous fiscal or the

current fiscal year that was approved last year so if the commission wants or seeks or

wants to request uh any sort of additional items or uh be

able to have expenditures greater than what's listed in the proposed budget then just send me the information but we

also need justification for those changes that we can provide to the mayor's office and then potentially the

the mayor's office can discuss those with the commission as well

um again the the memo that we provided to the commission uh something we've been doing for the past several years

and it provides an overview of the budget forms

and breaking provides a breakout and as commissioner jordanick mentioned it also provides information that the commission

specifically requested from the Department the budget forms are what we submit to

the mayor's office so these are these are the actual forms that the mayor's office we'll see once we can put them into this

into the budget system and the commission many years years ago we requested for us to submit these

forms so that's That's the basis of the information that you have today uh again as commissioner jordanick

mentioned this is the first public hearing of the Department's proposed budgets the second one will occur on

February 15th when the full commission meets and then the department must enter its its budget

into the the budget system uh by February 21st uh so this budget today is not the final

budget of the department uh the commission can have comments the mayor's office will likely have comments uh then

even after the commission meets potentially the mayor's office a lot more comments before we enter the

information into the the budget system then again in June the board supervisors

will review our budget and potentially make changes or request changes as well

and uh with that that's like that's my presentation what I found really is just taking questions from the Commissioners

so we can navigate to these forums and I can answer your questions that's probably the best way to understand what

what these numbers mean so I continue questions at this point okay thank you very much director Ernst

um yes so Commissioners we have um just this one main agenda item today so there's there's plenty of time to ask

questions um I I definitely have a number of them but who would like to start out

okay commissioner Hayden Crowley um thank you uh thank you director Arts

um what happens if there are special elections so it depends if we can absorb the cost

of a special election within our existing budget which we couldn't so then we would we would seek a

supplemental appropriation from the the board which we approved by the mayor's office

but our first stop would be the mayor's office to let them know of the estimated cost but then that must go through a

board process for final approval and say you have a let's just say a a

special election occurred maybe at the Board of Supervisors or you know because aren't there some new rules around that

like if a vacancy becomes available don't isn't doesn't there have to be an election fairly even after an

appointment um are the costs around just say a one-time

special election I would think that they'd be almost as much as a lot I mean except for the fact

that you don't have this very thick ballot that they may be almost as much as a regular election am I am I crazy

because you have to do all the same things it's like working for 30 or 300. there are fixed costs however if in the

case of a election for supervisor uh it's a district elections

uh but then also we I think since it's a local election we could conduct a fully vote by mail election with City Hall as

a satellite uh voting Center which would reduce the cost if it were a city-wide election again we

could also I believe conduct a fully vote by mail election and then since it

is a municipal local election special election we could consolidate the number of polling places

and then the the ballot card which would be one significant driver of cost would be it would be one ballot card for a

special election it wouldn't be multiple cards then of course the voter information pamphlet would be much

smaller or a vacancy election and really just just having the the one contest in

this example and the one card and the smaller VIP that's just that just reduces costs and so many of other parts

of our operation so yes there are fixed costs but they would be significantly less for special vacancy election if it

was local okay um I I have just a few questions so I I

did see over and over the election mail sorting and processing systems there's

concern about how that will handle the expanded ballot and your retiring

I think you're retiring or you're looking to add the machine it's the servers you're that you retire uh have

you have you run a sample ballot through the existing election mail sorting and

processing systems I mean what that potential sample ballot could be because so many of our our contests particularly

in the at the Board of Supervisors level can be very close as we all know and um

the counting can go on for days and weeks and if this even prolongs it

further um I just have some concerns about that having been in that situation where I

sat around for a month waiting for final results um on a on a contest and I would just it

would it would be Agony for for the supporters and for the candidate if if we even extend it longer because of our

I mean I sort of see like this a scenario potentially unfolding that

that I I don't know if the money exists I mean you got to fix it now or fix it

later yeah so we've already received sample packets of vote by mail ballots from our

print vendor and we've already run those through our uh our uh

envelope opener extractor equipment and also through the uh the the ballot

sorting equipment and in seven cards is the max that we can run through the the

equipment with the current style of ballot that we have so our vendor a print vendor is still

experimenting on different ways of different approaches to to assembling the vote by mail ballots to maybe

placing having one less fold depending on the size of the envelope that we use

and so we're looking at the vendors looking at uh different I think I

mentioned the commissioning to a different size of the envelope because right now we're using a letter

size envelope even though even though it seems really large and that reduces cost because the mailing cost for letter size

is much less than a which the next size up which is a flat but I think there's a little bit of

space we can go up on the envelopes there's a little bit of space we can go out on the envelope which allows allows

for a wider opening which could potentially allow for different folding style which would make the cards less

thick as in the envelope so as it goes through the equipment it would have more flexibility

um so yes we've we've tested already we've received samples uh we're maxed out at seven for sure

uh but just because we've run samples doesn't mean that it would run perfectly

during the election cycle because what we've run so far are the perfect

examples from the vendor not what the voters sent back to us which you know

when they're sometimes the voters put the cards back into the envelope the envelope becomes a football essentially

it's just a big a big thick oval ball that's going through our equipment and that that could cause jamming

another like there's a lot of belts I mean just to get in to get really get deep and there's a lot of belts that could snap on our sorting machine

depending on uh the torque that's placed on them so yeah we've tested it we're not done seven cards is our Max right

now but what we can do uh if we if we make changes to the envelopes and ballots and maybe we go to eight I don't

know yet um and then the extra sorter uh would be one that we would potentially place at

the warehouse uh and not necessarily do the full scan at the warehouse but get

capture the initial images and also run our provisional balls through those so that we we don't lose time if we have to

slow the process we were able to stay we're able to to add a to to supplemental Step at the warehouse

on Election night prior to transferring the ballast of city hall for further processing afterwards

uh just a comment we're not going to undo proposition age

so and we have the this assembly bill so it looks like this ballot is only going to get bigger which I

which will be which will be interesting to see how the voters react to that because I know I'm one that a long

ballot can be very challenging at times but I just wonder

does it make sense to have some sort of um what do we call it in when in the

construction trade like you add 10 for the possibility and I know that this isn't the time given the city's budget

but you also need to prepare for the worst possible scenario that this isn't

going to work and you need to be ready and I just wonder if you need to to build in some sort of um supplemental uh

line item for a possible uh you know purchase of of of sorting machines that

will handle the larger ballot I I I I think it would be prudent to do so I

mean correct me if I'm wrong but I I wouldn't I think it would be a difficult situation that you would potentially be

in if all of a sudden it you know no matter your best best laid plans could

go awry because of things that are somewhat out of your control although we

kind of can see it right now that's a good point but certainly look at that you know if we get a uh if we go

to Beyond seven cards our next step would be to have monolingual ballots we would have the bilingual ballots and

that would reduce the the page count there uh so there is another step that we can take to reduce the card count if

necessary before going into before having to bring in more equipment or

different equipment yeah we can certainly build that into our planning start looking at that I I I do think

that that would be a prudent thing to do and I think it would be worth discussing because the voters voted on this and go

into monolingual ballots that would undermine the whole mission of equity so

and I I just see this only getting more and more complicated so you either buy them now buy them later whenever but I

do think that it makes sense to plan to put that out there reality wise that

this isn't gonna We're not gonna see this get smaller so it's best to confront reality I I always think and

and you know um say this is what it's going to take let's not let's not set ourselves up for

failure I mean maybe it seems exorbitant but I just do think that I I would hate

to see you standing there on Election Day saying gosh the the machine broke you know

just something to think about I have I have other things but you know what I've

talked too long so forget it but I do think that that's something that you really need to prepare for

I'm done thank you okay thank you commissioner Hayden Crowley um president Stone would you like to ask some

questions yeah absolutely um commissioner Hayden Crowley feel free to keep going if you wanted to run

through your list of questions okay we can always come back um the Sorting machines were actually

something on my mind as well so I really appreciate you bringing that up and I also just wanted to say um thank you to

the director for putting together such a robust memo it's actually incredibly helpful in

um this is my first um budget review with the department and so having the memo to look by side by

side with the budget was incredibly helpful so kudos to you and putting it together and also the former

Commissioners who asked for this type of thing I think it's really really helpful for us and for the public

um the there were a couple of questions I had um that were more like deep like nuanced

questions um and the Sorting was one of them the other question I had was about the um

the extra ballot processing space you talked about how in 2020

um the department used the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium and I wanted to just

ask if that and that as a result of like the need for space um there will be the shift to doing days

and night shifts um and so I wanted to ask if there were fees like what the fees and costs were

associated with um the use of that space uh and or if that was if there was some

yeah let's just let me start there what were their costs associated with that and if so what what were they yeah I

think we paid around a hundred thousand dollars for the use of that space during the that's it 20 election yeah

for how long we were there for probably five weeks six weeks wow well and I mean

I'm sure because of Kobe and that doesn't include like paying or you know the charges from DT to set up uh

equipment and connect um then we also had cost with the different costs but we have the the

voting voting Center outside Bill Graham but inside the yeah it's probably 800 000 rent to space and then for setup for

that election I think sorry I'm having a little bit of fog brain can you remind me how how long you said how many weeks

you said three to five six weeks that we were there five or six thanks um

I was just thinking about that in the context of use of City spaces and ways

to get creative with costs as to not uh requiring the day and night shifts necessarily

um but eight thousand dollars for five to six weeks is or yeah five to six weeks is

um actually very small um um sure

Mr Hayden Crowley you're on mute you're on mute you're muted

point of clarification I believe director art said 800 000. didn't you director 800 000. I was very confused about why

it was 8 000. thank you um okay let me just rewrite that thank

you um I probably have a follow-up question to that but I'll kind of wait I did

wanted to ask about um a different um software or technology tool you you

said that um four of the ten servers have exceeded the lifespan but you're

only planning to purchase two and I was curious as to why only two is that just

as a cost saving um measure or or what the rationale was

it's cost saving also we're trying to limit the expenditures we have we're able to

keep these two servers going for another year and but just every year we ask for two servers in the budget we just keep

swapping them out as time goes forward got it okay that that's helpful thank

you um and and then I I had kind of a very specific question which was around

the um let me see page seven it's it just helps when I can go back to

my house um the no not page yeah page seven

um just around the uh the ballot sorting and maintenance and that process I know

that the department uses humans to

um verify signatures and I was wondering if um the the

um if it's easy for us or if there are features accessible to the department to

automate that um I know that some other counties do that um from like an equity perspective

but I also wonder from an efficiency perspective that's something um that the department has considered

yeah we've we've looked into it and we can add that to our sorting equipment it's already a feature that's

uh sort of built in but it's not activated um that topic goes back and forth

there's times when people are okay with automated signature review uh there's

times when people aren't uh We've we put a lot of time into our signature

verification processes uh so we've we've just continued to have

that that human element in reviewing signatures and making sure that you know

that people that the voters know that each of their signatures are being reviewed by one of our Personnel rather

than um by equipment and also people who are concerned about equipment uh in

elections they are less concerned potentially about our Personnel reviewing signatures uh we can look at

it again certainly um that makes sense honestly it makes sense that it's fat

sorry to cut you off um I was just gonna say that it makes sense that there was a back and forth that there's often a back and forth I

can completely see the multiple um conversations around it I was just thinking about it in the context of

efficiencies um but it makes that makes total sense and it's not necessarily an ask to go

back and look at it it was more just um understanding the decision by the

department because I know it's pretty robust I I remember walking through it and seeing the process and thinking to

myself oh my goodness this is quite an intense process to verify signatures so

um that makes sense I do have other questions but like commissioner Hayden Crowley I will table them to pass them

over to chair jordanick um for his questions

okay uh thank you president Stone um so um yeah thank you again director

Ernst I was also before I um get into some of my questions I was impressed with the you know some of the

creativity and the cutting the costs like for example the you know combining some of the hiring

processes to get some efficiencies there I thought that was a real interesting idea and I know you

did the group interviews from from in the past so it's kind of a continuation of that

um so I'll just start with the memo um on page three you talk a little bit about the

the ab1416 with the the ballot labels and um

one thing I thought would be helpful for perhaps the readers of the memo I know

you say it's 30 days before the submission of the ballot measures and do you know like what calendar date

that is for the March November approximately because I don't know when those dates are

around February 5th 6th

for is it 30 days in advance of the submission of the ballot measure or do

you mean for the for the city to for the so yeah my apologies so the

Board needs to um to pass legislation to opt into the

additional ballot labels if there's three days prior to the filing deadline which is 88 days before election day oh

88 days right so you're looking at 100 and what 18 days okay prior to election

day so it's about um three and a half months yeah and then um

are you going to notify the board of this option or do you assume they just know about it already or what's your

approach going to be for that yeah I'll I'll have to inform the board right now we could not add this we I mean we just

wouldn't be able to do it so if the board is I mean we already have the voter information pamphlet in San Francisco we have the paid arguments

so I think we have a we have a really substantial method of informing voters of who's foreign and against who are the

proponents and the opponents of local measures um but yeah I'll have to inform the board and uh if they if the city were to

adopt this I really don't know how we could conduct the election uh president Stone

I've set a point of clarification and thank you this was actually one of my big questions that I had meant to bring

up um I and this is just my ignorance um for

um director Ernst is that process would you have to vote on it with sorry would

the Board of Supervisors have to vote on it from uh kind of sweeping any site any

type of ballot measures or is that inclusive of both state and local

elections um and is there any implication for specific ballot measures or is it just

all in one they would have to vote if they would include all ballot measures would be

um now on the cards as opposed to just voters looking in the voter information palette for Pat pamphlet for um

opponents and supporters so the state measures is required so the

board takes no action on those and then the board would take action on local measures the the legislation doesn't

distinguish between Charter amendments ordinances Declaration of policy so

I mean I um so I really can't answer if the board could partition or parse out

that opportunity for some measures but not others but my thinking is they'd want it

for all measures thank you

okay um yeah thank you president Stone um yeah just to follow up with that so

so basically while the board has this option you would basically recommend to them or tell them that this would not be

something you'd be able to implement essentially it'd be a challenge and if you know if it's something the board

wants to do maybe there's other avenues that could be taken to provide similar service to the voters

okay all right thank you um so back on the on the the numbers Mr

Stone had a question oh sorry prison Stone yeah one thing I was thank you

um one thing I was just thinking is it makes sense that you wouldn't want to uh that you would recommend against it to

the Board of Supervisors one thing that could be creative just and I know this is kind of outside of the budget but if

there's a way to even just include a line that says to learn who is who

opposes and who supports this measure refer to the voter information packet so

that at least voters know that that that information exists in their voter information packet without it needing to

be on the ballot itself hmm

okay um so back on the the number of ballot cards it's good to hear that you've been

doing some testing on your existing machines and one question I had was of the of the different machines that

you have which are the ones that would be affected by the the thickness is it is it just disorder or is it also like

the extractor as well or both both are there any other machines that are affected

aside from the space and things well we have a not we have not provided the package to the post office yet so I

don't know how this could would affect the post office equipment okay and then

one of my questions was um have you thought about or even looked into the possibility of

like obtaining new sorting machines and extracting machines or would that be just out of the question or are they not

available or I don't really know the implications but yeah at this point we want to try to use

the existing equipment instead of trying to go for a big purchase we as commissioner Hayden Crowley mentioned we

can certainly consider uh looking at other equipment to see if we could bring it in

okay and then are those machines you have are those owned by the city or are you leasing those

any purchase though that equipment okay and then um and also can you just repeat

again what was the history on the mono the bilingual ballot versus monolingual

well previously the city had trilingual ballots and then when Filipino was was required

for uh election for election information uh we didn't have enough space for the

three or all four languages on the ballot uh so we went to bilingual

ballots if we went to monolingual ballots which Which counties do is it's not something that would be unique to

San Francisco and those people who requested information in Chinese Spanish and Filipino would receive ballots in

those languages and everyone else would receive an English uh language ballot I'm not advocating for this this is not

something I'm suggesting we want to move to but that would be uh that would be our next step to save space on on the on

the ballots themselves is to go to monolingual is that currently just a departmental decision or are there laws

around that we're clear uh there's I'm not aware of laws around bilingual trilingual quadril

lingual ballots I mean we we were like I say we were we were trilingual went to

bilingual and that was a decision that the department made certainly we uh we

we did a lot of Outreach around that provided you know uh input had received

input we didn't just do it unilaterally okay and then I'll just ask one more

question then I'll kind of turn it over to others to rotate through a little bit on the on the space issue with City Hall

I know that you said that your current plan is to kind of just stick with only the one location at City

Hall and then um you know possibly using the warehouse as

well but I was curious like are were there any other locations near City Hall that you like seriously looked at or got

price quotes on aside from Bill Graham I know you said they're expensive but I know there are buildings on the west

side of the the city hall and but

you mean in 2020 uh well just in general like given the

space issues are there are there even are there other locations

near City Hall that are even an option I mean we went to the war memorial we had meetings with them we went to the

museum the Asian Arts Museum uh we looked at we went to Bill Graham uh you

know we looked at different places uh but you know one thing is transporting

ballots is is a real concern for a lot of people and so you really want to

reduce the amount of travel ballots do so ideally we want to maintain or retain

our processes within City Hall potentially we could use the North or South South light course for about

production for a period of time there have been rooms available in City Hall that we've been using that potentially

we may lose but we may be able to use those going forward

um but once even in 2020 moving the ballots from Bill Graham to City Hall required

an escort with the sheriff and you know there's always concern of the Optics on

that also uh you know anything things it was an active time in 2020 outside City Hall

there was concern about moving those ballots um so yeah the best the first starting

point is to have all the processes in one place that if we can if we have to

build out from there with within city hall and then potentially our warehouse we already have established practices

practices for moving materials and ballots to and from that location

okay I understand okay thanks so I'll turn it over to um other Commissioners

commissioner Hayden Crowley you ever hand up yes thank you

um thank you director orange a couple just quick questions I I think

um the one of your goals is to um seek grant funding for local

organizations that are well situated to help disseminate vital election information to members of the city hard

to reach and vulnerable I I'm kind of looking at my notes uh there

um how is the success on that measured working with these groups have you been

able to measure that you've seen an increase and how is this working with them and is there some sort of

accountability on on that so uh for the most part it's worked

really well this last election we had to issue three rfps uh to to uh

enlist organizations that worked uh with especially black voters uh and then we

for the we had the accountability component is we require reports

that has that response to metrics that we provide within the grants themselves and then if we don't if we don't receive

these reports and if these reports don't indicate that the groups method metrics are sought to meet the

metrics then we won't provide the the funding uh for the most part the groups

are you know the very engaged they're they're very energetic around getting Outreach to folks during an election

cycle um this past cycle there were a few groups that didn't provide their final reports we've contacted them several

times but that's rare but usually it's a it's a very good response from Community

organizations regarding these grants and they actually do put a lot of time effort into to getting really taking a

lot of our materials out into the community into engaging with with their constituencies

so it's all kind of one-on-one do you do any social media advertising anything like that

of course yes I mean for the rfps or for just just for

the Outreach oh yeah so we so we on especially during the election cycle we have Twitter and

Facebook and you know and then like all time every time we most times when our Outreach group goes out we're tweeting

from the location so people know that we're out there that's that's happening even now during during the off cycle so

you're posting but you but you don't have an advertising budget you don't you don't advertise on Facebook or or um

well I mean I don't even know if the demographics would would justify that I

don't know if the people that you're trying to reach are even on those social media platforms but increasingly that is

I I see is the most effective way to meet people at their water cooler if for lack of a better metaphor

um so it doesn't sound though like so when you're out there it's really more of retail you're out there shaking hands

and meeting people one-on-one it's you're not meeting them at the you're not other than tweeting and and posting

on Facebook you're not doing a a full-scale advertising program through social media

not specific through social media we will do the direct messaging occasionally for some elections we're

not really funded for that we don't have we don't have a Communications Division I know that you know you know we don't

we don't have uh you know communication uh what do you call pios here uh we so

we do all the work ourselves um but I'll tell you too really the people that are the focus of

those grants are the folks that you want to have interpersonal contact with they're not the ones in my my view who

would be receptive responsive aware of social media okay maybe someone would

tell them that's you know and really one really fantastic example are the non-studistician pool of Voters that

group specifically needs to have the personal interaction I think my view to really to engage and to draw them to

know one to be aware of their opportunity to vote and then two to understand how to enter the process and

then also to you know to know the contact the department so really I think the shaking of the

hands is this if more of that could be done that would be better okay I I was just I didn't really think

of it in terms of an either or proposition I'm just looking at ways to increase your budget when you can't really do that

but and while while we're at it let's throw some Chromebooks in um for the Commissioners but I was

waiting for that email you know well I'll get there um but um uh I I kind of look at it as

you know there's a lot of buckets to fill and certainly the first place I would go is shaking hands and talking to

people one-on-one you build that trust but if in the best of all worlds you also want to look at other ways to reach

folks too in case you did you missed them at the bus stop or something like that um the only other question that I have

is in um uh Chris mentioned that you you know he was impressed with the your

um efficiencies in the group interviews and onboarding process I was a little taken aback by that I have to say I kind

of thought yeah um how are poll workers evaluated at the end of that and because it you know

hiring is such a tricky thing and you have to do such a massive amount of it you know it's it I'm certain that it's

not a hundred percent perfect each time and then to bring them in a group setting I don't know how you would be

able to talk to each and every one of them and get a sense so poll workers we don't we don't do the

group interviews that's the group interviews are with are temporary as needed personnel that we bring in

uh so the the poll worker still is actually a one-on-one conversation with the coordinators

uh and then there is then the field election deputy who is assigned a

certain number of polling places to support that election day they the field election Deputy will provide a rep in

that report but um uh reflections of of their

interactions with the poll workers and also you know any sort of interactions we had with poll workers on Election Day

we tracked that so we have a sense of who's who's who's doing who's able to

provide good services to voters on at the polling places on Election Day uh

the group interviews with the Temporaries needed it's a big change but uh and that's something that I I really

haven't uh implemented myself I admit but it's it's really it's it's been really effective and I have to I'm I'm

very impressed with the with the Personnel that have been working with the Department the past few years during

the time that we've implemented this uh group interview and now we'll do the

group training which will be a little different dynamic because not there are commonalities but there are

also differences in the in the processes for which the training occurs um but yeah it's it's been we've really

we the last few years we've had just a wonderful group of people down here both the the full time and also the

Temporaries needed it's really been nice I'm good okay thank you I'm I don't have

any further questions thank you directorarns okay president Stone thank you commissioner Hayden Crowley president

Stone yeah I had a couple of follow-up questions um [Music]

just wanted to to add a little bit of color on the um community group funding those grants

um just uh from my personal anecdotal experience and the community groups I've

interacted with during my time on the commission have only had great things to say about that that having the funding

come from the Department rather than the department trying to reach those specific people but really giving those

folks who are in the communities themselves working with those folks the resources to be able to do it has been

um really really well received so I think that's great on the department in fact the only the only feedback I've got

I've heard about it is that they want more money um not unsurprisingly but I think that's

a testament to um the value of it I actually wanted to ask and apologies if this is a detail

that I missed um it there won't be any cuts to those grants for this year correct it's just

going to remain the same not on our side okay um so in 2024 understanding that you are

concerned about kind of his it be my concern but it will be this historic election it's going to be enormous do

you anticipate providing an increase uh in a comparable increase in Grants to

those Community groups to be able to support the Outreach necessary to um deliver the same quality that they

would for kind of past elections or is it staying the same right now it's the same okay certainly

that's you know and through the 300 000 seems so far to have been a good number because

it seems to be the limit of where we can attract uh sufficient numbers of community

organizations who would interact with the folks that we want to at their reach uh and also we're Trump we didn't raise

it because of the the budget instructions we're not trying to raise our costs but that's certainly something

we can consider and if you know if that's up in the commission thinks is a good idea we can generally consider that

yeah thank you um I think for now that makes sense um and if I think just knowing having a

feedback loop directly with those communities and hearing from them you know in anticipation for 2024

um is is the best way of going about it the um the other thing I noticed is and

we've talked about this before is just um in the so in thinking about Outreach

ahead of 2024 there are two things that um really I really wanted to kind of

hone in on one is registration so um you know seeing the and I actually

was thinking about this in the context of the vulnerable community of vulnerable populations that um you refer

to in um this memo but often in the director's reports I'm almost wondering if it makes

sense to include neighborhoods or precincts that um have historically really low turnout

or registration rates um and perhaps being able to think about

ways to funnel resources into I know we want to be Equitable in how we think

about each neighborhood but knowing that there are certain neighborhoods that consistently have lower registration

rate are there things from an Outreach perspective that um the department could be thinking

talking about to increase that and and maybe counteract that it's just an idea

that I wanted to think about from an Outreach perspective and the second one is um also in a cost-cutting mindset which

is when there's the Outreach around uh 2024 just incorporating additional

um messages around the digitizing the voter information packets um I think we had talked like very very

briefly about um this because it was new in the last election but letting people know with

enough time that they can and making sure they know that that's an option that they don't have to receive the

print just because looking at the breakdown of the budget obviously printing is one of the largest costs

um and knowing the size of the the midterm voter information packet I can

only imagine what 2024 will look like um so just incorporate I'm sure that you

in the in the rest of your your department are thinking about that but just additional education around

digitization of that I think is a great uh a recommendation I wanted to make

um the other thing I wanted to ask about as it pertains to the ballot cards is I

don't know if you had seen this but the Department of Justice came out earlier

this month uh basically changing the font of all of their materials moving

forward as a policy for accessibility reasons they moved from Times New Roman

to calibri I think um and I was wondering I I'm not I think

the department uses Ariel is that the font that is used um I think so yeah Ariel I was just

wondering what the history was with that and um if even just changing the font

wouldn't would help streamline the length of ballots

um and I'm sure that there is some science to it that I don't know so I wanted to just ask and also happy to

share I think there's actually controversy over the font change unsurprisingly

um but in in case that's of interest to the department um I know that that is like a national

thing that is being looked at generally from accessibility standpoints yeah we so the font that we use we've

we're one is readability and then also the the space that it takes up on the

card so that's something we've we've looked at through time and it also

includes the uh Filipino and Spanish you know how how that

probably fought uh moves into those languages the Chinese is a different

owned category of font um but uh yeah we certainly have considered

font and in relation to space on the card and readability we can look at it again

um it's no problem I was just curious and I'm happy to share the the there are a

couple of articles that came out about the font um and so it just made me think if the

if that would help streamline the length of the ballot cards at all um

I think those were it oh um the other question was actually

to commissioner Hayden Crowley and if she does want to include girl books

um if she could just I'll tell her when she returns um but wanting to make sure that we do

provide that to the department in a timely fashion if that's something I want to include um

uh commissioner Hayden Crowley if Chromebooks are something of interest that you would like to have included

um I would just recommend sending that over as soon as possible um I imagine that other Commissioners

would be appreciative of the request as well okay thank you

okay was there anything else prison Stone okay um so I thank you I will ask a few more

questions I wanted to direct Aaron's focus in on a few of the dollar amounts

and um on page eight of the memo where you

provided the breakdown of the non-personnel services um

two of the just wanted to focus on a few of the

larger amounts on the one that's listed as other Professional Services for 3.1 million

has the voting system contract VIP translation type setting election night Staffing do you see that line

on page eight yeah it's towards the bottom for the

uh-huh yeah one of the things I was wanted to know is kind of the breakdown

within that category is it just those three or four things or were there other

things too aside from what's listed in the parentheses Well non-personal Services

is a very large category and if you look at the

pie chart on page 12.

sort of breaks out a bit more

for you so do you have a question like a specific amount of a specific type of

activity or action yeah well so specifically um

what is the other Professional Services is it just the four things listed there in parentheses where are there things

that are are those just some of the so yeah so for our budget that's the four item that

would be in that category or that subcategory okay so then then I guess I was wondering

about one of them is called VIP translation and type setting so is that basically the the same as the

VIP translation and production in the pie chart the 2.6 5 million part of it

right and then okay right okay and are those because it's such a

large amount 2.6 million um I was kind of curious is that is that like a single

company that does the translation and production or is that spread across multiple

so translations and formatting of the voterification pamphlet are by one

vendor and then the production of the full information path letter by another vendor and then the the prep for

mailing the labeling of the voter information on the back covers by another vendor and then the post office

of course does the mailing okay we're just out of curiosity who are the vendors that that do those those

operations that you mentioned so the translation and formatting is by interathnica

and then the production printing is by tolpin Merrell and then the the mailer I

don't know if we have a mailer uh mail house yet for the labeling for March and then of

course the post office yeah or the for like the translation specifically is that like a company that

does a lot of different departments or does each department kind of decide on its own which company to use

we so the vendor that we use does provide services to other City agencies

okay um and then similarly in that same chart on

the next page page nine you have the printing line item where it's 4.1

million for one year and then seven million for the other the next year

I was curious about the breakdown between the ballots versus the VIPs and the poll worker manuals I assume the

poll worker manual is a lot smaller but so maybe it's more just the ballots versus the VIPs

like do you know approximately is it like half and half or

or roughly yeah I mean like for March the production the

balance is around just the printing is about 1.4 VIPs around 1.9 because November the

ballots are on 3.2 and the voter guides around 2.7 are those are those listed in the forms

I I'm not sure if I I think so I think it's all yeah I think no okay maybe not

okay well you said them out loud so I guess people that are interested um and then on the facilities rental

line that's another large item the 1.7 how much of that is the lease on the

warehouse 1.6 just under 1.6 1.56 I think it is

okay and then my last questions are around the the prep jvbm processing

and um is that is that also within the the non-personnel services or is that in

a different category I know it's something like 180 000 or around that order two hundred thousand

so that would be in the bowel production assembly does that print or printing yeah

oh it's under the printing category yeah okay and then what what um company do

you use for that out of curiosity a h okay

all right um yes so that covers my questions on the

oh and last lastly um with the the voter Outreach you know the rfps you do for

that how many how many organizations Supply have been applying for those and how many do you award

oh I don't know I the top of my head I couldn't tell you the number that uh applied

that I think we had like 12 or 14 or I think then that we should Grant to okay

okay so that's that's all the questions I had um commissioners

any other questions uh president Stone thanks I just actually had a question

about the translation um Services if there's any and you it's

totally fine if you don't know this off the top of your head I could also ask you later um just if

um there's feedback on the translation at all um using the outside vendor for example

I think um Cantonese is the primary dialect in

uh San Francisco I don't know if the ballots are in Mandarin or in Cantonese

but those types of things are their feedback loops that are given from the public to the specific vendor

um and you made like I said you may not know this off the top of your head I'm just I'm just curious and perhaps I could ask you for the uh for that at a

later date um it's more just a question to make sure that voters who are using the

services are feeling you know are accommodated effectively and have the

tools to be able to share if it's not um if the translation isn't as effective

and I know you mentioned that other departments use it so I'm sure it's you know I'm sure that it is all uh well

documented in terms of feedback I was just curious what that process looks like

so we get feedback and pretty much everything and we also get feedback on

the translations as does our vendor because translations are a rather Hot Topic and so our vendor actually

receives very positive reviews but also a lot of input from people on on the translations

um it's not uncommon for us to provide translations to the state to use on state materials uh we actually

are a part of a I guess a working group with the state before each election where when there's time we review the

the translations from the state's vendors and that we provide feedback and

all it's not uncommon for us to provide our vendor to provide translations that are

in fact are used Statewide um that also in other counties and um

so yeah so there certainly have been input and uh our we I you know we

receive good information that our translations are are accurate

um and as far as the dialects the dialects are spoken so that the characters are the same regardless of

the dialect uh so uh and then we use traditional Chinese characters we don't use the

simplified Chinese um and uh that may be a local flavor on the

characters I don't know if other counties are moving to simplified but in San Francisco we still stay with the

traditional characters thank you

I have a follow-up on that actually so the state the state does its own

translations of all of the state contests and measures and then but you can kind of opt out of those if you want

they're just made available uh uh

no there's no mechanism really to opt out of the street State translations uh uh but there's a time frame that the

state translators if they uh finish the translations in time counties who want

to can review and provide feedback and there's a small group of counties in San Francisco is one of them that actually

participates in this feedback mechanism to the states translators and we often

find especially the Chinese we find a lot of bad translation we find material

that could be translated better we provide our input which is adopted by the state um we have in the past though if we

if there is a bad translation on a candidate name a transliteration of a

candidate's name or a uh about designation which is the the

profession or work that a candidate does and it's a local candidate then we will

we will provide the local translation or transliteration in place of the state

information I see so in the cases where you you're

providing where the state is using it they're they're basically going with your suggestion in that

review process correct and then are your suggestions coming from do you

pay the vendor to do the translation the statementary or is this stuff that's coming more from citizens and staff

It's a combination of both our personnel and the vendor uh because the vendor

like just as commissioner Stone was somewhat referencing now that there's a

great uh reputation that you know that translators can acquire if they do good

work and so our translator and they also have a like a really they have a passion really for translations and so they

don't charge us but they'll look at the state translations and make the recommendations along with our Personnel

just so that the content is better for the voters I see it's interesting the state wouldn't just use them directly if

they knew about them but yeah I don't want the states that use them correctly oh okay all right it can be local secret

then okay um yeah I don't have further questions um Commissioners anything else

okay so let's let's um direct currents did you have any additional comments in response to what's been mentioned or

no okay I just want to say I mean this so this is not the final budget this is you

know this is our initial proposal uh you know we commission if you have thoughts

we can certainly tickle some consideration staying with the mayor's office so if they have thoughts of

course it's they have the the pen though too um but this is not done until February 21st so

okay understood uh thank you uh commissioner Hayden Crowley

I I would just reiterate director arms I think I know you've been you know you've

made some pretty um good Cuts there I think I saw what is like 21 decrease in 23 24 and a 3.7

percent increase in 24.25. I I think you should throw I think you should go for

the gold and put in for those machines because you're gonna have to get them eventually so you might as well put it out there and then if they if the mayor

cuts it you say well I told you so I'm you know it's a little it's a little

uh preventive just you know because what what happens if I I just think it's only going to get

bigger the ballot yeah all right I think it's good good advice

so okay okay thank you so let's let's open it up

to public comments um president Stoney on Amanda the lines oh just actually

commissioner Hayden Crowley you've got your hand up oh no okay

yeah president Stone yes I will manage that just bear with me for a moment I want to pull up a timer

okay so um members of the public if anyone would like to comment yep okay we

have one we have one uh hand raised at this point

um Mr Turner I have unmuted you and once you begin you'll have three minutes

thank you Commissioners and I wanted to associate myself with the uh comments of

commissioner Crowley but not on the Sorting machines on the tabulation and

the voting machines um I think it's uh fairly obvious that there is a bit of

an elephant in the room no one has mentioned the cost savings that would be obtained if we join the ranks of New

Hampshire and Mississippi these technology giants that are part of the

United States moving ahead of California that are enjoying the cost savings benefit of moving toward open source

systems uh no one has mentioned that there is basically by a simple numbers crunch

about a million dollars a year at least to be gained for the budget uh by moving

toward the better technology systems that we know are looming but

unfortunately in San Francisco have been blocked by a lack of political will so

uh I think that deserves acknowledgment also uh it would be great if there was

focus on Outreach regarding ranked Choice voting there seemed to be an

issue in Oakland where they had the Meltdown regarding their proprietary systems and ranked Choice voting system

this last election there was one candidate chosen on one day and then

they pushed the button and there was another candidate chosen following that and uh it raised some concerns from the

public about a lack of Education campaign and I'm hoping with San Francisco dedicates money and effort

toward educating the public regarding ranked Choice voting especially the

elderly who seem to struggle a bit and and other vulnerable communities other

than that thanks to all of you for your good work we think the public thinks this is not a place for cuts the

elections Department should be well funded and protected but we also are

saddened that we are failing to move forward with the work of the county over the past 20 years to push for open

source voting systems we think the commission has failed at this point to

recognize the issue and the National Security involved with the issue and so

we're hoping that we that we join New Hampshire in doing a pilot as soon as

possible thank you again for your time

thank you Mr Turner I have re-muted you

and let me just confirm there are no there are no other hands raised

okay thank you president Stone so that closes public comment for this item

um so now we have an opportunity to do any remaining discussion um I guess

um I I should ask are we do we need to make

a recommendation to the full commission DCA for us does the commission need to

approve the Department's budget or is this something that we just have to have a hearing to discuss it

no I think it's just a hearing to discuss it um if there's any approval necessary that would probably be a second hearing

worth it uh yeah you give it to the director aunts to take president Stone thank you

DC for us I do think it would be valuable um and we can talk about this offline

um uh chair jordanick

um about including access to this recording ahead of the next review so

that Commissioners who are not on the committee can potentially watch the conversation

should they have additional questions um and uh I also think that you know the

the once this document is uh more up-to-date and has been submitted as it

pertains to the memo I do think there's value in US incorporating that on the commission's website

um perhaps it's under bopack um but I think it provides a lot of color for the public to understand why

certain funds were allocated the way that they were um so that's just an additional request

for the commission that I would I think we can talk about in the next meeting

that's all okay thank you president Stone commissioner

Hayden Crowley um thank you um chairman jordanick aren't we required to

put the recording up on the website as soon as possible

I I think that that's part of a sunshine I had to do I had to put up the

recording for the Sheriff's Office on the budget like the next like within an hour It'll point of clarification

yeah I was yes and I was saying that in the pan in the packet agenda so when you

when you're for the packet we can have the link to the bow pack meeting so that it's easily accessible for Commissioners

to go and review as a reminder okay that's all okay and and then just another point of clarification request

for clarification uh if I want to uh put something together director arms for us

to have Chromebooks do I just uh submit uh rationale and set up submit it to you

in the next couple of days or so yeah it doesn't for that that nothing fancy just make it known we'll go from

there well sure it won't be long Believe Me I'm sure there's verbs but but it'll but

it'll be very well reasoned by Chromebooks

well other commissions have them we don't want to be foiled period end

the only thing I can think of is you want to go beyond that if you if there's certain features or functions you want on that Chromebook then oh okay yeah I I

I thank you um I I would like I I like the fact that on WebEx we can raise our

hand electronically and that is a really great feature to have in order to

um follow Robert's Rules of Order which we are supposed to be doing by bylaws um

in our uh commission meetings that we should have that function and I don't know if that's some that's probably an

app that we would incorporate into the Chromebooks but I know that other commissions

okay it's my husband on the Civil Service uses that thank you

okay um yes so Commissioners I mean because

we are meeting today we do have an opportunity to discuss if we would like to make a

requests related to the commissioner's portion of the budget um we don't have to discuss that today

but or maybe we're not prepared to but we we do have the ability I know

there had been some interest in maybe doing something around the commission secretary position but

under President Stone do you have any preference on whether we spend time on that today I was wondering if someone was going to

ask about Cherry we actually had 20 applicants

um for the existing role and I didn't think that it was appropriate for us to

ask for additional funding based and I've reviewed done a first review of those candidates and there are qualified

candidates um who I believe would be appropriate and therefore I didn't think it would

behoove us to include an additional ask for funding for someone else if we're going to move forward with the existing

at one point I had thought parallel path was the way to go but um it just isn't logical so as it

pertains to the secretary I don't think there's an item I think we can talk

about quickly some thoughts here if there are additional funds that we want to discuss but other than that I think

we can punt that to the full commission for discussion um in February

okay sounds good uh commissioner Hayden Crowley

um I'll be candid I haven't been on this commission long enough to really assess what our needs are other than the fact that I think that we should have

Chromebooks to to so that we our business stays on a city computer I mean

DCA Flores and director Arns are you using personal computers from home

no so even though we are not city employees per se

um that doesn't diminish our role because we perform a very valuable role and we can be foiled and all kinds of

different things um and I just don't want somebody in my in my personal computer yeah I just

don't I want to look at my email on on uh you know on on a city-owned

Chromebook um so anyway I've already written my proposal so but I as far as the as far

as the other stuff is concerned I just haven't been around long enough to kind of figure out really what is Meaningful

and at this point since we are facing such a significant budget um

uh challenge I'm not sure we would get a hearing on it anyway

um so you know we we gotta we gotta you know start slowly and and in my opinion

I'm starting slowly and then we'll ask now on the other hand director Arts needs to be asking for some other things

but that that's we can push him

okay um so

anything else um were there any like amendments to the budget that people were thinking about

you know increasing the Outreach funds or anything or um

I know you had mentioned something along those lines the presidents don't yeah thank you I think that

um I you know the comments that I made were not necessarily items that I think require action I

think just bringing them up to the department is enough for

um their consideration the only thing that I would want to see additional

funding for though I recognize the budget shortfall is those grants um in 2024. that was the only thing that

I kind of felt based on the needs of the 2024

um election that perhaps increasing that grant funding but um I also understand the department and

the director's rationale as to why it's remaining the same so um I don't feel that that's like a

directive that I want to make to the department but I do think an explanation as to why was an import why it would

remain the same was an important um element of transparency

okay sounds good and then drug turns do you think for the next meeting you could maybe research the number of

organizations that applied for the funds and then the number that were receive the funds yes put a pure sign up okay

great okay so if there are no um additional

things people have to say um we can um move on to the next item which is the

adjournment so the time is now 4 31 pm

um the meeting is adjourned thank you everybody all right guys thanks thank you director Ernst for your work thank

you very much