On Tuesday, July 11, the Department of Elections will conduct the canvass of ballots cast in the special election to establish an Excelsior Community Benefit District.
The canvass for the election will take place immediately after a final hearing before the Board of Supervisors. Elections staff will be available outside Room 250 in City Hall to provide assistance for voters starting at 2 p.m.
The processes associated with canvassing the ballots are open to public observation in City Hall, Room 59, and will be broadcast live on the Department’s web channel, SF Elections Live, at sfelections.org/live.
As ballots are returned, staff members scan the envelopes to record receipt of each ballot. After the hearing, staff will open the envelopes of the accepted ballots using a high-speed opener and then remove the ballots from the envelopes. Throughout this process, the side of the envelope with the voter’s identifying information is kept face down, to maintain confidentiality. Department personnel then prepare the extracted ballots for counting by separating the ballots according to YES or NO votes. Finally, the barcode on each ballot is scanned into the tabulation system.
The same day, after processing all ballots, the Department of Elections will post the results of the Excelsior Community Benefit District Election at https://sf.gov/2023-excelsior-community-benefit-district-election.
For more information, contact the Department of Elections at (415) 554-4375 or write to sfvote@sfgov.org.