Advisory Committee 2008 Annual Report

Marin County Registrar of Voters’ Election Advisory Committee
Annual Report for 2007-2008

Introduction

The Marin County Registrar of Voters’ Election Advisory Committee was formed by the Registrar of Voters in July of 2006. The purpose of the Advisory Committee is to provide advice and recommendations to the Registrar of Voters on voter participation and election integrity issues as they affect elections held in Marin County. The Advisory Committee:

• Provides a link between the voting public and the Registrar of Voters.
• Advises the Registrar of Voters to ensure that every voter has the opportunity to vote knowledgeably, safely and effectively.

The public is welcome to attend Advisory Committee meetings which are generally held from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., on the third Friday of each month in room 324A of the Marin Civic Center in San Rafael. The Election Advisory Committee’s meeting schedule is posted at the beginning of each year on the Registrar of Voters’ website at www.marinvotes.org.

The Election Advisory Committee has two subcommittees to explore issues more deeply. The Election Integrity/Voter Confidence Subcommittee focuses on ways to make the election process more secure and transparent to voters.

The Voter Education/Outreach to Low-Turnout Populations Subcommittee explores methods of educating voters in low-turnout communities about the election and voter registration process.

Applications for membership on the advisory committee are accepted yearround. The application for committee membership is posted on the Registrar of Voters’ website.

The Annual Report includes Advisory Committee recommendations and actions taken by the Registrar of Voters’ Department in 2007-08 in response to the recommendations. It also includes the Registrar of Voters Voter Outreach and Education Plan, which the Committee recommended to be developed.

Highlights of departmental actions taken based on Election Advisory Committee recommendations are:

Voter Outreach and Education

Installed an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) telephone system, which provides information in both English and Spanish 24/7. Voters can call to find out if they are registered to vote, the locations of their polling places, and whether the ROV has received their vote-by-mail or provisional ballots.

ROV Department works with Grassroots Leadership Network and St. Vincent de Paul to provide voter outreach and education to low income and minority language voters.

Poll worker recruitment/training

Created a poll worker newsletter that features upcoming elections and other items of interest. All signs required to be posted at the polls are now printed on one sign board for each precinct for convenience of both voters and poll workers.

Website

Posted candidate and campaign financial reports on the ROV website, www.marinvotes.org

Vote by Mail

Included vote-by-mail (VBM) ballots in precincts chosen for the post election manual tally. Automatic sorter quickly sorts the VBM return envelopes by precinct.

Election integrity

Participated in a pilot project with Professor Philip Stark, UC Berkeley Statistics Professor, to determine the number of precincts to manually tally in close races. This took place after the February 5, 2008 Presidential Primary Election.

The Registrar of Voters wishes to thank Election Advisory Committee members for their dedication to improving the election process in Marin County and for its valuable feedback to the Elections Office during the past year. Through its recommendations and feedback, the Election Advisory Committee has enhanced the conduct of elections in Marin County.

For more information about the Election Advisory Committee, please contact Elaine Ginnold, Registrar of Voters.

VOTER OUTREACH AND EDUCATION TO LOW TURNOUT POPULATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE

Greg Brockbank
Steve Burdo
Shirley Graves
Anne Layzer
Jeanne Leoncini

ELECTION INTEGRITY/VOTER CONFIDENCE SUBCOMMITTEE

Carl Carter
Linda Bagneschi Dorrance
Anne Layzer
Sherry Reson
Robert Richard
Cat Woods