2017 Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes

Registrar of Voters
Election Advisory Committee Meeting
Friday, December 12, 2017, 9:30 a.m.
Room 121, Marin Civic Center

Minutes

A meeting of the Election Advisory Committee was held on Tuesday, December 12, 2017,in Room 121 of the Marin Civic Center. The following members were present: Greg Brockbank, Bonnie Glaser, Marcia Hagen, Ora Hatheway, Anne Layzer, Peter Mendoza, Sean Peisert, Bob Richard, Steve Silberstein, Cat Woods

Representing the Elections Department: Lynda Roberts, Registrar, Melvin Briones, Assistant Registrar, and Colleen Ksanda, Manager of Polls and Poll Workers

Representing the County Administrator’s Office: Dan Eilerman, Assistant County Administrator

Welcome

Lynda Roberts opened the meeting and welcomed all participants.

Discuss replacement of Marin County’s voting system

Draft report prepared by Registrar
The report summarizes the information gathered in various discussions with the Elections Department staff and Election Advisory Committee, and is the foundation for preparing a report to the Board of Supervisors. Committee members suggested including information about desired longevity of a new system, and adaptability of a new system to address potential changes such as ranked-choice voting and vote centers.

Proposed Request for Proposal (RFP)
Committee members suggested keeping the RFP broad and including a pricing request for various purchase options, such as cost to replace all the equipment, or cost to replace certain components. For example, it may be possible to keep the current accessible ADA equipment and phase in new ADA equipment later. The RFP should also address longevity of the system, adaptability to emerging changes in the State of California, and scalability and cost savings if the County moves to vote centers in the future. As part of the process, each vendor will be expected to schedule a demonstration of the equipment. After the RFP process, the information will go before the Board of Supervisors. The Elections Department has about $1.8 million available in grant funds. Funding cost above this amount will be a consideration for the Board of Supervisors.

Voting System Advisory Subcommittee
A reasonable size for a committee is five to seven members, including County representatives and members of the Election Advisory Committee.

Other Business

Distributed copies of 1) 2018 meeting schedule; 2) Vote-by-mail and provisional ballot report for the November 2017 local election. Since one race was very close, the Elections Department needs to ensure accuracy in reviewing all vote-by-mail and provisional ballots; 3) A report showing the number of military/overseas registered voters in Marin County.

Adjourned at 11:30 a.m. The next meeting will be held Friday, January 19, 2018

Registrar of Voters
Election Advisory Committee Meeting
Friday, September 15, 2017, 9:30 a.m.
Room 324A, Marin Civic Center

Minutes

A meeting of the Election Advisory Committee was held on Friday, September 15, 2017,in Room 324A of the Marin Civic Center. The following members were present: Greg Brockbank, Veda Florez, Bonnie Glaser, Marcia Hagen, Anne Layzer, Peter Mendoza, Tom Montgomery, Bob Richard, Cat Woods.

Representing the Elections Department: Lynda Roberts, Registrar of Voters, Colleen Ksanda, Manager of Polls and Poll Workers, and Tony Aquilino, Technology Systems Specialist

Welcome

Lynda Roberts opened the meeting.

Review Dominion Voting System Demo

On Wednesday, September 6, the Elections Department hosted a demonstration of the Dominion voting system that is currently undergoing certification through the Secretary of State’s office. Members of the Elections Department staff attended the demonstration, including Lynda Roberts, Melvin Briones, Tony Aquilino, and Colleen Ksanda, along with members of the Election Advisory Committee: Anne Layzer, Veda Florez, and Steve Silberstein.

Ms. Roberts reviewed the hardware components including central ballot counting, accessible voting device, and polling place tally equipment. Except for the polling place tally equipment, Dominion uses off-the-shelf hardware (monitors, scanners, printers) that will be certified by the Secretary of State. This makes replacing equipment much easier and less expensive. And as technology changes, the company can go through an administrative review process to certify new hardware, rather than going through the lengthy certification process. The electronic adjudication process allows ballot images to be reviewed on a computer screen to check voter intent and solve problems. The image is stamped with notations to show the path the ballot took from the start of the tally process to completion. All new systems are including electronic adjudication.

Committee Discussion
The big question seems to be whether to centrally count all ballots or continue to tally ballots at polling places. Central counting of all ballots may be easier for staff. Cost is a factor in determining whether to retain polling place counting machines. Another consideration is whether to move to a vote center model after the year 2020.

The polling place machine is a complete system (not off the shelf components), with built in redundancy (two memory cards), which creates security. The machine will accommodate multiple languages. The tallying unit alone weighs about 80 pounds. These machines have an adjustable monitor attached to the unit, which can be used for accessible voting. Monitors, however, are susceptible to breakage.

Unlike the Accuvote machines that are portable and remain in the custody of the poll worker until Election Day, the Dominion polling place machine would be delivered by the movers the day before Election Day with the memory card secured inside. The cover of the machine would be locked to ensure security.

If the department moves to 100% central counting, the voter experience at the polls will remain the same, except for the tallying portion.

With this system, ballot layout would remain in-house. The ES&S and Hart systems have similar ballot layout features.

The role of the Election Advisory Committee seems to be to create a list of criteria for selecting a new system, considering issues such as voter experience, total cost including hardware and staff requirements, and back-end issues like ballot length. The Advisory Committee can also help with issues such as possible community concerns and public education.

Elections Department staff recently talked about implementing a new system for the 2018 election cycle due to changing needs. What would be the timeline to order the equipment? How are other counties making their decision? Why did they choose a certain system? It may not be prudent to move too quickly—weigh the risks of taking a fast track against the current system which is still functioning.

People who vote at the polling places have more confidence when their ballot is tallied immediately. The machine tape also creates a paper record. Even though voters have 29 days to come to the Elections Department and cast a vote-by-mail ballot, they shouldn’t be put in a position of having to vote at the office to feel confident in the process. However, since 70% of the registered voters use vote by mail, this shows a level of confidence in the central tally process.

Public confidence and public education are two important aspects in making a change.

The committee briefly discussed vote centers, which may mean more people would vote-by-mail for convenience versus casting a ballot at a vote center, and most of the business at a vote center may be ballot drop off. Maintaining the current model of having a tally machine at each polling place may not be sustainable going forward.

Now that voting systems are close to being certified, the voting system subcommittee needs to meet again to work on the decision.

Other Business

Update: The ballot status look-up feature on the Department’s website has been enhanced to include information about when a ballot was mailed, when it was received, if it was counted, and if not counted, why. This expanded feature will be in place for the November 2017 election.

The meeting adjourned at 11:30 a.m. The next meeting will be held in December — date to be determined.

Registrar of Voters
Election Advisory Committee Meeting
Friday, August 18, 2017, 9:30 a.m.
Room 324A, Marin Civic Center

Minutes

A meeting of the Election Advisory Committee was held on Friday, August 18, 2017, , in Room 324A of the Marin Civic Center. The following members were present: Greg Brockbank, Cathleen Dorinson, Veda Florez, Marcia Hagen, Ora Hatheway, Lanie King, Mark Kyle, Anne Layzer, Peter Mendoza, Damian Morgan, Sean Peisert, Steve Silberstein.

Representing the Elections Office: Lynda Roberts, Registrar of Voters, Melvin Briones, Assistant Registrar, Colleen Ksanda, Manager of Polls and Poll Workers, and Tony Aquilino, Technology Systems Specialist

Welcome

Lynda Roberts opened the meeting.

Review ES&S Voting System Demo (Election Systems & Software)

On Tuesday, August 8, the Elections Department hosted a demonstration of the ES&S voting system that is currently undergoing certification through the Secretary of State’s office. Lynda Roberts, Melvin Briones, Tony Aquilino, and Colleen Ksanda attended the demonstration along with members of the Election Advisory Committee: Cathleen Dorinson, Anne Layzer, Veda Florez, Greg Brockbank and Mark Kyle.

Committee Discussion
Consider leasing versus owning. “Leasing” means making payments over time until the system is paid off. System support would last 7-10 years.

Sorter component. The department has a Bell and Howell sorter to verify signatures and sort vote-by-mail ballots, so would not need this piece of equipment.

Evaluate cost and labor savings by purchasing new accessible marking equipment. The portable size of the ADA unit is a plus.

Considering voters and behind-the-scenes operational issues, how will a new system function for the poll workers and voters, and best serve the process?

As part of the decision-making process, consider the possibility of moving to vote centers. Also, consider making equipment changes in operational areas, such as vote-by-mail counting, versus a complete overhaul.

Committee members asked about open source software. Sean Peisert pointed out the following: Quality of the software, open or not, is important; who is in the position to review the source code? Open source code allows for potential hackers, and who will see the problem first? A security analyst needs access to everything—not just the open source software; trustworthiness comes with how the equipment is used, such as voter verified paper trail or end-to-end verification; there are good arguments for “public ownership” but open source does not ensure security.

Clear Ballot is another company working on certification of tabulating equipment. The original intent of Clear Ballot was to provide a transparent means of auditing ballots.

With a new system, there should be public outreach, such as an op-ed, public workshop, and video to boost public confidence.

Currently about 70% of Marin County voters use vote-by-mail, which are counted centrally in the Elections Department. Some counties have captured the public trust about central counting all ballots, but there are still people who are more confident if their ballot is counted at the polling place.

There will be some controversy no matter when new equipment is implemented—public perception shouldn’t be the overriding factor in deciding. Consider the following: Does the change create an uptick in efficiency, reliability and confidence? Is it significant to keep working as is? Is it possible to just improve the central counting equipment? Is it possible to tweak the systems and shift to something more efficient? Don’t make changes if there is not a huge gain. What are the benefits of change?

Voter Roll Maintenance

Melvin Briones reviewed the process of maintaining voter registration records in compliance with the Elections Code. The process includes mailing a series of postcards to check address changes. Because of maintenance, the number of registered voters fluctuates.

Maintenance Procedures
The pertinent section of the Elections Code (EC) is noted after each paragraph.

Address Correction Service (ACS) – We use the USPS ACS service for Sample Ballots. The USPS sends a file with all the address changes or if the voter has moved and left no forwarding address. In-county move stays active, and we follow up with an “in-county follow up postcard”. Out-of-county move is placed into inactive status, and we follow up with an “out-of-county follow up postcard”. Undeliverable stays active, and we follow up with an “undeliverable follow up postcard”. If the “undeliverable follow up postcard” comes back again as undeliverable, voter goes into inactive status. EC 2223

Unvoted Return Mail (from Post Office) – In-county move stays active. Out-of-county move goes into inactive. Undeliverable will stay active. All will be mailed a confirmation postcard. EC 2221(a)(1)

National Change of Address (NCOA) from Secretary of State (SOS) once a month. Secretary of State stops sending NCOA files approximately 3 months before an election. EC 2222

Deceased files from SOS and Office of Vital Statistics. EC 2205

Felon files from SOS. EC 2212

Alternate Resident Confirmation Postcard – Mailed after a general election. Voters who have not voted or updated their record in two Federal General Elections (4 years) are placed into the inactive status. We follow up with a postcard to confirm their address. If they reply and have not moved or moved within the county, they go back to active status. If they moved out of the county, they get cancelled. If no reply, they stay inactive. EC 2224

Cancel Inactive – Inactive voters who have not voted in two Federal General Elections and have not replied to an “out-of-county follow up postcard” or “undeliverable follow up postcard” are cancelled. EC 2226(b)

Re-registrations from other counties get cancelled via VoteCal (the statewide voter registration database).

Other Business

Greg Brockbank reviewed his list of candidates filing for non-partisan offices in the November 7, 2017, election.

Printed copies of the Biennial Activity Report were available for committee members. Ms. Roberts sent copies to public libraries, city and town clerks, and County Supervisors.

The meeting adjourned at 11:30 a.m. The next meeting will be held on Friday, September 15, 2017.

Registrar of Voters
Election Advisory Committee Meeting
Friday, July 21, 2017, 9:30 AM
Room 324A, Marin Civic Center

Minutes

A meeting of the Election Advisory Committee was held on Friday, July 21, 2017, in Room 324A of the Marin Civic Center. The following members were present: Greg Brockbank, Cathleen Dorinson, Veda Florez, Bonnie Glaser, Lanie King, Anne Layzer, Jeanne Leoncini, Peter Mendoza, Tom Montgomery, Bob Richard, Cat Woods.

Representing the Elections Department: Lynda Roberts, Registrar of Voters, and Colleen Ksanda, Manager of Polls and Poll Workers

Visitor: V-Anne Chernock, League of Women Voters Marin

Welcome

Ms. Roberts opened the meeting and introduced new member Lanie King. Ms. King is a native of Marin County and a government high school teacher. She has taught at Terra Linda High and this fall will teach at San Rafael High. She can serve as a liaison with schools and students. The committee members introduced themselves to Ms. King.

National Disability Voter Registration Week (NDVRW)—Report

Veda Florez, Communications Outreach Consultant for the Elections Department gave the following report.

This year is the 2nd Annual NDVRW event and the 1st time Marin County has participated. Supervisor Damon Connolly presented a resolution at the July 18th meeting of the Board of Supervisors. Ms. Florez passed around a copy of the information packet promoting the event, and showed the supply bag that was provided to volunteers. Even if people did not register to vote at one of the events, they were engaged. One person with a hearing disability was excited to learn about registering, and several youths 16-17 years old pre-registered. Holding this event at several libraries was successful. Some volunteers will return to help with National Voter Registration Week in September.

Outreach efforts for 2017-18 will continue to include the food bag program and Ms. Florez is redesigning outreach materials. This year she wants to promote the Voter Information Portal on the department’s website. National Voter Registration Day is September 26 and Ms. Florez is planning events for the week of September 25-30. Ms. Florez has been working to build relationships and create partnerships in other communities.

Review SB 415 Notices

The committee reviewed notices that were mailed by the Elections Department in February and April to comply with election date changes requested by schools and special districts. The following ideas were presented as ways to improve future notices: Make the notice look more official by adding the County’s logo; use a better layout so the information will get attention, such as a headline, infographic, bullet points, bigger font for important information, and more white space.

Security Issues

Two issues are getting national attention about voting security. One concerns security of the voter registration database, and the second concerns voter registration records. Ms. Roberts stressed that tally equipment cannot be hacked into since no system in the state is connected to the internet.

Security protections taken at the County level include firewalls, active scanning for malicious email links, and working with a multi-state cyber security group to track malicious IP addresses and URLs. The IST security team monitors reports daily to watch for any suspicious activity. The Secretary of State’s security measures include multilayered security protocols that meet or exceed industry standards.

By law, voter registration information can be purchased from counties for certain purposes. Request forms and requirements are posted on the department’s website.

Biennial Activity Report

Ms. Roberts changed from an annual Election Advisory Committee report to a biennial report due to workload in the even-year election cycle. She also changed and simplified the format to make the report easier to read and visually appealing. Committee members made suggestions and corrections.

Legislation Update

Enrolled July 06, 2017
AB 1154 – Random selection for 1% manual tally
This bill would prohibit the elections official from randomly choosing the initial precincts or selecting an additional precinct for the manual tally until after the close of the polls on election day.

Approved by Governor July 17, 2017
SB 665 – Arguments for/against a measure submitted by a bona fide association (documentation)
This bill would require an organization or association submitting an argument for or against a measure to also submit additional information to the appropriate official to enable that official to determine if it qualifies as a bona fide association of citizens. This bill would also prohibit the official from considering the type of documentation submitted or the form of the association when selecting an argument from among associations.

Two-Year Bill
AB 674 – Election Day holiday
This bill would add the day on which a statewide general election is held, which is the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of any even-numbered year, to the lists of holidays. The bill would require community colleges and public schools to close on any day on which a statewide general election is held. The bill would require that state employees, with specified exceptions, be given time off with pay for days on which a statewide general election is held.

Still in Process
AB 84 – Change date of presidential primary to March; statewide remains in June in non-presidential years (also see SB 568)
Move the date of the presidential primary election, and the date of the statewide direct primary election held during a presidential election year, from June to a date earlier in the year.

AB 668 – Bond money to purchase voting equipment and technology
Would enact the Voting Modernization Bond Act of 2018 which, if approved, would authorize the issuance and sale of bonds in the amount of $450,000,000, as specified, for purposes of assisting counties in the purchase of specified voting equipment and technology. This bill would provide for submission of the act to the voters at the June 5, 2018, statewide direct primary election.

SB 348 – Voter Information Guide include process to challenge levy of a tax
Would require, if a local special tax measure is presented to the voters for approval, an elections official to include in the county voter information guide for that election a notice regarding the process for initiating a validation action challenging the levy of a special tax. The notice would be required to conform with certain formatting, print, and type requirements and would include language notifying taxpayers of the 60-day filing requirement for challenging the imposition of a special tax.

SB 568 – Change date of presidential primary and statewide in non-presidential years to March
This bill would change the date of the presidential primary to either (1) the 3rd Tuesday in March, or (2) a date selected by the Governor that is before the 3rd Tuesday in March, provided that the Governor issues a proclamation calling the election at least 240 days before the date the Governor selects.

Other business

None

The meeting adjourned at 11:30 a.m. The next meeting will be held on Friday, August 18, 2017.

Registrar of Voters
Election Advisory Committee Meeting
Friday, April 21, 2017, 9:30 AM
Room 324A, Marin Civic Center

Minutes

A meeting of the Election Advisory Committee was held on Friday, April 21, 2017, in Room 324A of the Marin Civic Center. The following members were present: Greg Brockbank, Cathleen Dorinson, Veda Florez, Bonnie Glaser, Marcia Hagen, Ora Hatheway, Anne Layzer,Tom Montgomery, Bob Richard, Steve Silberstein, Cat woods.

Representing the Elections Department: Lynda Roberts, Registrar of Voters, and Colleen Ksanda, Manager of Polls and Poll Workers

Welcome

Ms. Roberts opened the meeting and acknowledged member Veda Florez. Ms. Florez is one of seven Latino leaders who will be recognized for her contributions to the community at an upcoming luncheon.

Guest Speaker

Ms. Roberts introduced Mr. Scott O. Konopasek. Mr. Konopasek has been an election administrator for more than 20 years in California, Washington and Utah. In 2001-2002, Mr. Konopasek played a key role in the formulation of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in working with the House and Senate Committees drafting the bill. He has also consulted with states and counties across the country in the securing and implementation of new voting technology to comply with the Help America Vote Act. Mr. Konopasek is a decorated and retired Army Intelligence Officer with service in several overseas theaters including Desert Storm. He is currently the Assistant Registrar of Voters in Contra Costa County and was previously the Registrar of Voters in San Bernardino County.

Mr. Konopasek spoke about the Election Assistance Commission and the Help America Vote Act. The following points summarize his presentation.

The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) was a bi-partisan effort in Congress to fix the problems that occurred during the presidential election in 2000.

HAVA achieved several goals:

No more punch cards. Federal jurisdiction to enact this was challenged, as elections historically have always been the exclusive purview of the states. Idaho and California (some counties, including L.A.) still have punch cards, but they are chad-less (called “ink-a-vote” machines).

Accessible voting. In order to address disabled voters’ rights to vote independently and privately, touch-screen and audio-ballots were developed, but the problem with these was the lack of a paper record. Every jurisdiction was required to have an accessible voting machine.

Civil rights protections. Including “second-chance voting” which automatically tells the voter they’ve made a technical error (e.g., voting for too many candidates, called “over-voting”, not to be confused with getting another ballot in exchange for a “spoiled” ballot if a voter makes a mistake).

Provisional ballots. For those whose names do not appear on the roster but otherwise may be eligible to vote.

Ballot status. The requirement that voters have a way to contact their local registrar’s office to find out if their vote-by-mail or provisional ballot was counted (and if not, why not).

Voter registration database. Mandated implementation of a statewide voter registration database.

Election oversight. Created the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), not to be confused with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), which requires candidates to report campaign finances.

Congress appropriated money to buy out punch card systems, and the EAC was given the responsibility to distribute the grant funds. It is unlikely that federal funding will again be provided to upgrade aging equipment.

California passed the Voting Modernization Bond Act of 2002 (Proposition 41) to provide additional funds to counties to help purchase new voting systems. This year, AB 668 has been introduced—Voting Modernization Bond Act of 2018—which, if passed, will provide moneys needed to help counties upgrade voting systems.

The EAC has not been well funded, and there have been attempts over the years to eliminate the Commission. Although there is an expectation that the EAC can provide substantive work on election issues, the Commission hasn’t been able to do much in the last 15 years. This year, H.R. 634 has been introduced proposing to eliminate the EAC.

The problem with the EAC is in the structure of the committee—two commissioners from each party tends to make agreement, decisions and actions rare or benign. Prior to 2015, the EAC didn’t have any members or an Executive Director for four years; it now has three members out of four, and an Executive Director.

The EAC was charged with developing voting system standards, and they have delegated that task to the National Institute for Standards and Technology. Even though the EAC oversees testing and certification of voting systems, California has its own certification process due to the passage of SB 360 in 2013.

The decentralized election system in the United States makes voting more secure—uniformity creates vulnerability.

Misinformation about counting provisional ballots has led the public to believe these ballots are counted only if a race is close—this is not correct. Compared to other states, California counts provisional ballots at a higher rate.

Purging the voter rolls used to be done whenever someone failed to vote in the prior election, or in a certain number of recent elections. But failure to vote was eliminated as a trigger for removing someone from the registration rolls. However, some counties in California still do so as long as they follow procedures set forth in the Alternate Residency Confirmation process, which requires a notice be sent to the voter.

There are two competing theories on voting access: 1) make elections as open and accessible as possible; 2) make the system as secure as possible, even if it means some people can’t participate.

In conclusion, Mr. Konopasek said it is important for the Election Advisory Committee to continue providing support to the Elections Department, and serve as ambassadors to their communities to help address concerns.

Other business

None

The meeting adjourned at 11:30 a.m. The next meeting will be held on Friday, July 21, 2017.

Registrar of Voters
Election Advisory Committee Meeting
Friday, March 17, 2017, 9:30 AM
Room 324A, Marin Civic Center

Minutes

A meeting of the Election Advisory Committee was held on Friday, March 17, 2017, in Room 324A of the Marin Civic Center. The following members were present: Greg Brockbank, Veda Florez, Marcia Hagen, Ora Hatheway, Mark Kyle, Anne Layzer, Damian Morgan, Steve Silberstein.

Representing the Elections Department: Lynda Roberts, Registrar of Voters, and Colleen Ksanda, Manager of Polls and Poll Workers

Welcome

Ms. Roberts opened the meeting.

Follow-Up

Objectives
Ms. Roberts distributed copies of the revised objectives.

SB 415 Update (initially discussed at the February meeting)
The following jurisdictions did not change from the November 2017 election cycle.

Special Districts: Marin City Community Services District, Muir Beach Community Services District, Sleepy Hollow Fire Protection District, Tomales Community Services District

School Districts: Laguna Joint School District, Lincoln School District, Union Joint School District

Committee members talked about disadvantages of having all local elections on the statewide November ballot, including increased cost of November odd-year elections; potentially less informed voters; less effective campaigns; less media coverage of local issues; and budget impacts of having no odd-year election.

Vote by Mail
Postcard mailed to newly registered voters: The Elections Department sends a postcard to newly registered voters who don’t sign up to vote by mail informing them about the option. Ms. Roberts showed a sample of the postcard.

Regarding vote-by-mail ballot status online look-up, the Secretary of State’s website now offers an online tool. The link is www.sos.ca.gov/elections. The icon My Voter Status directs the voter to a sign-in page. Ora Hatheway suggested adding this information to the voter information card that is given out at the polls.

Voter Information Guide Pages
The committee reviewed two pages that are published in the Voter Information Guide pertaining to vote by mail:

1. Would you like to always vote at home?
2. Vote by Mail frequently asked questions.

Ms. Roberts will incorporate suggested changes.

Review SB 450 (vote centers)—California Voters’ Choice Act (passed in 2016)

The committee reviewed the outline summarizing the legislation, and reviewed the outline addressing benefits and challenges of implementing the legislation.

Comments
Even though vote centers would require fewer poll workers, there may not be much cost savings.

Majority of the disabilities community does not want vote by mail as the only option.

The Secretary of State looked at the Colorado model and found vote centers made voting more convenient, and turnout increased with vote centers.

After some counties implement the model, perhaps a template for the administrative plan will be developed.

Would any current polling places be suitable for vote centers? Issues include length of time needed, ADA requirements, location to population centers and parking. Renting vacant space in a shopping center presents issues, such as advance leasing for a short-term situation.

Vote centers would be like a satellite Elections Department since they would offer the same kind of registration and voting services.

The vote center model should be taken into consideration when considering changes to current election administration, such as central counting of ballots.

It is doubtful that additional federal funding will be available to states as they replace current voting systems.

Taking a “wait and see” approach will allow Marin County Elections Department to learn and gather data from those who implement the legislation early.

Other business

None

The meeting adjourned at 11:15 a.m. The next meeting will be held on Friday, April 21, 2017.

Registrar of Voters
Election Advisory Committee Meeting
Friday, February 17, 2017, 9:30 AM
Room 324A, Marin Civic Center

Minutes

A meeting of the Election Advisory Committee was held on Friday, February 17, 2017, in Room 324A of the Marin Civic Center. The following members were present: Greg Brockbank, Veda Florez, Bonnie Glaser, Marcia Hagen, Ora Hatheway, Anne Layzer, Damian Morgan, Sean Peisert, Bob Richard, Steve Silberstein, Cat Woods.

Representing the Elections Department: Lynda Roberts, Registrar of Voters, and Colleen Ksanda, Manager of Polls and Poll Workers

Welcome

Lynda Roberts opened the meeting.

Update from last month’s meeting about the designation of voting systems as critical infrastructure by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Election Administration Reports (EAR) newsletter dated January 17, 2017, noted that the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) released a statement on January 8 describing the DHS announcement as unprecedented and one that raised questions for states and localities with authority over the administration of the voting process. According to the EAR newsletter, the NASS release underscores the need to inform the American public that voting systems and the process were not hacked in 2016, and that decentralized voting systems and low-connectivity guard against cyber attacks.

Election Systems and Software (ES&S) had a voting system certification public hearing on February 15, 2017, before the Secretary of State’s Office of Voting Systems Technology Assessment.

Goals/Objectives

GOAL: Continued engagement with the voting public by building integrity and voter confidence, and providing outreach and education.

OBJECTIVES—UPDATES

Outreach Efforts for the November 2016 Election

1. Assisted residents in three care facilities to register to vote,
2. Delivered ballots to residents in three care facilities and four homebound voters,
3. Sent audio CDs of local measures and state propositions to over 50 care facilities, agencies, and Marin County libraries; included a link on the department’s website to the audio information,
4. Gave voter registration presentations at four high schools reaching approximately 232 students.

Observer Feedback
For the November 2016 election, Marin County had one polling place observer from the Secretary of State’s Office. The observer visited eight polling places and reported that generally things ran smoothly. Poll workers were helpful and knowledgeable and the observer was impressed with curbside voting. At one location, poll workers didn’t seem sure how to handle a situation with college students who were confused about their registration; however, this is a generic issue across counties. Conditional voter registration should help with this situation, but will cause other issues with poll workers, such as distinguishing between when someone goes to the elections office to register or just needs to go to their correct polling place. The Secretary of State’s Office will look for ways to help educate voters and poll workers about conditional voter registration. The observer noted that we can’t expect to train poll workers to be experts, and overall Marin County did a very good job.

Poll Worker Outreach
Colleen Ksanda is currently working on the 2017 poll worker newsletter, which is one of the ways used to retain poll workers and create a sense of community. Some of the topics the newsletter will cover include information about high school poll workers and new laws impacting poll workers. Ms. Ksanda sends the newsletter with the recruitment letters.

Committee members offered the following suggestions for topics: Facts about cameras and polling places; new and different information such as the new “selfie law”; summarizing observer reports; rules about provisional ballots; a reminder about the supplemental roster; highlights about national news; and FAQ at the polls.

VAAC Committee
The Voting Accessibility Advisory Committee met in January. Ms. Ksanda’s report from that meeting is available. In addition to this report, Ms. Ksanda pointed out that the department has added its Policies and Procedures for Selecting Polling Places to the web. The VAAC members from Disability Rights California (attorneys) mentioned that they had no calls to the hotline from Marin County. Rovers are part of the pre-election testing of the Automark accessible marking device so they are better prepared to help on Election Day.

Election Advisory Committee members mentioned that some polling places are small and it becomes difficult to accommodate the accessible voting booth.

PROPOSED OBJECTIVES FOR 2017
The committee clarified current objectives and suggested including a separate objective about committee membership. Questions came up about the department online ballot check system—it only shows whether or not a ballot was received, and does not let the voter know if the ballot was counted.

General Discussion

CYBERSECURITY

Sean Peisert reviewed his current research in the area of cyber security. He is working on integrity of science and scientific computing environments, as well as cybersecurity for the power grid. He is also working with an organization called "CENIC"—a non-profit company that operates the 100G, high-capacity network designed to meet the unique requirements of over 20 million users, including: California K-12 system; California community colleges; all of CSU; California’s public libraries; all of UC, the Naval Postgraduate School, Stanford, Caltech, the University of Southern California; and the Cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Alameda. It has also started connecting public museums such as the Exploratorium and the California Academy of Sciences, and a variety of other key online resources, such as the Internet Archive. Marin Office of Education is also a constituent.

It is important to connect with the various communities to create procedures, build best practices and mitigate problems. It is valuable to understand why computer systems fail in order to build better systems. A system needs a set of policies and procedures to address redundancy and backup.

Concerning elections, the vote center model will require networking in order to access the voter registration database; this access will require cybersecurity. The Election Verification Network addresses these types of security issues. Having different election procedures (versus a centralized system) eliminates the possibility of a common-mode failure.

SB 415 (VOTER PARTICIPATION RIGHTS ACT)
Chaptered in 2015, SB 415 prohibits a political subdivision from holding an election other than on a statewide election date if previous elections have had a significant decrease in voter turnout compared to turnout in statewide general elections. “Significant decrease in voter turnout” means the voter turnout for a regularly scheduled election in a political subdivision is at least 25 percent less than the average voter turnout within that political subdivision for the previous four statewide general elections.

Having more jurisdictions on even-year ballots could lead to two ballot cards for certain ballot types. School districts and special districts are required to notify the Board of Supervisors 240 days prior to the next scheduled election about their intent to change election dates. March 10 is the deadline for districts wanting to change to the November 2018 election cycle.

Other business

None

The meeting adjourned at 11:30 a.m. The next meeting will be held on Friday, March 17, 2017.

Registrar of Voters
Election Advisory Committee Meeting
Friday, January 20, 2017, 9:30 AM
Room 324A, Marin Civic Center

Minutes

A meeting of the Election Advisory Committee was held on Friday, January 20, 2017, in Room 324A of the Marin Civic Center. The following members were present: Greg Brockbank, Cathleen Dorinson, Marcia Hagen, Ora Hatheway, Mark Kyle, Anne Layzer, Jeanne Leoncini, Peter Mendoza, Tom Montgomery, Sean Peisert, Bob Richard, Steve Silberstein, Cat Woods.

Representing the Elections Department: Lynda Roberts, Registrar of Voters, and Colleen Ksanda, Manager of Polls and Poll Workers

Welcome

Lynda Roberts welcomed committee members and opened the meeting with a quote describing election management.

“Election management is a legally intensive and unusually complex set of time-bound interconnecting processes that must sequence almost perfectly for the election to be conducted successfully.” From Resolving the Unexpected in Elections: Election Officials’ Options, published October 8, 2008, authors Bishop, Graff, Hoke Jefferson, Peisert.

Goals/Objectives

The Committee’s goal has been defined as, “Continued engagement with the voting public by building integrity and voter confidence, and providing outreach and education.”

Ms. Roberts distributed copies of the objectives from 2016 for review at the February meeting.

Legislation

The Committee reviewed the following legislation passed in 2016. Ms. Roberts plans to review Senate Bill 450 in more detail at an upcoming meeting.

AB 1494: Permits a voter to voluntarily show how s/he voted.

AB 1921: Any person may return a vote-by-mail ballot; prohibits compensation. When a ballot is returned to the wrong county, requires elections official to return to correct county within 8 days after receipt.

AB 1970: Requires Secretary of State to promulgate regulations establishing guidelines for processing vote-by-mail and provisional ballots.

AB 2252: Remote accessible vote-by-mail system will allow a voter with disabilities, or a military or overseas voter, to mark an electronic ballot, print it, and return it to the elections official. Remote accessible vote-by-mail system will have to be certified or conditionally approved by the Secretary of State prior to use.

AB 2455: Requiring California State University and California Community Colleges to implement voter registration at the time students enroll for classes.

SB 450: California Voter’s Choice Act authorizes any county on or after January 1, 2020, to conduct all vote-by-mail elections if certain conditions are satisfied, including implementation of vote centers.

Senate Bill 1288, ranked choice voting, was vetoed by the Governor. In his veto message, Governor Brown said, “In a time when we want to encourage more voter participation, we need to keep voting simple. Ranked choice voting is overly complicated and confusing. I believe it deprives voters of genuinely informed choice.”

General Discussion

On January 6, 2017, Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson, designated election systems as critical infrastructure. This includes such things as storage facilities, polling places, centralized vote tabulation locations, information technology infrastructure and systems used to maintain voter registration databases, voting systems, systems that count, audit, and display election results on election night on behalf of state governments, and postelection reporting used to certify and validate results.

The designation 1) enables DHS to prioritize its assistance to state and local election officials to reduce system vulnerabilities, understand threats to election infrastructure, and respond to incidents and malicious cyber actors for those states and local jurisdictions that request assistance; 2) makes clear both domestically and internationally that election infrastructure enjoys all the benefits and protections of critical infrastructure that the U.S. government has to offer; 3) makes it easier for the federal government to have full and frank discussions with key stakeholders regarding sensitive vulnerability information. Secretary Johnson has stated repeatedly that the designation does not involve Federal intrusion, takeover, or regulation of any kind.

Bob Richard raised the following issues about election integrity.

No Party Preference Voters
Text of the statute is vague and counties interpret it differently. For example: Do registrars have an obligation to educate NPP voters about crossover voting? Should NPP voters be asked at the polling place which party ballot they want? The Democratic Party allows crossover voting, except for central committee candidates. This creates different ballots for voters and causes confusion. It is important to clarify the procedures and have uniformity across counties.

Ms. Roberts said the Secretary of State’s Office is considering legislation to address this problem. They realize, too, that the Elections Code is unclear about requirements to notify or educate voters about the crossover process.

Committee members were concerned that privacy may be compromised when voters ask for a specific ballot or ask for assistance. For example, how can curbside voting remain private while voters enter and exit the polling place? Colleen Ksanda, polling place/poll worker manager, will review the concern about privacy of curbside voting.

The Committee talked about the Automark accessible marking device. Poll workers don’t know if the machine is actually working until the rover runs the test ballot. Ms. Ksanda explained the procedures for the Automark. The machines are tested in advance, but sometimes during deployment the functionality is disrupted and requires troubleshooting. Polling place inspectors are trained to handle minor problems, and Election Day rovers handle major problems. Rovers have a list of polling places where voters have used Automark machines in past elections, and on Election Day they check those machines first. The Elections Department staff will also help troubleshoot problems over the phone so voters don’t have to wait, or send a logistics staff person into the field to solve the problem.

Vote by Mail
The ability for voters to request a replacement vote-by-mail ballot creates the possibility for voters to vote twice, and feeds the rumor mill about fraudulent voting. Deliberate fraud would only be caught after the election. Any potential for voting twice could be eliminated by counting all the vote-by-mail ballots after the election.

Ms. Roberts explained that voters requesting a second ballot are required to include a statement under penalty of perjury that they failed to receive, lost, or destroyed the original ballot, and acknowledge that they understand voting twice is a crime. Under the current timeframe to certify an election, it would be impossible to wait to count vote-by-mail ballots until the polling place rosters are processed. Experience shows that due to poll worker error, it may appear that someone voted twice when in fact they did not. The number of incidents is very low, and the procedure is to give a list to the District Attorney’s Office.

Even though the number may not change the outcome of an election, Mr. Richard said public perception is a concern. Perhaps more public education could help.

Postmark +3
The post office may not always stamp a postmark on business reply mail (which is used for the vote-by-mail ballot return envelope), so the ballot would not be counted even if received within the three-day window.

Ms. Roberts provided copies of Elections Code section 3020 that describes the criteria for accepting ballots that are returned within three days of the election. If an envelope does not have a postmark, but the voter has dated it on or before Election Day, the ballot can be processed. Prior to each election, department staff members meet with post office representatives to review procedures and past problems. During the November election, post office representatives contacted Ms. Roberts several times to make sure there were no postal service problems.

Street Indexes
During the June election, a voter raised a concern about posting street indexes. Ms. Roberts said this practice is required by Elections Code, and provided a list of code sections addressing the requirements.

Other business

A member asked about opting-in to receive election-related news releases. People can do this on the Marin County Newsroom web page.

The meeting adjourned at 11:30 a.m. The next meeting will be held on Friday, February 17, 2017.