Inside Elections

Entries from December 2008

2008 ShapeTheFuture.org Wrap Up

December 31, 2008 · Leave a Comment

What a year — 2008 was truly an “election year” with five elections held in our County.  The elections brought a flurry of activity both in our physical offices and our virtual office at www.shapethefuture.org.

According to our latest stats, www.shapethefuture.org had over 8.8 million page views and almost 500,000 visits during 2008.  Our most active date?  November 5, 2008 – the day after the historic presidential election.

We’ve worked really hard to develop content that you care about.  Between this blog, Warren’s blog, twittering, Anatomy of Election ‘08, and the RaceTracker, this office has made a strong effort to increase communication and transparency of operations.  By the looks of it, you’re responding to these efforts!

Here’s a quick summary of our website statistics:

Visitors -  287,283
Visitors Who Visited Once - 232,040
Visitors Who Visited More Than Once - 55,243
Average Visits per Visitor - 1.63

Visits - 468,425
Average per Day - 1,279

Most Active Date – 11/5/08
Least Active Date – 3/9/08

Top 4 entry pages
1. http://www.shapethefuture.org – 93,411 visits
2. http://shapethefuture.org/ – 15,270 visits
3. http://www.shapethefuture.org/voters/voter_status.asp – 13,961 visits
4. http://www.shapethefuture.org/features/hispanic_heritage.asp – 12,620 visits

Top 4 exit pages
1. http://www.shapethefuture.org/ – 46,516 visits
2. http://www.shapethefuture.org/features/hispanic_heritage.asp – 12,488 visits
3. http://www.shapethefuture.org/voters/how_register.asp – 10,594 visits
4. http://shapethefuture.org/ – 10,245 visits

Categories: Elections Office · Outreach · Shape the Future · Web Stuff We Like
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Jury Duty pool comes from DMV and Voter Registration

December 26, 2008 · 2 Comments

jurysummonsDid you know that the courts pull information from voter registration records as well as DMV to summons people for jury duty?

That also means that if you’re registered to vote under a slightly different name or address from your registration at DMV, you may be called on more often than most.

Every day, the Elections Office imports files from the DMV that help us to match voter names to DMV names.  If there is a possible (but not exact) match, we send out new voter registration cards to those people to prevent duplicates in the two systems.

However, not all names are always caught.  Take, for example, fictional voter Jane Smith.  In the voter record, she is listed as Jane Smith.  Her driver’s license says Jane Anne Smith.  There’s a possibility that it doesn’t get caught by the system, or that she doesn’t re-register to vote if we do send her a new card.  Jane will probably get twice as many jury duty notices than her fellow voter.

Another example:  fictional voter John Jones.  He’s registered under the same name at both DMV and the Elections Office.  The difference:  he registered to vote (as he was supposed to) at his residential address, but registered with the DMV at a mailing address. Because two different addresses are used, the system may think that the John Jones at address 1 is a completely different person from the one at address 2.

Bottom line?  Make sure your records match if you don’t want to risk being called for jury duty more than usual.  If you’re like me, though, and don’t mind getting called for jury duty – leave it be!

Categories: Courts · Elections Office · Voter registration
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New Decision Makers Guide Coming Soon

December 23, 2008 · Leave a Comment

2009-decision-makersThe annual Decision Makers Guide is just about on its way to the print house.

Created to provide an all-inclusive reference guide of San Mateo County’s elected officials to the public, this guide is also available online for convenient links to websites and email addresses.

As it states in the Decision Makers introduction letter from Chief Elections Officer Warren Slocum, he believes “that good government is a process of listening and bringing together the various members of a community to resolve problems in the spirit of compromise and to initiate positive change. “

This guide allows people to do communicate and stay in touch with the leaders in this county.  Framed in four sections, the Decision Makers Guide contains a list of elective districts, detailed contact information and terms of office for each district and official, an index of officials’ names with associated districts, and a chart of regularly scheduled elections.

Reserve your copy today!  Contact Kriselle Laran at klaran@smcare.org.

Categories: Elections Office · Outreach · Web Stuff We Like
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Start Preparing Now for Upcoming Elections

December 19, 2008 · Leave a Comment

Now is the time to start preparing if you’re considering to run for office in the near future.  In November 2009, a number of jurisdictions are scheduled to hold an election per our previous blog post.

If you are interested in serving on a board, get your campaign ready by checking out related deadlines and requirements.  Our website, www.shapethefuture.org, contains a plethora of resources for potential candidates including campaign filing requirements, city clerk contact information, instructions for filing arguments and rebuttals, and how to get voter data.

You may also want to get to know your elected officials and jurisdictions and read up on their charters, codes, election cycle info, and meeting dates and times.  Our Decision Makers guide is a publication we produce that frames
four sections: (1) a list of elective districts, organized by role and level of government;
(2) for each district and official, detailed contact information and terms of office; (3) a
“finder” list of officials’ names, with associated district; and (4) a chart of regularly
scheduled elections.   An online version of this guide can be found at http://www.shapethefuture.org/elections/elec_officials/default.asp.

Contact Lupe Sanchez, our Candidate Filing Officer, at lsanchez@smcare.org if you have any questions or concerns about candidate and measure filing.

Categories: Campaigns/Political parties · Elections Office · Shape the Future · Web Stuff We Like · candidate filing
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Board of Supervisors Appoints District 2 Seat

December 16, 2008 · 1 Comment

The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted 3 to 1 to appoint the City of San Mateo Councilmember Carole Groom to the District 2 seat vacated by newly elected Assemblymember Jerry Hill.  The major reason cited for supporting appointment is the cost associated with conducting an election.

Unless the State opts for an early special election to address the budget, or a local jurisdiction calls for a special election, San Mateo County won’t be conducting an election in March 2009.

The only 2009 election currently anticipated for this County would take place November 3, 2009.  The jurisidictions scheduled for a 2009 Uniform District Election would be:

School Districts

Schools:  Belmont-Redwood Shores, Burlingame, Hillsborough, Jefferson School, Millbrae, Portola Valley, Redwood City, San Bruno Park, San Carlos, San Mateo-Foster City, San Mateo Union High, Sequoia Union High, Woodside

Colleges:  San Mateo Community College

Special Districts

Fire Districts:  Colma, Half Moon Bay, Menlo Park, Point Montara, Woodside

Police District:  Broadmoor

Recreation Districts:  Highlands, Ladera

Sanitary Districts:  Bayshore, East Palo Alto, Granada, Montara, West Bay

Water Districts:  Mid-Peninsula, Coastside, Los Trancos, Skyline, Westborough

Community Council:  MidCoast

Municipalities

Belmont, Brisbane, Burlingame, Foster City, Half Moon Bay, Millbrae, Portola Valley, Redwood City, San Bruno, San Carlos, San Mateo, South San Francisco, Woodside

Updated:  December 17, 2008 to correct paragraph order.

Categories: Elections Office · Uncategorized
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Elections Officials updated at CACEO Conference

December 11, 2008 · Leave a Comment

We’re at the CACEO Conference in Sacramento this week participating in panel discussions and committee roundtables that discuss various issues that we face in Elections.

The agenda? San Mateo County participated in a committee discussion regarding provisional voting on Wednesday.  In San Mateo County, we had about 16,000 provisional voters.  Compare that to Los Angeles County who had over 250,000!  Items discussed included legislative amendment possibilities and security of voter information when observers are present.

On Thursday, county officials will attend a series of lectures that will review various subject such as review of chapter legislation, ballot design, Elections Administration Commission Updates, and audits of poll worker training.

Friday’s agenda includes meetings at Secretary of State Debra Bowen’s office where we will be introduced to Elections Staff and review 2008 SOS outreach activities, legislation, and HAVA.

Stay tuned to our Twitter at http://twitter.com/smcvote for up-to-date informational tidbits from our conference!

Categories: Campaigns/Political parties · Elections Office · Outreach · Training · legislation
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Highlights from the Nov. 4 Presidential Election Results

December 10, 2008 · Leave a Comment

We broke a few of our local election records this November.  Voter registration climbed to 389,718; the previous high (also this year) was 368,410. There were also a record number of ballots cast- 307,350 to be exact shattering the past record of 288,533 ballots cast, an increase of nearly 20,000. The number of voters who signed up to become permanent vote by mail voters has now reached 159,145 and represents nearly 41% of the total roll. And those are just the voters who always want to vote by mail, not those that are voting that way this election–that total reached 147,819 representing 48% of the total turnout.

Whether the lawmakers like it or not, we could be headed for an Oregon model of voting by mail at some point in the future. Or some incremental versions of that model. It continues to rise in popularity with each election.

We also had 1,001 student poll workers sign up and serve on November 4! They were terrific. And to think…in 2004, when we piloted the program, we had a total of 39 students serve.

These are just some of statistics that reflect what happened on November 4. Hungry for more San Mateo County election statistics? We’re happy to oblige you–take a look!

Categories: Results · Shape the Future · Vote By Mail · Voter registration · Voting · democracyLIVE · legislation

Local Voter Guide separate from SOS Guide – Getting it out to late registrants reimburseable

December 8, 2008 · Leave a Comment

Voters who registered to vote after the E – 60 mark (60 days prior to the election) received a state voter information guide much later than voters who were already on the rolls.   Why?

The California Secretary of State’s office sends a separate voter information guide from the County. Typically, County guides (which we call Sample Ballot & Official Voter Information Pamphlet) contain more local information, such as local measures and candidates.  We tailor it specifically for the voters of the County.

The state guide includes statewide propositions, state or federal candidates, and other more general information that pertains to all voters within California.

They send it out pretty early — it usually starts arriving in boxes about 1 1/2 to 2 months prior to an election.  Because of this, the State relies on the Counties to send out a supplemental mailing to voters who register after the original mailing was sent.

We had a huge influx of registration, as we’ve probably mentioned a couple of times.  This necessitated sending multiple mailings of both county and state guides to ensure that voters received information about the ballot as soon as possible.

The total number of registered voters that received state guides during our supplemental mailings was 28,238. Some  costs associated with the publishing and issuing of guides to voters who register after the first issues are mailed are reimbursable. Curious about what’s reimburseable and what’s not? Visit the SOS website at http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ccrov/pdf/2008/november/08319km.pdf.

Categories: Ballots · Campaigns/Political parties · Elections Office · Voter registration
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Slocum to Speak at National Conference

December 3, 2008 · 1 Comment

americaWe’ve written before about how the Elections Office is reaching out to current and potential voters through the use of 2.0 technology.  Chief Elections Officer Warren Slocum is passionate about communication and transparency, and welcomes ideas on how to improve procedures.

As a self-acknowledged “techie,” he believes that technology should be used to reach all voters, provide excellent customer service, and reduce the expense of elections. He is equally concerned that all systems that are secure, that the vote count has integrity and that the voters, poll workers and election staff are provided the simplest, most elegant and useful tools possible to do this important work in our democracy.

Recently, Slocum began including his own blog on Shapethefuture.org as a more personalized supplement to the Inside Elections blog.  If you haven’t read it yet, check out http://www.warrenslocum.blogspot.com/.

(more…)

Categories: Elections Office · Outreach · Uncategorized
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It’s Official!

December 2, 2008 · 2 Comments

header2The 2008 Presidential General Election is now certified.  Official results can be found on our website at http://www.shapethefuture.org/elections/results/november2008/results.asp.

It’s been a pretty grueling year — the Elections office conducted six elections in 12 months and ended the cycle with the historic 2008 Presidential General Election.

A number of races had a tremendous amount of media and public attention — not just the presidential contest.  The result was a huge turnout, albeit not as huge as we originally anticipated.  Still, 78.86% turnout in a year where election fatigue had really hit most of the County is a statistic not to be ignored.

Hundreds upon hundreds of people came in to our early voting centers in San Mateo and Redwood City; we had more early voters in one day than we would typically have during an entire election.

Even more voters opted to Vote by Mail, with Vote by Mail ballots accounting for 45.83% of the total ballots cast.

And after 12 months of virtually non-stop work, our Olympus machine will finally get to rest its weary mechanical arms and sleep until a 2009 election is called.

What will the rest of the Election staff be doing?  Cleaning up after the 2008 cycle, updating voter registration, creating and revising procedure manuals, and much, much more.  Stay tuned to this blog, because even though the 2008 election cycle is done, the Elections Office is not!

Categories: Elections Office · Results · Vote counting · Voter registration
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