TITLE
Recommendation to request City Attorney to draft an ordinance allowing the use of directions on the side of ballots and allowing other variations in design as may be permitted by the Hart ballot design software or software for any other state-certified elections system that the City may subsequently use. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
On January 9,2007, the City Council voted to acquire its own voting system from Hart InterCivic, Inc. Previously, Long Beach had contracted much of its elections administration to an outside vendor, which had the responsibility of printing the ballots and ensuring that they met all legal requirements. This year, the Clerk's Office will be designing the ballot using state-certified software provided by Hart. Ballots designed by Hart have been used successfully in dozens of elections across the country, including in Orange, Yolo, and San Mateo Counties here in California. (A recent San Mateo ballot is included with this memo as Attachment A.)
In order to facilitate voting from everyone in Long Beach, including from our elderly and disabled population, the Clerk's Office is aiming to design a ballot that is as clear as possible. Towards that end, a ballot design including graphic instructions has been explored. Such a design would not just instruct voters how they can vote, but would show them how they can do so with a graphic running alongside the left-hand column of the ballot. Such instructions would be clearer to understand than simple text directions.
Moreover, the voter could easily find the instructions, as they would not be on a separate piece of paper that might be misplaced. Hart has confirmed that such a ballot can be designed on its software, and that such ballots would have no problem being counted or sorted. (An example of our proposed ballot design is included with this memo as Attachment B.)
The City Clerk has discussed this ballot design with the California Deputy Secretary of State, Lowell Finley, who stated that his office would be supportive of this change because of its potential to make ballots more voter-friendly. However, Mr. Finley pointed out that Elections Code Section 13231 apparently prevents such a design, as it requires instructions to be only at the top or bottom of the ballot. Long Beach's Charter states that the City will follow the state Elections Code except when the Charter or an ordinance supersedes it. (See Charter Section 1910.) Given this fact, Mr. Finley suggested that the City adopt an ordinance allowing graphic instructions to be placed on the side of a ballot in time for the May 1, 2007 election.
TIMING CONSIDERATIONS
If the City Council wishes to act on this item, it should do so in time for the ballots to be designed and printed for the May 1, 2007 election. Sample ballots are scheduled to be mailed beginning on March 22, 2007. Thus, action on this item should be taken in time for the ordinance to take effect by that date. The City Attorney's Office has been consulted regarding this proposed schedule, and it has advised that there is time for the ordinance to go into effect if the Council wishes it to do so.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no known fiscal impact of this proposed ordinance.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
BODY
[Enter Body Here]
Respectfully Submitted,
NAME LARRY HERRERA |
APPROVED: |
TITLE CITY CLERK |
|
|
|
|
GERALD R. MILLER |
|
CITY MANAGER |