TITLE
Recommendation to receive and file an overview and summary of the 2018 Election Cycle.
DISCUSSION
Elections:
On April 10, 2018, the City of Long Beach, Office of the City Clerk, coordinated a Primary Nominating Election to fill the Mayor, City Attorney, City Auditor, City Prosecutor, and Council Districts 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 seats. The City Attorney, City Auditor, City Prosecutor, and Council District 1 seats were unopposed. The voter turnout for the Primary Nominating Election was 15.83 percent.
For the Primary Nominating Election Official Sample Ballot Booklet, the Office of the City Clerk revised the cover and fonts with bright colors and photography using the slogan “Long Beach Turns Out.” Employees and residents entering the main lobby of City Hall interacted with a new map installation featuring all the polling locations and historical landmarks. The map installation was created using overlays of existing GIS maps. In addition to past engagement strategies, two billboards were used to advertise the election.
The deadline to consolidate the City of Long Beach General Municipal Election with the Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Statewide Primary Nominating Election compressed the canvass period from 21 days to 8 days. The Office of the City Clerk was able to meet this deadline and process every single ballot cast.
To facilitate the processing of all Vote by Mail ballots for the compressed timeline, the Office of the City Clerk acquired the AccuVote Envelope Scanner. This is a remote signature verification system which includes hardware and software to process Vote by Mail envelopes. AccuVote-ES successfully captured Vote by Mail envelope signatures against the voter database and updated the voter history. Any signature that did not match the signature in the voter database using a pre-defined acceptance level was verified manually. All Vote by Mail ballots without a valid signature were individually processed by election staff teams who drove to the homes of registered voters to gather missing or invalid signatures. The Office of the City Clerk was successful in gathering the signatures for these Vote by Mail ballots before the 8-day canvass deadline. The AccuVote Envelope Scanner is the same technology used by the Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk to process their Vote by Mail ballots.
Council Districts 5 and 7 went to a runoff on the General Municipal (Runoff) Election on June 5, 2018. This election was coordinated by the Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. The voter turnout for Council District 5 was 42.71 percent while the voter turnout for Council District 7 was 29.42 percent. The City of Long Beach Utility Revenue Transfer Charter Amendment (Measure M) was approved during the same election with a voter turnout of 28.73 percent.
During the Special Municipal Election of November 5, 2018, the charter amendments of: Authority of Long Beach City Auditor to Conduct Performance Audits (Measure AAA); City of Long Beach Term Limits Amendment (Measure BBB); City of Long Beach Ethics Commission (Measure CCC); City of Long Beach Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (Measure DDD); and the initiative Long Beach Hotel Worker Measure (Measure WW) had a voter turnout of 56.60 percent. All charter amendments and initiative measures were approved.
Petitions:
The Office of the City Clerk verified 1,382 signatures, a sample of 3 percent of the 46,073 signatures submitted, for Measure WW, Long Beach Hotel Worker Measure. On June 27, 2018, the proponents were notified that a full check would be required. The Office of the City Clerk contracted the services of Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk to conduct a full signature verification until 27,462 valid signatures were verified.
On June 20, 2018, a recall petition for Council District 2 was found insufficient after conducting a full check of submitted signatures. On July 31, 2018, the proponents of a rent control initiative petition were notified that their petition was void for all purposes because their petition was not submitted by the filing deadline pursuant to California Elections Code Section 9208.
FISCAL IMPACT
April 10, 2018, Primary Nominating Election
The Office of the City Clerk spent $1.2 million on election-related activities and staff.
June 5, 2018, General Municipal Election (consolidated with LARRCC)
The Office of the City Clerk spent $712,000 on election-related activities and staff.
Recall Petition for Council District 2
The Office of the City Clerk spent $60,000 on election-related activities and staff.
November 5, 2018 Special Municipal Election (consolidated with LARRCC)
The complete cost of the consolidated Special Municipal Election is pending from the Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. However, the cost for the Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s signature verification of the Hotel Worker Petition was $41,000. The cost for internal staff time and temporary employees for this election was $49,000.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully Submitted,
Monique De La Garza
City Clerk