COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder

DATE:

April 24, 2006

BOARD MEETING DATE:

May 9, 2006

SPECIAL NOTICE/HEARING:

None

VOTE REQUIRED:

Majority

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Warren Slocum, Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder

SUBJECT:

Agreement with Secretary of State for Voting System Grant Funding Under Help America Vote Act of 2002

RECOMMENDATION:

Approve a resolution:

(1)

authorizing the execution of an agreement with the California Secretary of State for grant funding under the Help America Vote Act to purchase and deploy voting systems, in an amount not to exceed $4,569,941; and

(2)

authorizing the chief elections officer to negotiate and execute related agreements and documents as may be necessary to fulfill duties under HAVA.

VISION ALIGNMENT:

Commitment: Responsive, effective and collaborative government; and realize the potential of our diverse population.

Goals 2, 20: Civic engagement—including voting—is uniformly high among the diverse population; and government decisions are based on careful consideration of future impact rather than temporary relief or immediate gain.

This Agreement will partially fund the purchase and deployment of new voting and election systems that will meet federal and state standards for voting systems and voter access to election information and polling places, including equal access for voters with disabilities and accommodate language preferences for English-, Chinese- and Spanish-speaking voters.

Performance Measure:

Measure

FY 2004-05
Actual

FY 2005-06
Projected

Voter turnout: November

55%

51%

BACKGROUND:

The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) mandated fundamental operational changes in elections. Section 301’s system standards all but dictate new voting devices: the voting equipment must allow the voter to detect and modify selection errors, provide all voters, including the disabled, equal access to information and enable all voters to vote independently and confidentially. Compliance with HAVA means that one accessible voting device must be provided in each polling place in the first federal election in 2006: the June gubernatorial primary election.

California earmarked $195 million of its federal requirements funds to upgrade county voting systems. Our allocation is $4,569,941, to be distributed under a contract between county and state providing for reimbursement of allowable expenses, including voter education and pollworker training, to deploy compliant voting systems. Our share of California’s Proposition 41 grant fund, to be matched by us 1:3, is the same; our match of $1,523,313 will be funded by this HAVA grant.

The State requires an authorizing resolution by the local county board of supervisors to release the funds. On December 15, 2005, your honorable Board approved our participation in available HAVA funding programs (Reso. 067709).

DISCUSSION:

Last April, we reported to you on our continuing negotiations with our preferred vendor, Hart InterCivic, Inc., and our Election Plan for June 2006. We have adopted a proactive, phased plan to meet the spirit, if not the letter, of the law, to provide accessible voting opportunities for voters in San Mateo County. In June, we will: (1) deploy to every polling place our existing equipment (made by ES&S, state compliant but lacks access for disabled voters); and (2) serve disabled voters with leased Hart electronic voting devices at nine “universal voting centers” (UVCs) for the 15-29 days prior to election day. Ballots cast at UVCs will, in effect, be absentee ballots. We are on track to effectively execute this plan.

We now ask this Board to approve the HAVA grant agreement, to fund more than half of the new system deployment, and to authorize County’s chief elections officer to execute related contract amendments and administrative documents as may be required to properly satisfy the requirements of HAVA and the state.

County Counsel has reviewed and approved this agreement.

FISCAL IMPACT:

There is no Net County Cost. This agreement will reimburse allowable expenses.