COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder

DATE:

April 30, 2007

BOARD MEETING DATE:

May 15, 2007

SPECIAL NOTICE/HEARING:

None

VOTE REQUIRED:

Majority

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Warren Slocum, Chief Elections Officer & Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder

SUBJECT:

Resolution Authorizing the County Elections Official to Process Applications for “Confidential Voter” Status (Elections Code 2166.7)

RECOMMENDATION:

Adopt a resolution authorizing the county elections official to administer the “confidential voter” program provided by California Elections Code section 2166.7.

VISION ALIGNMENT:

Commitment: Ensure basic health and safety for all.

Goal 8: Maintain and enhance the public safety of all residents and visitors

This program will help to protect specified public officials and employees whose public service has placed them at risk of their lives or the life of a family member.

BACKGROUND:

While all voter registration information is confidential, some information is made available to qualified applicants for elections, governmental, journalistic, political, and academic research purposes. Access requires, among other things, that the applicant provide a driver’s license number, which the elections official verifies to create a record of applicants and their purposes. Historically, state law has offered confidentiality of this information to specified persons, among others, who by reason of their involvement in public safety or law enforcement or personal circumstances are at risk of harm if this information were made available to the public.

New statutes effective January 1, 2007 expand the class of “public safety officials” who are entitled to apply for protective confidentiality for their voter registration information. (Cal. Gov. Code § 6254.24 (a), (d), (e), (f), or (j); see SB 506, Chap. 466, and AB 2005, Chap. 472, Statutes of 2006.) This includes: active or retired peace officer (Penal Code §§ 830, 830.1); attorney employed by the Department of Justice, the State Public Defender, or a county office of the district attorney or public defender, the United States Attorney, or the Federal Public Defender; city attorney and an attorney who represents cities in criminal matters; a specified employee of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation who supervises inmates or is required to have a prisoner in his or her care or custody; and state and federal judges and court commissioners.

Elections Code section 2166.7 makes confidential voter status available upon application to the county elections official, for up to two years. A new request may be granted for an additional two years. The applicant must attest by signature under penalty of perjury that the applicant is an eligible public safety official and that a life-threatening circumstance exists to the official or a member of the official's family.

The confidentiality extends to the applicant’s residence address, telephone number, and e-mail address appearing on the voter registration affidavit. The application form, devoid of this confidential information, shall be a public record. The applicant must provide a valid mailing address to be used in lieu of the confidential residence address, for election, scholarly, or political research, and government purposes.

Any person granted confidentiality shall be considered an absentee voter and must vote by mail for all elections during the period of confidential status.

DISCUSSION:

The county elections official may administer this confidentiality program only if so authorized by the county board of supervisors. Because the form of application is not prescribed in detail by statute, each participating county must design its own. We have developed a form for our use, in collaboration with the Secretary of State and other county elections officials. A copy of the form is attached.

To help protect the public officials and employees who protect our community, it is appropriate that our county participate in this important program. The resulting demand on the resources of the Registration-Elections Division will be negligible, while the return on investment will be immeasurable benefits to the public welfare.

County Counsel has reviewed and approved this request and application form.

FISCAL IMPACT:

There is no Net County Cost. No service fee is authorized for this service, and no reimbursement is available from the State. Related costs will be negligible and will be funded from the existing operating budget.