In an effort to facilitate voter regis-tration in advance of the November 4, 2008 General Election, the San Francisco Department of Elections has created a voter registration look-up tool on the Department’s web site at www.sfgov.org/elections. The registration look-up tool gives San Francisco voters the opportunity to confirm their voter registration status online, helping to ensure that they are registered and that their registration information is up-to-date. To use the tool, voters need only to input their house number, ZIP code, and date of birth and click the “submit” button. The lookup tool will confirm their registration and display their party affiliation and

permanent vote-by-mail status, if applicable. Beginning September 25, 2008, voters will also be given the loca-tion of their polling place and be able to view an image of their sample ballot. Voters who cannot confirm their registration online, as well as those with incomplete or unconfirmed in-formation, are instructed to contact the Department. In accordance with the Voting Rights Act, the voter registration lookup tool is also available in Chi-nese and Spanish. Voters can also confirm their voter registration status by calling (415) 554-4375.

Once again San Francisco voters will have an opportunity to make three choices when electing their local officials. For the upcom-ing November 4, 2008 election, voters who live in Supervisorial Districts 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9 and 11 will use ranked-choice voting to elect their Member of the Board of Supervisors. With ranked-choice voting the names of all the candidates are listed in three repeating columns on the ballot. This allows voters to rank

up to three different candidates for the same office, eliminating the need for separate runoff elections.

Passed by San Francisco voters as an amendment to the City Charter in March 2002, ranked-choice voting is also used to elect the Mayor, Sheriff, District Attorney, City Attorney, Trea-

surer, Assessor-Recorder, and Public Defender. For more information and in-teractive demonstration of how ranked-choice voting works, visit www.sfgov.org/elections/rcv.

The Department of Elections Launches Voter Registration Lookup Tool

Three is the Magic Number

Volume 1, Issue 6 • September 2008

Department of Elections1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 48San Francisco, CA 94102

Volume 1, Issue 6 • September 2008

Department of Elections1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 48San Francisco, CA 94102

Director’s NotesThe Department of Elections is increasingly busy conducting the No-vember 4, 2008 Consolidated Gen-eral Election. Last week the Depart-ment began assembling and mailing ballots to nearly 5000 voters living overseas. Printing of nearly two million ballot cards also began last week, the Voter Information Pam-phlet will be on the presses soon, and we are assigning pollworkers to their polling places and finishing locating polling sites. San Francisco’s voters will soon be busy reading the 272 page Voter Information Pamphlet that we will mail by October 6. Voters in seven of the eleven Supervisorial districts will vote a four-card ballot that includes the contest for their representative on the Board of Supervisors. Those voters may select three separate can-didates for their Board representa-tive, since these contests are ranked-choice voting elections. Voters in the remaining four districts will receive three-card ballots. Starting October 6 and continuing until October 20, everyone can come to our office in City Hall to register to vote, and may vote on the same day. Also, people who are already regis-tered but who need to change their registration information because of a move, a name change, etc., can update their registration information and also vote on the same day. Voting in City Hall takes place dur-ing the weekdays beginning October 6, from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., and dur-ing the three weekends before the election, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. On Election Day, all registered voters can vote at City Hall from 7 a.m. until the polls close at 8 p.m. —Jonn Arntz

Beginning September 8, the Voter Services Division of the Depart-ment of Elections will assemble and mail over 5,000 vote-by-mail ballots to military and overseas voter for the November 4, 2008 General Election. Under the provisions of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), San Francis-cans traveling or living abroad and active military personnel overseas are able to exercise their right to vote from their location or military post abroad. To allow military and overseas voters enough time to return their voted ballots by state deadlines, the UOCAVA permits elections offices to mail vote-by-mail ballots up to 60 days before an election. There are three categories of over-seas voters: active-duty military per-sonnel and their dependents; U.S. citizens who are temporarily resid-ing overseas; and U.S. citizens who are permanently residing overseas. Many U.S. citizens contact the Department of Elections with the

On September 22, the Department of Elections public phone bank goes live in order to help handle the high volume of calls the Depart-ment expects to receive before the November election. The phone bank will be available Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. and on Saturday and Sun-day from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Begin-ning October 18. Callers are directed to the phone bank when calling the Departments main number at (415) 554-4375. The phone bank consists of 10 full-time temporary employees and one experienced supervisor and is staffed with bilingual Chinese, Span-ish, Russian and Tagalog speakers. There are many steps needed to activate the phone bank for each election; planning and preparation starts at 70 days before the election. In order to efficiently provide accurate information to voters, the Campaign Services division

Ballots Abroad! Military and Overseas Voting Begins

Can You Hear Me Now?

question, “Can I still vote if I no longer live in the United States?” The answer is “Yes.” Expatriates are still eligible to vote for the offices of President and Vice President, U.S.

Senator, and U.S. Representative. Judging by the high

number of military and overseas ballot re-quests, interest for the November 4th elec-tion is high among voters living or sta-

tioned overseas who wish to participate, far removed from their home polling place, in

the democratic process.

compiles information from other Department divisions into a training guide used by temporary staff. This guide includes informa-tion on important deadlines, voter registration requirements, poll-worker recruitment, candidates and

measures, vote-by-mail proce-dures, the Voter Informa-

tion Pamphlet, and poll-ing place locations. Phone bank staff are

intensively trained due to the amount of election infor-

mation that must be learned in such a short period of time.

Phone bank staff must also have customer service experience, a sharp learning curve, and the ability to work efficiently, and expeditiously under stress with high volume of calls. On average, the phone bank re-ceives between 400 to 500 calls per day. This number increases from 800 to 1,200 as the election ap-proaches. For Election Day and the day prior, the phone bank expects to receive between 2,000 about 5,000 calls.

November 4, 2008 Election Important Dates and Deadlines

Early voting begins October 6, 2008, on the ground floor of City Hall.

The last day to register to vote is October 20, 2008. (If you have moved, changed your name, or would like to change your party affiliation, you must re-register to vote.)

The last day to request a vote-by-mail ballot is October 20, 2008.

Where in the World Is…?

The Department of Elections has received ballot requests from many parts of the world, including the following locales:

Top 3 Destinations#1 United Kingdom #2 France #3 Canada

Palau Antarctica QatarMalta Gambia

French West IndiesMyanmar TongaTogoLao