San Diego Special Election July 27 May go VBM

----- Original Message -----
From: Brina-Rae
Sent: Friday, May 20, 2005 9:10 PM
Subject: Vote-by-Mail, SD City Council Agenda,Tues.May 24

Dear Allies, ListHolders,
Kindly forward to interested members. An Invitation.
Thanks, Brina-Rae
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Dear Election Activists, Voters, Citizens,

After in-depth research and lengthy discussion with the Oregon Director of Elections, where all voting is done by mail, members of the DfA/San Diego for Democracy Election Integrity Committee, Terri Prevost and I, appeared before The San Diego City Council on Tuesday May 17th, requesting that the July 26, 2005 Special Election for San Diego mayor be conducted All-by-Mail. The Council has placed the matter on their meeting agenda for Tuesday May 24th. The Resolution is item S506. Any person can speak to any agenda item for 2-3 minutes, by filling out a Speakers Slip.

The City Clerk studied the matter and is recommending adoption of the Resolution. They expect to reduce costs by $1-1.5 million dollars.

We would like people to come and support the recommendation.
After more than 5 years, public favorability in Oregon is over 80%.
'Turnout' in the November 2004 election was over 86%.

Its possible that paid 'Machiniacs' will be there to attack Vote-by-Mail because they want election officials to buy and use their expensive faulty machines. VoteHere, an upstart company, is paying a NYC lobbyist who used to be an elected official, $10,000 a month to try to stop paper ballots in NY.

We wish people to voice their approval of voting-by-mail and also to the value of volunteer Hand Counting or serious auditting, by hand, of 5-10% of random votes, if the Diebold GEMs is used to count our votes.

Thank You,
Brina-Rae Schuchman, Chair, DfA/SDfD Election Integrity Committee

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Subject: informative documents:

Google search: vote by mail - Oregon;
Voting in Oregon - Vote by Mail, Frequently Asked Questions;
Executive - Vote by Mail;
"Oregon-Vote by Mail: the Real Winner is Democracy" by Sec. of State Bill Bradbury.
"Five Years Later, A reassessment" by Dr.P.Southwell, U.Oregon, 2003
On www.house.gov/susandavis, the article is April 27, 2005 - Congresswoman Susan Davis Introduces Bill to use paper ballots.

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CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO
SUPPLEMENTAL DOCKET NUMBER 4
FOR THE REGULAR MEETING OF
TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2005 AT 10:00 A.M.
CITY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING
COUNCIL CHAMBERS – 12TH FLOOR
202 “C” STREET
SAN DIEGO, CA 92101
_____________________________
ADOPTION AGENDA, DISCUSSION, OTHER LEGISLATIVE ITEMS
ORDINANCE TO BE INTRODUCED AND ADOPTED:
ITEM-S506: Calling the Special Municipal Election for July 26, 2005, as an All Mail Ballot
Election.
(See City Clerk Report No. 05-04.)
CITY CLERK’S RECOMMENDATION:
Introduce and adopt the following ordinance:
(O-2005-140)
Introduction and adoption of an Ordinance establishing that the Special Municipal
Election to be held on July 26, 2005, for the purpose of filling the mayoral
vacancy and submitting to the qualified voters of the City one ballot proposition
shall be conducted by mail.

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[from Brina-Rae Schuchman: copy;
statement/letter to San Diego City Council, non-agenda item, Public Comment, May 17, 2005]

DfA/San Diego for Democracy
Brina-Rae Schuchman, Chair
Election Integrity Committee
6221 Del Paso Ave.
San Diego, California 92120
(619) 286-4037, womenact@cox.net

Mayor Murphy and City Council Members
San Diego, CA
Re: Election- by- Mail in the City of San Diego, July, 2005(updated)

Dear Mayor Murphy and City Council Members,

San Diegans have shown an interest in Voting by Mail; in 2004, there were over 110,000 Permanent Absentee Voters in the city and over 40,000 more applied; county wide it has been around 30%, RoV Mikel Haas said.

RoV Haas estimated the July Special Election cost around $2.5 million. He said there are around 617,000 City voters. He estimated he would set up around 700 -800 polls and hire around 3200 workers at $240 per poll, plus Sample ballots, absentee ballots, ballots, printing, scanners, deliveries, sites, mailings, postage, RoV staff etc. I figured that is approx. $5.67 per voter. If turnout were 60%, that's around $9.80 per ballot returned.

If you vote to have the July Special Election by mail only you will have various printing costs, mailing costs, and signature checkers at RoV HQ, but no matter what ,Oregon Director of Elections ,John Lindback said their all vote-by-mail system saves at least one third over their 1996 combined absentee/ precinct voting. So San Diego could save around $800,000 -$1,000,000 in July.

Oregon has about 2,100,000 voters. In the all-mail election November 2004, he said the cost per ballot returned was $2.22 compared to $4.19 in 1996, in a mixed precinct and mail election.

Mr. Lindback said one large city, Eugene, hired 1500 people in 1996, and only 225 in 2004, while that was their busiest election in history.

Mr. Lindback was invited to speak at a CA Senate Hearing on elections and 6 of 7 northern California county Registrars of Voters who were present were enthusiastic for having elections by mail.

The Washington State legislature recently approved having counties choose all-mail elections. Many counties are moving forward to do so
enthusiastically. Mr. Lindback believes the whole state of Washington will vote-by-mail in a couple of years.

He said Oregon's military voters seem very happy with their process. They make every effort to accommodate their needs,and that the Post Office loves it. They are happy partners in making it succeed.They scour for every last vote before poll closing time.

The July Special Election in San Diego adds financial stress. If vote-by-mail were introduced as a way to show better fiscal thinking and responsibility of city government, and honest information about its fairness, integrity and success in Oregon is given, and if leadership makes an absolute commitment to its trustworthiness, attention to detail and integrity here, Vote-by-Mail can work.
Please pass a Resolution . Mr. Haas said he could handle it if you did it soon.

In any case, we ask for Hand Counting by supervised volunteers, or a 5%-10% manual audit if Diebold GEMs scanners are used, because they have proven to be untrustworthy across the US.

Sincerely,

Brina-Rae Schuchman
Chair, DfA/San Diego for Democracy, Election Integrity Committee
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Wherever there is a bad machine on election day, there is a booby-trap.
We have to fight the Diebold GEMs vote counter at HQ in San Diego.
If it is used, we need heavy hand audits.

Brina-Rae