Contact:
Warren Slocum
Chief Elections Officer & Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder
Phone: (650) 363-4988 Fax: (650) 363-1903 E-mail: wslocum@smcare.org

Alternate Carol Marks Phone 650-599-1015 E-mail cmarks@smcare.org
Web: www.shapethefuture.org www.smcare.org

San Mateo County Plans Incremental Implementation for New eSlate Voting System

(Redwood City, CA) –Today, Chief Elections Officer Warren Slocum publicly announced a change in the implementation strategy for the upcoming November 7th Gubernatorial General Election.  “In November, San Mateo County will provide one fully accessible electronic eSlate voting device and paper ballots for those voters who go to the polls on Election Day,” said Slocum.

In August, when the Board of Supervisors approved the electronic voting equipment contract for the purchase of an eSlate voting system from Hart Intercivic, our approach was to complete a full conversion from a paper ballot system to an all electronic system at the polls this November.

Slocum explained the reasons for making a change at this juncture, seven weeks (43 days) prior to the November 7th election. “As an election professional with 30+ years of experience, my primary concern has been and will always be the integrity of the election. 

I believe this incremental implementation is the best course of action for the voters of San Mateo County, our poll workers and the elections staff.”

The decision was based on a variety of factors. 

Certification. Certification of the latest software version for the eSlate voting device was awarded by the Secretary of State’s Office on Friday, September 22. “While the certification of this version is good news, it comes at a rather late date,” Slocum said.

Acceptance Testing of the Equipment. “One-time acceptance testing of the 2,625 new pieces of equipment is necessary, critical and time-consuming process that adds to the uniqueness of this election,” explained Slocum.

Poll Workers. “The experience of over 3,000 counties in the United States that have held primaries this year, many converting to electronic voting systems for the first time is this:  the key to a successful election is a well-trained poll worker corps. We have terrific poll workers and we have devoted substantial resources and time to making sure that our

training is solid and our poll workers are well-prepared. But class is always easier and has less pressure than Election Day,” he said. “I’ve been a poll worker and I know that things happen--doors are locked, people have babies, somebody doesn’t show up. In making the voting machine roll-out limited in size, we minimize the amount of change that poll workers must deal with on Election Day.”

The Voters. While our community outreach campaign is in full swing, we felt that educating San Mateo County’s 350,000 (+) voters over a longer period of time was a prudent course of action. In the spring and summer months, we will conduct several smaller elections and this will provide additional experience for voters as well as poll workers and election staff.

The Ballot and the Turnout. The November ballot is a long one—it will require a two-page ballot card. There are 10 Federal Candidates, 53 State Candidates, 13 State Propositions, 74 Local Candidates and 15 Local Measures. “The combinations of turnout, ballot length and the learning curve for voters using the equipment for the first time were considerations in this changed course of action,” explained Slocum.

Build on Your Strengths. “All of our voters already know how to vote a paper ballot.  Our staff is familiar with paper ballots,” said Slocum. And, recent recommendations from the National Research Council suggest that smaller scale electronic voting implementation is one way to better manage the election by introducing change incrementally.

“The trade-off in conducting the November election with paper ballots that are counted centrally is that results may not be available until approximately 4:00 am,” explained Slocum.  “Alameda County made this same decision in June to use paper ballots and to do a central count.  And while election night returns were slowed, the community accepted the decision,” he added. “While we have used paper ballots successfully since 1992, those ballots were counted at a precinct level with our old voting system.  To minimize the variety of equipment that poll workers would have to learn how to setup, operate and integrate on Election Day, we decided to use paper ballots, but count them centrally.  The difference in these two approaches (precinct count versus central count) explains the longer vote count process.”