2022 Voting Accessibility Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes

Marin County Elections Department
Voting Accessibility Advisory Committee (VAAC)
Wednesday, October 5, 2022, 10 – 11 a.m.
Zoom Meeting

Minutes

Attendees:

• Suzanne Levine, Marin County Information Services and Technology Digital Accessibility
• Fred Nisen, Disability Rights California
• Rafaella Tellez-Talavera, Marin County Disability Access Program
• John Watson, Marin Center for Independent Living
• Lynda Roberts, Registrar of Voters
• Megan Stone, Elections Outreach Coordinator
• Danny Straub, Elections Outreach Coordinator

Welcome

Lynda Roberts opened the meeting and thanked everyone for attending.

Vote Center Observations—June 2022 Statewide Direct Primary Election

Suzanne Levine reported on the observations of a group of volunteers she organized from the Department of Information Services and Technology (IST). Their role was to visit some vote centers and check that ballot marking devices (BMDs) were set-up and to assist workers if necessary. Volunteers also checked to make sure the path of travel was clear. Ms. Levine offered the following suggestions based on her experience at one of the vote centers.

• Make sure the accessible entrance is clearly marked with a sign and the call bell readily available.
• Set-up the BMD booths in a way to make them easy to approach.
• Include more privacy shields around BMD booths.
• If the voting room is small, set up the BMDs first and then add the other voting booths. Integrating the BMD booths with the regular voting booths is also a possibility.
• Advertise that any voter can use the BMD.
• The County’s Disability Access program is available to assist as needed.

Question:

• Are Vote Center Coordinators trained on the BMD? Mr. Straub said a BMD is set-up for training classes and coordinators have hands-on opportunities.

Outreach Update

November will be the second election under the Voter’s Choice Act model, and the outreach team revised efforts from June based on advice from advisory committees. Ms. Stone and Mr. Straub presented the following information.

• The department hosted a virtual community workshop on September 29 with interpreters; the workshop was recorded and will be posted online. The purpose of the workshop was to review changes and how they impact voting in Marin County.
• Instead of hosting multiple workshops in the community, which were not well attended prior to the June election, department staff attended community events to reach people where they are. This strategy has been successful in reaching more people and being out in the community has allowed more flexibility to meet people. Staff has attended events at Vivalon, Canal Alliance, Farmer’s Market, College of Marin, and held a tabling event with the League of Women Voters on National Voter Registration Day. Staff will speak at an upcoming Novato City Council meeting.
• The department’s non-partisan outreach toolkit includes messaging and graphics that can be shared on social media; PSA videos can also be shared.
• The Voter Education and Outreach Advisory Committee (VEOAC) is notified via email when it is time to share messages with their constituents. The VEOAC membership list is posted on the department’s website.
• The online toolkit and printed materials are translated into all required languages (Chinese, Spanish, Vietnamese).
• Printed materials are reviewed and remediated by the County’s digital access team to ensure materials are accessible.
• New efforts for November include working with Hearst Media, which uses targeted digital advertising and supports translated banner ads. The ads will appear in the language specified in the user’s browser. The Elections Department outreach team will be able to see how well the digital campaign reached people.

Comments/Feedback

As mentioned above, the County’s Disability Access program is available to assist as needed. They can help answer accessibility questions and can help create signs.

Is there messaging reminding people that they have the right to paid time off work to vote? Ms. Stone mentioned that the department shares the Voter’s Bill of Rights and asked if there are specific materials for voters with disabilities that the department can use. Mr. Nisen said Disability Rights California has a lot of nonpartisan resources for voters with disabilities on their website. He also highlighted their new publication: Make a Plan for Successful Voting! It walks voters with disabilities, including seniors, through making a plan to vote as privately and independently as possible, which will be individualized for each voter. It also provides links to many of other DRC voting publications, including a new publication entitled: Your November 2022 Ballot: Understanding What’s Going on with the U.S. Senate Race.

Regarding social media posts, Mr. Watson pointed out that people who are visually impaired and blind use text to voice programs, which don’t work on graphical materials. Ms. Stone mentioned that she is actively learning to make materials more accessible and has taken digital accessibility courses through the County, so will most likely learn about graphics.

Closing Remarks/Next Meeting

Ms. Roberts acknowledged that Mr. Watson was a new member referred by Marin Center for Independent Living and asked him to introduce himself. Mr. Watson is a new community organizer at Marin CIL and is currently getting acquainted with and managing relationships with community partners.

Ms. Roberts thanked everyone for participating. The next meeting is scheduled for January 12, 2023, 10-11 a.m. Ms. Roberts will send the Zoom link closer to the meeting date.

The meeting adjourned at 11 a.m.

Marin County Elections Department
VOTING ACCESSIBILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE (VAAC)
July 13, 2022, 10-11 a.m.
Virtual (Zoom) Meeting

Minutes

Attendees:

• Suzanne Levine, IST Digital Accessibility
• Fred Nisen, Disability Rights California
• Rafaella Tellez, Marin County Disability Access Program
• Lynda Roberts, Registrar of Voters
• Megan Stone, Elections Outreach Coordinator
• Danny Straub, Elections Outreach Coordinator

Welcome

Lynda Roberts opened the meeting and welcomed those in attendance.

Ms. Roberts outlined the purpose of the meeting:

• Overview of June election with vote centers
• Review outreach efforts (Megan Stone and Danny Straub)

June 2022 Statewide Direct Primary Election

Ms. Roberts reviewed highlights:

• Implementation of the Voter’s Choice Act was successful
• The election ran smoothly and there were no major issues; any issues that arose were similar to polling place issues (i.e., workers needing assistance with equipment)
• The Department received positive feedback about the new model from vote center workers and voters; vote center workers also received positive feedback from voters
• Recruiting for vote center workers is more of an effort through the HR process; it is also a challenge to find workers with the required language skills (the Language Accessibility Advisory Committee provided helpful information about possible contacts)
• The equipment used at vote centers (laptop computers and ballot printers) presented some training issues due to the extensive amount of time needed to present the information
• We learned from this first time where we need to refine internal procedures
• We also learned that we need to approach outreach differently

There were no questions so Ms. Roberts turned the meeting over to Ms. Stone and Mr. Straub to review outreach.

Outreach

Ms. Stone and Mr. Straub reviewed outreach efforts for June and proposed changes for November outreach.

Mr. Straub summarized the June outreach.

• March kick-off meeting with the Secretary of State’s office; over 50 people attended; the event had good public engagement and was a great way to start the transition
• Two direct mailers sent to each registered voter; the mailers contained a lot of information that was presented in an infographic format
• Created an outreach toolkit; outreach partners were important in helping disseminate information; we will make some revisions to the toolkit and use it again
• Used public service announcements, radio ads, and paid advertising, including the largest daily newspaper, free weekly newspapers, regional ads, language-specific media, digital ads, e-blasts, and the County’s social media
• Held in-person and virtual workshops with interpreters
• Distributed the physical materials (banners, posters, fact sheets, newsletters, door hangers); focused on hard-to-count census tracts

Ms. Stone reviewed planned changes for the November campaign.

• We are considering lessons learned from June to improve outreach for November; some things will remain the same due to the short timeframe between the June and November elections
• Generally, the printed materials seems to be well received
• We will review outreach in more depth after the November election
• We plan to keep the toolkit the same, revising dates as needed, but there will be no major revisions at this time due to the short timeframe to prepare for November
• We want to create better attention-getting information for the two direct mailers and we are asking: What gets attention?  What do voters want to know?
• We plan to simplify the messaging and eliminate election jargon
• In addition to mailers, we are required to host workshops with translators
• Summary of June workshops: We followed models used by other counties; we held one virtual evening workshop with translators for the three required language communities and the disability community; we held four in-person workshops during the lunchtime hour with translators available, one for each community; the workshops were expensive to plan and host and had very low turnout; going forward we are considering holding one virtual workshop as we did for June, and then attending events hosted by other organizations. Advisory committees were really helpful by offering workshop sites, and the IST Department helped with the virtual workshop
• We will be looking for events later in the fall that we can attend and would like to know if committee members can suggest events
• Stone will reach out to Ms. Levine for help with making materials accessible

Mr. Straub reviewed the concept for the November mailers incorporating feedback received from advisory committees so far. 

• Engage voters by including only essential information and avoiding too many details
• Reduce/eliminate election jargon
• Use the two direct mailers differently—the first mailer will focus on essential information to get attention about changes; the second mailer will be sent closer to when ballots are mailed and will include a little more information

Feedback

• Piggy-backing on community events is a good strategy; Ms. Levine can help coordinate with the Marin Equity Group Disability Initiative
• Giving a presentation and tabling at events is also a good strategy
• Using plain language on outreach materials is preferable and the plain language government website is helpful; the County’s new website will also include tools
• Posting signs at old polling locations with information about vote centers will help reduce voter frustration with the change
• The Marin County Disability Access Program received no election-related calls for June, which indicates that the Elections Department did a great job with messaging

What gets attention?  Ideas:

• Let voters know how the new model makes voting more accessible—vote more days and more ways
• Remind voters that locations may have changed and they can go to any location
• Several advance notices keep voters informed.
• Use bold words, such as UPDATE, then list changes in bullet points so people know what is changing for the upcoming election
• Consider a catch phrase, such as “where you vote has changed” or “where and how you vote has changed”

Ms. Stone pointed out that in addition to the two direct mailers, information will be included in the voter information guide and on the ballot wrap. The goal for the outreach is to help voters understand how to vote in Marin County.

Additional Comments

Mr. Nisen mentioned that June had a low turnout and more people will be out in November.  He also suggested reaching out to the Center for Independent Living for additional ideas.  Ms. Levine noticed that when she visited vote center locations, the workers were really well trained.

Closing Remarks/Next Meeting

Ms. Stone, Mr. Straub and Ms. Roberts thanked the members for their feedback.  The next meeting is scheduled for October 5, 10-11 a.m.  Ms. Roberts sent a placeholder email notice and will send the Zoom link closer to meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 11 a.m.

Registrar of Voters
VOTING ACCESSIBILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE (VAAC)
Friday, February 15, 2022, 9:30 AM
Teams Meeting

Minutes

The following members were present:

• Laney Davidson, Marin County Disability Access Program
• Suzanne Levine, IST Digital Accessibility
• Fred Nisen, Disability Rights California

Matthew Estipona with Marin Center for Independent Living also attended.

Representing the Elections Department:

• Lynda Roberts, Registrar of Voters
• Colleen Ksanda, Manager of Vote Centers and Staffing
• Megan Stone, Outreach Coordinator
• Danny Straub, Outreach Coordinator

Welcome

Lynda Roberts opened the meeting and welcomed those in attendance. She introduced new staff member Danny Straub.

Voter’s Choice Act Updates

Outreach

Ms. Stone and Mr. Straub presented an overview of current outreach efforts for implementation of the Voter’s Choice Act (VCA). Outreach will be similar to the model used in the November 2020 election and will include requesting community partners to review materials and provide feedback. Once finalized, materials will be translated into required languages (Chinese, Spanish, Vietnamese) and distributed to the outreach partners for distribution.

The Elections Department recently established the Voting Education and Outreach Advisory Committee (VEOAC) which is a network of over 40 members that includes various community based organizations. Currently the VEOAC and other advisory committees, including VAAC, are reviewing outreach materials for the June 2022 election.

The most immediate projects include preparing the first of two mailers required to be sent to each registered voter and working on the media toolkit. The first mailer was prepared and vetted by committees last fall and will be mailed to registered voters in February; the second mailer is planned for early April.

The toolkit used in November 2020 was the starting point for the VCA toolkit and the outreach team is looking at expanding it, gathering feedback, and making improvements over time. This will be an ongoing process to ensure outreach materials stay current.

The Department will also host workshops for the language minority and disability communities to review the Voter’s Choice Act and how this will change voting.

The outreach team has been working with the Secretary of State’s office to plan a virtual kick-off event, which is scheduled for March 10 at 11:00 a.m. The kick-off will be a great opportunity for all advisory committees/outreach partners to hear directly from the Secretary of State about the Voter’s Choice Act and what changes will mean for Marin County. Invitations will be emailed soon.

The outreach team will continue to contact advisory committees via email to provide updates about events and request assistance reviewing toolkit materials.

Discussion

Regarding the workshops for language minority and disability communities, Ms. Stone explained that the workshops will review changes under the VCA and what to expect for an election. The workshops are still in the planning stage with tentative dates in late March or early April. The team is monitoring COVID conditions before deciding whether workshops should be virtual or in-person. Also, the team is looking for opportunities to join with an existing community event to make VCA presentations.

Committee members mentioned that virtual workshops and partnering with groups having an event can be the best way to reach more people and more diverse groups. Holding a hybrid in-person and virtual workshop is also a consideration, although a hybrid meeting present technical challenges. Another suggestion was to consider hosting separate in-person and virtual workshops. Any in-person workshops will need to be held at accessible facilities, including when partnering with other organizations. Ms. Davidson has a list of frequently-used meeting spaces.

Ms. Stone thanked members for their feedback and reiterated that the conversation about VCA outreach will be ongoing.

Vote Center Locations

Ms. Ksanda provided the update. The number of locations is based on the number of registered voters. Marin County requires a minimum of 18 locations and we have 20 sites reserved, including the Elections Department. We’re still waiting to confirm the hours of operation with some of the sites; mid-March is our deadline.

Four locations will be open ten days before Election Day and the remaining sixteen locations will open starting three days before Election Day. All sites will be open on Election Day from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Staffing will consist of a combination of contingent employees hired through the HR recruitment process and stipend workers. Contingent employees will be responsible for overall operations and will manage the support staff that will work starting three days before the election and on Election Day. The staffing process is subject to refinement over time.

In selecting locations, Ms. Ksanda followed both accessibility guidelines and VCA requirements, which include locating sites near population centers and low-income/marginalized communities. The four 10-day locations have been strategically placed so a location is open in the north, south, central and west areas of Marin.

Discussion

In response to a question about training, Ms. Ksanda said training workshops will continue to include reviewing procedures and how best to serve voters with disabilities and will also focus heavily on equipment since so much is new with vote centers. The vote center coordinators will be required to attend on-the-job training in the office where they can continue to learn and have first-hand experiences helping voters.

A member suggested having a demonstration during training by a person with a disability to show workers how to use the accessible equipment and give them a better understanding of the importance of the ballot marking device. And also remind them that any voter may choose to use the equipment.

Other Business

Ms. Roberts asked for feedback about the frequency of meetings and a regular meeting schedule. Members recommended holding quarterly meetings with the possibility of scheduling a special meeting if needed. Suggested days and times included a morning time on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday at the beginning of the month.

Ms. Roberts will send a follow-up email with proposed dates and times.

The meeting adjourned at 10:30 a.m.
The next meeting will be scheduled after the dates are determined.