DATE: April 29, 2003
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBJECT: Bringing the Ballot Box to the U.S. Military Support for SB 240 (McPherson)

SUMMARY:
On December 12, 2000 (16), the Board of Supervisors approved Supervisors Greg Cox and Bill Horn’s recommendations to explore the feasibility of using electronic touch-screen voting devices and/or optical scan voting systems to replace the current County voting system. Subsequent action included approval of a new system and competitive procurement of a touch-screen voting system for San Diego County.

Approval of today’s recommendations will continue with this Board’s commitment of using technology to improve services for San Diegans and requests that San Diego County be designated a one of the pilot counties under SB 240 that will allow uniformed and overseas citizens to cast absentee votes through the Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Chairman Greg Cox:
Direct the Chief Administrative Officer to draft a letter for the Chairman’s signature to Senator Bruce McPherson, the San Diego delegation and the County’s Sacramento representative in support of SB 240 and requesting that San Diego County be designated as a pilot site under SB 240.

Fiscal Impact:
There is no fiscal impact associated with this recommendation.

BACKGROUND:
The Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment (SERVE) program is a federal demonstration project operated jointly by the federal Department of Defense and the Federal Voting Assistance Program. The governing principles of the project are consistent with San Diego County’s philosophy of system integrity and security as well as one person, one vote, a secret ballot and transparency of the process. The project will allow uniformed and overseas U.S. citizens wishing to cast absentee votes through a secure system to register, and begin voting as early as the 2004 Primary Election.

Senator Bruce McPherson has introduced SB 240: Overseas Absentee Voting, which will authorize pilot counties in California to participate in the SERVE demonstration project. Approval of today’s recommendations will authorize the Chief Administrative Officer to communicate San Diego County’s support for SB 240 and request that this County be included as a pilot county.

Respectfully submitted,

GREG COX
Chairman