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Rules Committee appoints technical and community members to voting-systems task force
Summary
The Rules Committee appointed nine members — including technical experts, open-source advocates and civic organizations’ representatives — to the Voting Systems Task Force, waiving residency for several nonresident specialists and continuing one seat pending availability.
The Rules Committee selected a slate of candidates to fill nine seats on a newly established Voting Systems Task Force charged with reviewing San Francisco’s voting systems and options for future procurements.
Supervisors heard from a large field of applicants with technical and election-administration expertise. Committee members emphasized the task force’s threefold purpose: define voting-system requirements, investigate creating or acquiring a system, and propose an institutional basis to sustain it. Candidates who described technical backgrounds included Kathleen Yi (PhD, electronic voting research), candidates from the Open Voting Consortium and other open-source advocates, and local election-administration practitioners who emphasized transparency and verifiability.
After testimony and discussion, the committee appointed Elizabeth Bergman (seat 7) and Roger Donaldson (seat 8); Joanne Sanford was appointed to seat 1; Brent Turner (Open Voting Foundation) was recommended for seat 2 with a residency waiver; Greg Miller was assigned to seat 4; and Beth Mazur and another candidate were assigned to seats 5 and 6. One seat (seat 9) was continued pending clarification of a candidate’s ability to serve.
Supervisors stressed balancing Silicon Valley technical expertise with local knowledge of San Francisco elections administration. Several appointees received residency waivers so the committee could consider a broader technical talent pool; the committee also urged broad participation from applicants who were not chosen, noting the task force’s collaborative nature.
The committee’s appointments set the task force’s initial membership and will allow the group to begin drafting system requirements and evaluating open-source and proprietary options for the city.
