San Francisco County Municipal Code § 13.104 Department of Elections

A Department of Elections shall be established to conduct all public federal, state, district and municipal elections in the City and County. The department shall be administered by the Director of Elections, who shall be vested with the day-to-day conduct and management of the Department and of voter registration and matters pertaining to elections in the City and County. The Director shall

report to the Elections Commission. For purposes of this section, the conduct of elections shall include, but not be limited to: voter registration; the nomination and filing process for candidates to City and County offices; the preparation and distribution of voter information materials; ballots, precinct operations and vote count; the prevention of fraud in such elections; and the recount of ballots in cases of challenge or fraud. The Director shall be appointed by the Elections Commission from a list of qualified applicants provided pursuant to the civil service provisions of this Charter. The Director shall serve a five-year term, during which he or she may be removed by the Elections Commission for cause, upon written charges and following a hearing. The Elections Commission shall present the written charges to the Director no less than thirty days before the hearing. If the Elections Commission votes to remove the Director, he or she shall have the right to appeal to the Civil Service Commission. On appeal, the Civil Service Commission shall be limited to consideration of the record before the Elections Commission; however, the Civil Service Commission may independently evaluate and weigh evidence and may in its discretion consider evidence proffered to the Elections Commission that the Commission excluded and may in its discretion exclude evidence that the Elections Commission considered. The term of the Director shall expire five years after his or her appointment. No less than thirty days before the expiration of the Director's term, the Elections Commission shall appoint a Director for the next term, who may but need not be the incumbent Director. Subject to the civil service provisions of this Charter, the Director shall have the power to appoint and remove other employees of the Department of Elections. In addition to any other conflict of interest provisions applicable to City employees, the Director of Elections and all other employees of the Department of Elections shall be subject to the conflict-of-interest provisions in Section 13.103.5. The Elections Commission, may upon the recommendation of the Director of Elections and a finding that the Department will not have adequate staffing to conduct an election, request from the Board of Supervisors a waiver of the conflict-of-interest provisions in Section 13.103.5 for employees working no more than thirty days in a single calendar year. The Board of Supervisors shall approve or deny such requests from the Elections Commission by motion. (Amended November 2001)

OFFICERS. Except as provided below, no City employee or officer, other than the Director of Elections, an appointee of the Director of Elections or a member of the Elections Commission, may in any capacity perform any function relating to the conduct of an election that this Charter places under the Department of Elections. This section prohibits City personnel from providing to the Department of Elections services that are unique to that department. This section does not prohibit City personnel from providing to the Department of Elections ordinary services that are unrelated to the conduct of an election and that are indistinguishable from services performed for other City departments. These general support services include, but are not limited to, services relating to human resources, personnel processing, payroll, workers compensation, budgeting, accounting, procurement, contracting, and the maintenance of telephone and voice mail systems. The Elections Commission may, upon the recommendation of the Director of Elections request from the Board of Supervisors a waiver of this prohibition so as to allow City employees and officers to assist the Department of Elections. The Board of Supervisors shall approve or deny such requests from the Elections Commission by motion. The City Attorney shall serve as legal counsel to the Elections Commission and the Department of Elections. The Commission may, by a majority vote of its members. hire outside legal counsel to advise the Commission and the Department on matters that directly involve the election or campaign of the City Attorney, if the City Attorney is standing for election. All outside legal counsel hired pursuant to this Section shall be a member in good standing of the California State Bar. In selecting outside legal counsel, the Commission shall give preference to engaging the services of a City attorney's office, a County counsel's office or other public entity law office with an expertise regarding the subject-matter jurisdiction of the Elections Commission. In the event that the Commission concludes that private counsel is necessary, it may, by a majority vote, engage the services of a private attorney who has at least five years' experience in the subject- matter jurisdiction of the Elections Commission. Any private counsel retained pursuant to this Section shall be subject to the conflict of interest provisions of Section 13.103.5. Any contract for outside legal counsel authorized by this section shall be paid for by the Commission and shall be subject to the budgetary and fiscal provisions of this charter. The Sheriff shall be responsible for transporting all voted ballots and all other documents or devices used to record votes from the polls to the central counting location and approving a security plan for the ballots until the certification of election results. This requirement shall not become operative following its adoption until the Sheriff has completed meeting and conferring required by state law. The Elections Commission shall send a copy of the approved transportation and security plan to the Board of Supervisors. The Director of Elections shall develop and submit for the approval of the Elections Commission an alternative transportation and security plan if an incumbent sheriff is running for election or if there is a measure on the San Francisco ballot that would have a material, financial effect on the Sheriff or the uniformed personnel of the Sheriff's department as determined by the Ethics Commission. The Director of Elections shall invite the Secretary of State to comment on any alternative transportation and security plan. The Elections Commission shall send a copy of the approved alternative transportation and security plan to the Board of Supervisors. The Board of Supervisors shall have the authority to enter into any contracts or take whatever actions are necessary to meet the alternative security requirements of this section. (Added November 2001; amended November 2002)