trying to make. i do see a lot of people here with a recipe card or sometimes with a magazine and they are looking for specific items. the staff here is very helpful. i speak very little chinese here myself. thinks that i'm not sure about, i asked the clerk his and i say is this what i need? is this what i should be making? and they actually really helped me. they will bring me to the aisle and say this is battery. they are very knowledgeable. very friendly. i think they are here to serve not only the asian community but to serve all communities in the richmond district and in san francisco. [♪] >> what is wonderful about living here is that even though our july is a very foggy and overcast, best neighborhood, the sleepy part outside on the west side is so rich with history, but also with all the amenities that are offered.

[♪]

>> co-chair blacksten: good afternoon and welcome to the mayor's disability council, october 19, 2018. city hall is accessible to persons using wheelchairs and other assisted mobility devices. wheelchair access is provided at the grove, van ness and mack allister streets ramps. wheelchair access at the polk street carlton b. goodlett entrance is provided through the lift. our meetings are captioned and sign language interpreted. our agendas are also available in large print and braille. please ask staff for any additional assistance. to prevent electronic interference with this room's sound system, and to respect

everyone's ability to focus on the presentations, please silence all mobile phones and pdas. your cooperation is most appreciated. we welcome the public's participation during public comment periods. there will be an opportunity for public comment at the beginning and end of the meeting as well as after every item on today's agenda. each comment is limited to three minutes. and the council will respond to your comments following the meeting if you provide your contact information. you may complete a speaker's card available in the front of the room, approach the microphone during public comment, or call our bridge line at 1-415-554-9632.

where a staff person will handle requests to speak at the appropriate time. the mayor's disability council meetings are generally held on the third friday of the month. our next regular meeting will be on friday, november 16, 2018 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., right here at san francisco city hall in room 400. please call the mayor's office on disability for further information or to request accommodations at 1-415-554-6789, or e-mail mod @ sf goven. a reminder to guests to speak slowly into the microphone to assist our captioners and

interpreters. we thank you for joining us. all right, let's move forward here. i think what we have is the call of the roll. by staff. >> co-chair denise senhaux? >> present. >> co-chair jim blacksten? >> co-chair blacksten: present. tatiana kostanian absent. alex madrid? here. council member tatiana kostanian? >> here. council member? >> council member sassouni:

here. >> council member smolinski: here. >> council member williams: present. >> co-chair blacksten: lets move forward to the next agenda item which i believe is the reading of the agenda today. >> item 1, welcome, introduction and roll call. item 2, action item. reading and approval of the agenda. item 3, public comment. items not on today's agenda but within the jurisdiction of the mdc. we welcome the public's participation during public comment periods. there will be an opportunity for public comment at the beginning and end of the meeting, as well as as after everytime on today's agenda. each comment is limited to three minutes and the council will respond to your comments following the meeting if you provide your contact information. you may complete a speaker's card, available in the front of the room, approach the microphone during public comment, or call our bridge line

at 1-415-554-9632, where a staff person will handle requests to speak at the appropriate time. item 4. information item. co-chair report. item 5. information item. report from the mayor's office on disability. please note that the director's report can be found in the what's new section of the mod website. item 6, information item. overview of san francisco's accessible vote-by-mail system and other services. an overview of accessible vote-by-mail similar and other services available to san francisco voters with disabilities, including the resources to vote and print out their ballots using the accessible system. presentation by john arntz, director of elections. public comment is welcome. item 7, information item.

emerging technology open working group. accessibility and safety. the board of supervisors requested that the city administrator convene an open working group to develop a regular tory and permitting process for emerging technology. and helps the city to realize its goal of using technological innovation to improve quality of life for our whole community while mitigating any negative or unintended consequences. presence by nicole bohn, director, mayor's office on disability, city and county of san francisco and krista canellakis, chief innovation officer, city and county of san francisco. public comment is welcome. break, the council will take a 15 minute break. item 8, information item. san francisco tech council

strategic planning discussion. employment of people with disabilities and older adults. the san francisco tech council will brief the council on their strategic planning process related to the intersection of technology and the employment of people with disabilities and older adults. the presenters will ask for feedback from the council and any members of the public who would like to comment on their experiences with employment. presentation by susan poor, consultant, san francisco tech council. public comment is welcome. item 9. public comment. items not on today's agenda, but within the jurisdiction of the mdc. each speaker is limited to three minutes. please approach the microphone for give your comment card to the mod staff. item 10. information item, correspondence. item 11. discussion item. council member comments and announcements. item 12, adjournment.

>> co-chair blacksten: very good, thank you for reading the agenda. let us move forward to item number 3 on the agenda which is public comment. and i understand we have one card so far? helen? >> correct. can you approach the microphone? you have three minutes. good afternoon. i'm going to move the laptop slightly to the left so i can see the timer. thank you for having me here today. and i want to start off by thanking publicly mod staff for helping me recently with a disability accommodation from the sf food bank.

the program manager, dana markley, and andy burns, fought me tooth and nail for disability accommodation because federal law does not apply to the food bank and the accommodation i was requested. however, fortunately, with the help of mod, the human rights commission and hsa, they finally agreed to accommodation for me to get groceries. and i want to thank mod staff for their role in that and making that possible. it would never have happened without their help. so i want to express my gratitude for that. i also want to talk about two of the issues that some of the most pressing issues for people with disabilities right now in the city. that is housing and transportation. right now, more than 60% of the homeless population is disabled in san francisco. of course, that includes many veterans that have served our country, yet the mayor's office has come out against prop c,

which is a very modest propositi proposition. anyone who is too disabled to work, the maximum amount of money they can get is slightly over $900 a month. and i would love it if anyone here could point me to any place that would provide a place of rental on that income. to my knowledge, there is no place like that in san francisco. that's a huge problem for people with disabilities. about transportation, i would like to mention that the muni hearing process, i've been here speaking about it. it's a very broken process. very torturous to engage in. however, i did finally prevail in the last ada hearing and i have a letter here that i'm going to give staff, from sf mu muni. i would like to know what would be done after this letter is

received to improve muni services for people with disabilities, because they have drivers that are not picking up passengers in wheelchairs and it's a big problem. i know other people in wheelchairs face that. [bell ringing] >> finally, the issue of para transit. it has a long history of problems. and more recently there is the issue of driving all over the city. i mean, spending hours in these commutes, picking up people in different corners of the city. so that i'm in a lot of pain with my back and i can't make it back home in a reasonable time for to my doctor's appointment. and the response to this is it's a shared ride service, get over it. [bell ringing] >> i'm going to provide this to staff. i have a complaint response where they ruled in my favor with problems with the para transit service. thank you for your time.

>> co-chair blacksten: thank you, zack, for your comments. we appreciate that very much. if you want to see any of the council members during the break or after the meeting, please feel free to do that. we'd be happy to talk to you. >> i have two more here. wait. >> two more cards? >> yeah, one of them is farther down, but helen walsh? is this a general comment? ok. >> hi, my name is helen walsh. i'm speaking for myself. i sit on the commission of disability in berkley. what i want to bring up is my own personal concern about transportation and alternative transportation systems not necessarily including persons with disabilities. for instance, our adaptive bike

and city chair programs don't have any bikes that are accessible for persons with disabilities. three-wheeled bike. as we progress with areas of alternative transportation, the community is running into a huge issue of what transportation is going to be available to us. lift and uber and those different ride share programs are not necessarily accessible. they have some accessible components, but they're not necessarily in full gear. we have our muni transportation and what not that is having some issues in regards to insurance of people being able to take public transportation. we have bird scooters and these other types of transportation systems that are also not including. all these systems of alternative transportation cause pedestrians

hazards in safety. i'm speaking for all our communities, homeless people, being able to afford these things or not having what they need to access them. i want to bring this to the attention of the municipalities here in the bay area to ensure as we move forward with taking parking off the streets into different areas figuring out how to put in bike lanes, that we include accessible components. for instance, are our bike lanes considering that not everybody rides a bicycle with just two wheels? there are adaptive bicycles that are four or three wheels. are we fully including individuals with disabilities and those who use other forms of transportation that are adaptive, so they have the same considerations to commute to work. and that is what i wanted to

share. thank you. >> co-chair blacksten: thank you very much for your comment. i understand there is another card -- >> it's for down -- >> co-chair blacksten: that's down the line, ok, good. number 4 -- >> just a minute. is there any public comment on the bridge line? >> no. >> co-chair blacksten: ok. no comment on the bridge line. ok. all right, now we can move forward to the co-chair report. and i just wanted to say that we appreciate you coming out here in the month of october. we did not have a meeting in september. there were -- well, the mayor's office was dealing with a number of issues centred around

legislation and other areas in august, so we had our executive council meeting last month in september. it was successful. talked about a number of issues. and you'll be hear being them as we go forward. i just wanted to bring a couple of things to your attention. there is a meeting coming up in november. it is the curb-ramp prioritization community meeting. and this will be on friday, november 9 from 11:30-1 p.m. some of you might want to go. that's why i'm mentioning it. it will be at the department of public works, 30 van ness avenue. university room. so this is something that is very new, but i think it's going to be worthy of note that we deal with this issue. in the month of october, well let's see, on october 13th, some

of you may have gone, it was the accessibility discussion and tour regarding the potential year-round extension of the healthy saturdays program in golden gate park. now, this tour did cover concerns raised by this council, the mayor's disability council, and members of the disabled community with regard to street closures within the park and they discussed potential accessibility solutions. and i understand the tour was about .6 miles long. in the month of october, we have what is called superfest film festival. it's coming up. there is going to be films shown at various locations. i know that the contemporary

jewish museum over on mission street, i believe that one, they're going to be showing films on october 21st. i know that the lighthouse of the blind and visually impaired have films that they'll be showing. and so if you can participate, it would be great. i've gone to these festivals several times in the past and they show great films. especially of disabled people doing some outstanding things in their life. real-life stories. so that concludes my report. i just want to encourage any and all of you to let your friends, colleagues, family members know about our meetings coming up. not only the one in november, but also throughout 2019. these are your meetings. we're here for you. we need your participation, your comments, your involvement,

because without that these meetings wouldn't take place. that concludes my report. and let's see. let's go onto item number 5. which is report from the mayor's office on disability. from our executive director. so welcome, nicole. >> thank you, council member blacksten and council members and everyone who is here today in the audience and everyone participating on the bridge line and via tv. it's good to be back in the room together again. i have quite a bit to announce today. so i will get started. so, the first thing i wanted to mention was partly in recognition of october being deaf awareness month. i wanted to comment on where we are with the departmental general order from the police department that is looking at

how to best address communication needs between deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals and the police in urgent situations. i'm happy to report that working group has nearly concluded its recommendations that will be going forward to the police commission very soon. hopefully in the next month or so this will be agendaized. it's been a very robust process that included many members of the deaf community as well as other city partners from the department of police accountability and the police department and others. and so i wanted to publicly say thank you to everyone who has participated in this very important process to date. i would encourage the council when this update is ready to go to police commission, to agenda this also, so you can have an opportunity to learn more about it. i think that originally we hoped

that a representative from the department of police accountability could be here today. she had something come up. so we would like to reschedule that item. the next thing i wanted to talk about, because this council has specifically looked at the permitting of electric scooters as part of their agenda. i wanted to announce that the one-year pilot program has begun with two companies. scoot and skip. who were selected -- this is according to -- i'm reading from an mta bulletin -- out of 12 applications because they prioritize the city's concerns around safety, disabled access, equity and accountability. and so -- and for the council to know that the mayor's office on

disability was heavily involved in helping to develop some guidelines along with the department of public works and our colleagues in accessible services in mta, around how to recommend guidelines around usage within the public right-of-way. and so i'm pleased that these companies were able to meet those expectations. and then we will see how things progress through the pilot program. i encourage the council to keep this item on your agenda for future follow-up. the next item i would like to talk about for a minute is the city's progress on the waste reduction ordinance, more commonly known as the plastic straw ordinance. as you may have been following, there is exemption language that

is going to be proposed through amendment around the usage of plastic straws. and we've had multiple community meetings around plastic straws. we anticipate that there will be another consumer meeting happening next week. and then the legislation will be reintroduced, most likely in an upcoming land use committee meeting. so please keep your eye on that as well. jim mentioned, as our next item, the upcoming curb-ramp meetings for stakeholder feedback on how the city is prioritizing our curb ramp funding for fiscal year 19-20. he mentioned friday, november 9.

and then we also have another opportunity on tuesday, october 30. so there are two opportunities for public engagement on the curb ramp prioritization process. tuesday, october 30 from 4:30-6. and then friday, november 9, there will be another opportunity for those in the middle of the day, between 11:30-1. again in the department of public works, 30 van ness, university room on the third floor. we hope to see you there. the next item i wanted to announce and this will be reiterated in one of our upcoming presentations today. emerging technology survey on the recommendations related to this initiative which we will learn about shortly is open and going to be open through october

26th. so we encourage continued engagement in that process. next item, i wanted to announce by way of legislation for those of us who have been following the state legislation on transportation network companies, accessibility for all act, which is looking to provide wheelchair accessible transportation in transportation network companies like uber and lyft. happily, i report that legislation was signed by governor brown in september. and we will have statewide accessibility that is on specific time line not to exceed 2024. the next days are critically important in terms of continued consumer feedback as we look

into how statewide the jurisdictions implement this accessibili accessibility. it's very exciting, but we still need your help, so please keep an eye on that as well. next thing i wanted to announce is the next meeting of the age and disability friendly task force implementation is coming up next friday, october 26. that will be at the department of aging and adult services, at 1650 mission, on the 3rd floor. this is an open public meeting. and we're looking and continuing to look for recommendations and support as we implement the guidelines that were determined by the task force. just a little bit to add to what jim mentioned about our healthy saturdays walk-through, that was this past saturday, october

13th. we had good participation and a lot of really positive feedback and also feedback, but we still need to do work around accessibility and some of the park closures. the city will be taking information that was gathered there from stakeholders and continuing to work on how to best improve access in the park in general during the street closures. there will be more opportunity to engage on that. a few other announcements. jim mentioned that the superfest disability film festival is coming up this weekend. more information at superfestfilm.org. there are two opportunities to participate. october 20th in berkley.

and october 21st in san francisco. and as you may know, this is a fully accessible audio described, captioned and interpreted movie-going experience. if you have not experienced it before, it is an extremely fun educational and powerful event. i really encourage you to attend if you are available. the disability cultural center conversations are under way. and this is to draw your attention that there will be a survey coming forward soon for the public to be able to identify what you would like to see in a disabled cultural center. as a reminder, this initiative is coming forward out of response from the dignity fund

needs assessment that people with disabilities are looking for a place to gather and learn about services, art, culture, technology and all sorts of things. a survey will be coming forward to help us determine what people with disabilities would like to see in a cultural center. please keep an eye out for that. that will be open, we anticipate, by november 1, through the month. also, wanted to announce that october is also national disability employment month and we'll be hearing a little bit this afternoon about the san francisco tech council specific efforts in helping to identify intersections and needs with technology and employment. also wanted to mention that the department of aging and adult

services has released and is about to release an information graphic specifically around disability in san francisco and some of the statistics and trends we've learned. i would like to encourage the council to invite the department of aging and adult services to give a full presentation on some of the data they collected. but specific to employment, i wanted to highlight a few things we know about why disability and employment is so important. and we know that even adults with disabilities who are employed are more than twice as likely to experience poverty. so part of the reason why we want to continue to support employment initiatives and again, i'd like to encourage the council to take some time and learn more about some of the

information that the department of aging is putting together. finally, just two more things. in september, the department of emergency management had a sheltering and emergency response exercise that included disability stakeholders in their sheltering exercise. and we learned a lot about how to continue to support and improve efforts around disability access and emergencies. so i want to say thank you for everyone who took time to participate in that very important exercise. and then finally, where i will end is -- wait, did i say everything i wanted to say? i think i did. i think i did.

so that was the last item. so there is a lot to follow-up on. no, i didn't. one more thing. sorry, everyone. mayor's office on disability is definitely last but not least, has a new staff person with us on our access team. she is with us today in the audience. her name is ms. alley watson. i wanted to say welcome and thank you for being here and we're very excited to have you with us helping to support affordable, accessible housing, so thank you for being here and i hope that you can meet some of our wonderful council members soon. ok. that's it. that's all for today. >> co-chair blacksten: all right. very good. thank you, nicole. >> jim? we have a request for public comment, but i think this has to

wait until -- this is on the director's report. i think this has to wait until the last public comment? >> co-chair blacksten: yes, i think so. we'll get there. you know, we have two times during the meeting for the comments, but we'll be glad to hear it at that time. >> co-chair blacksten: ok, let's move on to item number 6. ok, we've been -- let's see, we need an accommodation for one of our -- >> he's going to make his public comment now. >> co-chair blacksten: we can go ahead? ok. i see, ok, that's what it is. all right. number 6 is -- >> no, jim, we're going to let

him speak. >> co-chair blacksten: ok, we're going to let him speak? i didn't get that. ok. >> thank you, sorry. i'm in a lot of pain and it was really hard to make it over today. i just wanted to comment on one thing. nicole gave an amazing presentation and i wanted to talk about the disability cultural center. that is a really exciting thing that is happening. it's something that doesn't happen for -- i mean we don't have anything like that. as a person with disabilities, i feel very excluded from society and i don't feel like we have a history or pride in the way that a lot of other groups do. i would love to see a cultural center similar to the lgbtq center that is over on market street near octavia. and i think this is a wonderful opportunity. i would love to see more effort

being put into putting the information out there. like i see you have these great flyers for superfest. it would be awesome to have flyers put around and given out, because it will only be as effective as the public can be involved in it. as much as the public can be involved in it. and the survey that is on the internet right now, is super text heavy. i couldn't even fill it out with my carpal tunnel, so it would be nice if there was a phone number we could call into to give our input. and more accessibility options so disabled people could have their input for the cultural center, because it's such an amazing opportunity. i would just love to see flyers everywhere for it. especially if there is only one month that input from the public will be collected. thank you. >> this is a point of

clarification. there is no survey distributed yet. we're just in the first phases. so there will be -- there is two phases. one is establishing a need for a cultural center. once that is approved, there will be a second phase that will establish what a cultural center looks like. so we're in the first stage right now. >> the long moore institute did link me to a survey. >> i think maybe that's a different one. >> thanks. >> co-chair blacksten: your comment is well taken. i'm sorry i didn't understand you needed to speak then. i'm glad you did. and we're appreciative. well, i think we are ready to go to item number 6. our first presenter to the i don't ever view of san francisco's accessible vote-by-mail system and other services. our peek speaker has been here

before. we welcome him back, john arntz, welcome to the mayor's disability council. >> thank you very much and thank you for the invitation to appear today. i appreciate it. today, i'll give a presentation on the accessible services available to voters for the november 6, 2018 election. and i'll be talking about the accessible vote-by-mail system that i spoke about in june. i'll go over material again for this election. the usage of that system for the june 5 election and then changes that were made in relation to this election, the november election. i'll discuss the eligibility to use the system and also the steps to access, mark, print and return the ballot. and also i'll talk about the systems, ensuring the voter's privacy and security of selections when using the system. so to begin by reviewing the

accessible materials that the department offers for the upcoming november election, they provide it online. in various formats. and audio version. the pamphlet is additional in large print booklet, audio cassette and thumb drive version at the public library. they provide accessible voting equipment at all polling places on election day and the city hall voting center. as well as page magnifiers, grips for pens and accessible voting booths. also, aids are there to assist when asked. the department displays signs of access. also the voter information

pamphlet lists the polling places voting areas. the department administers residential care and hospital voting programs that provide outreach to people in convalescent, hospitals. upon request, if voters are unable to go to the polls, have their ballots delivered to a polling place or city hall, the city will provide delivery or pickup for voters. on election day, they have personnel devoted slowly to picking up ballots for those who are unable to make it to the polls. finally, the department offers an accessible vote-by-mail system that allows voters to access their ballots with any computer with internet access through a portal on the website.

the accessible vote-by-mail system is a service that provides opportunity for accessible voting without having to go to a polling place on election day where the department provides equipment with touch screen and audible ballots. the june 5 was the first election where they provided accessible vote-by-mail system. 145 people clinked the link to the access vote-by-mail system and sf elections and 31 down loaded the battle. on a statewide level, for the five counties, 89 people clicked into accessible vote-by-mail systems and 49 down loaded ballots. in response to feedback from members of the department and the advisory committee, department made several changes to information regarding the accessible vote by mail system

in relation to the november 6 election. first, the department removed the word remote from the name of the system, it was called the remote system. voters might think that only voters outside the city could use the system. this is to inform more voters they may be able to use the system. the department also streamlined voters' instructions. the revised instructions emphasized the importance of having a printer. voters may, for example, save a marked ballot in a pdf format to a usb drive and print from the drive at a public library. additionally, voters can save their ballots on their computer hard drive and then use the library's online printer-on service to print their ballots at a local library. under california law, only voters with disabilities and

those in the military or living overseas are eligible to use this system. to use the accessible vote-by-mail system, a person must be registered as a vote-by-mail voter. a person can commit a paper application to the department, or apply online at sf elections.org. or call us at (415) 554-4375 or use a tty line (415) 554-4386. voters who wish to use the accessible vote-by-mail system may do so any time during the early voting period that opened on october 9 and conditions through election day november 6. to use the system, they can go to sf elections.org/access.

entering sf elections.org/access will bring voters to a portal where voters need to enter their residential house numbers, zip code and date of birth and then click on the button containing the word "submit" to move to the next screen. next is the welcome screen. here, voters select their language preference. english, chinese, filipino or spanish. voters can also adjust the font size of the information appearing on the screen. voters then click on the button that contains the word continue to proceed. voters next will need to review the criteria to use the system and then check the box to

certify they meet the criteria and they're eligible. this confirmation of eligibility is a requirement that the california secretary of state set in certifying the system. after affirming their eligibility, voters click on the button that contains the word, continue, to proceed. the next screen presents voters with instructions for returning their ballots. it also provides the department's contact information that voters can use if they have questions or need assistance. voters can choose to read the instructions on the screen or download them to their computers by clicking on a button entitled download a pdf of the above information. when voters are ready to mark their ballots, they click on the button that contains the word,

continue. next, voters ballots are presented in a format compatible with screen readers. to mark their selections, voters click on a box next to the office or measure. to remove a selection, voters click again on a box previously voted. to vote for a qualified write-in candidate, voters can click the box beside the write-in space and then type the candidate's name. when voters complete their selections, they click the button containing the word, continue. voters can review their ballot selections on this review screen. voters can click the change button next to the selection to make a different vote. when voters finish reviewing their selections, they click on

the button that contains the word, continue. as noted in the beginning of this presentation, after marking their ballots, voters must print and return their ballots to the department of elections. to print their ballots, voters click on the button that includes the text print selections. if voters need to print elsewhere, they must choose, print to pdf option, to save their ballots onto their computer hard drive or thumb drive. after ballots are printed, voters click the button containing the words, end session. the system displays a warning stating, closing your session will clear all your ballot selections. this cannot be undone. voters must print their ballots or print to pdf before ending their session, otherwise, they

will need to start the voting process again. when voters have printed their selections, the ballot printout is a single page that lists the voter selections by contest and measure. and also includes a qr code on the page. the qr code does not hold any vote-identifying information, such as names or addresses. instead, the qr code is an itemized, numerical list organize of the contest and measures voted on. when the bar code is scanned, a list of numbers is generated that shows what selections were made on the ballot. this slide provides an example of the information contained in the qr code using a demo ballot.

v. means the version of the system software. vs is the ballot style or ballot type. i.d. is the serial number for the ballot generated similar to the serial numbers printed on the ballot stubs of the paper ballots. after voting and printing their ballots, voters must send their ballots to the department. since everyone who is eligible to use the accessible vote-by-mail system must first be signed up as a regular vote-by-mail voter, the department will mail them a paper ballot. in the envelope with the ballot is a postage paid return envelope that people using the

system can use to return their printed ballot. when returning the printout of the vote which by mail ballot, voters must remember to sign the envelope. the holes on the envelope indicate the edges of the signature section where the voters can sign. if voters are unable to sign, they can make a mark and have a witness sign the envelope. if voters are unable to return their ballots, they may authorize anyone to return their ballots by providing the required information on the back of the envelope. voters may also use their own envelopes to return their printed ballots. if using their own envelopes, voters need to print, complete

and sign the voter oath which is available on the page with the voting instructions reviewed earlier in this presentation. the department will use this oath to verify the voter's signature as required under state election law. voters may also return their ballots in person to the voting center. the voting center is open now during the weekdays from 8 to 5. and is open two weekends before election day from 10 to 4. on election day, tuesday november 6, the voting center is open the same hours as are all polling places, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. voters may also bring their ballots to the drop-off stations located outside city hall during the four days prior to election day or to any california polling place or voting center prior to

and on election day. ballots mailed back to the department must be postmarked or date stamped before or on election day. tuesday, november 6. and received by the department no later than friday november, 9. if ballots are returned in person, they must be received by the department no later than 8 p.m. on election day, november 6. i want to emphasize that the system does not identify or track users. using system only requires voters to acknowledge their eligibility for receiving their ballots. these requirements are according to the california secretary of state's serks of the -- certification of the system. another requirement of the secretary of state certification is the system cannot interact with the remote server when

voters are making selections on their ballots. the voting process must occur solely on the device the voter is using. the system does not store or transmit votes over the internet. and it does not allow electronic voting. as mentioned earlier, voters must print and return their ballots to the department for counting. when the department receives envelopes containing voters' voted ballots, the department personnel will open the envelopes, remove the ballots, and then separate the ballots from the envelopes, this prevents voters' names and addresses from being associated with how they voted and maintains confidentiality. after removing the ballots from the envelope, the department must transfer the selections from the accessible ballot printout onto the paper ballots

that the voting system can read to tabulate the votes. this transfer of votes to a ballot card is called the remake process. this remake process is done in multiperson teams and is open to public observation and is live-streamed on our website, sf elections.org. that concludes today's presentation on the department's accessible vote-by-mail system. i will now gladly answer any questions. thank you. >> co-chair blacksten: thank you, mr. arntz. so, we're going to begin with my colleagues here on the council. alex, you're first. >> council member madrid: thank you for coming. you mentioned that people can

pick up their ballots. can you expound on that, and how the process works? >> so if someone has a ballot, at their home for instance, then the voter can, there is on the return envelope a section where the voter indicates someone is authorized to bring that ballot back to the department. >> council member madrid: so somebody can drop it off and somebody can pick it up? >> right. and even if we were to get a letter from the voter stating that nicole is authorized to pick up john's ballot, and the voter signs the letter, indicates the residential address and the date of birth,

we would actually authorize the person to pick up the ballot and bring it to the voter as well. we don't advertise that too much, but -- because we can mail ballots to people. when people are in skilled nursing facilities we already have a program in place where we contact those locations before the election begins to renew our connections with those locations. and also to have the staff at those locations inform the residents that the department of elections will bring registration cards, applications for vote-by-mail ballots, to the voters. we'll bring the ballots to the voters and we'll also pick up the ballots from the voters so that even though someone may be in a location where they're not able to mail their ballot back, or complete the application, we'll provide the resources necessary to get the forms -- and the ballots to the people and get the ballots back and

counted. >> council member madrid: thank you. >> co-chair blacksten: thank you, alex. any other members on the council? no other members. i just wanted to ask you about the printing of the ballots. so as i understand it, you can print them off into a pdf file and send into the department, right? >> no. no, there has to be a step between the printing out and the department receiving it. there is a couple of options. if someone -- so ideally, people have printers at home. and then they can print the accessible ballot at home. then use the envelope that was part of the regular vote-by-mail that we mailed to the voter. that's the ideal situation. however, if someone doesn't have a printer at home, one option

that is available is to save it on a usb stick and then take the usb stick to the library and print out the ballot. and this week, i just learned there is another service that the library provides, which is more useful than usb stick. the library has a service called printer on. and people can upload a file using this printer on service to secure servers that the library maintains. then the user has to designate what branch and what printer at the branch is eligible to actually print out that file. and the user has 24 hours from the time of sending the file from the home system to the library system to go to the branch, or to the main library, to print out that ballot. when the user -- i used it actually this week.

so it's rather straight forward. i tried it out. i tried it out for a ballot. so a user will choose a user name which could be a first name. then the user picks a password. then there is a reference number attached to the record, which it isn't necessary to download the ballot, but the system recommends that people record the reference number. so basically, the user has to create a user name, which can be their first name. i picked jane over at the library, because she was the one that was going to print it out. i did a simple password, 2018. and then designated the file to be printed out at a printer, a black and white printer on the third floor of the copyroom. jane went to the third floor, printed out the ballot. so if someone doesn't have a printer, the printer o