City of Los Angeles California Board of Neighborhood Commissioners

CITY OF LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA BOARD OF NEIGHBORHOOD COMMISSIONERS

JOY ATKINSON President 20TH FLOOR, CITY HALL ELI LIPMEN 200 NORTH SPRING STREET Vice President LOS ANGELES, CA 90012

TELEPHONE: (213) 978-1551 MAGGIE DARETT-QUIROZ TOLL-FREE: 3-1-1 FAX: (213) 978-1751 LEONARD SHAFFER E-MAIL: [email protected] DEBBIE WEHBE RAY REGALADO GRAYCE LIU GENERAL MANAGER SUSAN AVAKIAN-KOROGHLYAN ERIC GARCETTI www.EmpowerLA.org MAYOR TELEPHONE: (213) 978-1551

September 22, 2017

Honorable Herb J. Wesson, Jr., Council President Los Angeles City Council Councilmember, Tenth District Los Angeles City Hall 200 N Spring Street, Room 430 Los Angeles, CA 90012

Honorable Council President Wesson:

On August 22, 2017, the Health Education and Neighborhood Council Committee unanimously passed nine recommendations relative to election timing, online Neighborhood Council elections and election outreach funding. The Board of Neighborhood Commissioners wishes to express its views on these recommendations and encourage the Los Angeles City Council to act upon its recommendations.

The Board of Neighborhood Commissioners supports all the recommendations made by the HENC Committee.

In 2015, BONC authorized the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment to utilize online voting in the 2016 election cycle. BONC approved the contract for Everyone Counts, which created the platform for voting.

Concerns were expressed at the time about online voting and today concerns remain regarding voter registration, security, and integrity of the election. Specifically, the voter registration process was onerous in some circumstances and created a stumbling bloc for some voters, security of some candidate data was compromised, and the integrity of certain specific Neighborhood Council elections were called into question based on online voting concerns.

Despite these challenges, we encourage the City Council to authorize online voting in the future because we believe it is a critical opportunity to engage more people in the Neighborhood Council election process. In authorizing online voting and its funding, City Council should follow the recommendations of HENC which include: Honorable Council President Wesson September 22, 2017

1. Convening a working group of interested Neighborhood Council members to provide recommendations for the 2019 elections including discussions of online voting efficacy, online voting security, online voting documentation, effective candidate recruitment outreach methods and tools, tailoring outreach to specific neighborhoods, timing of elections, outreach funding, voting ages, ballot types, stakeholder status definition, and other topics deemed to be crucial to running an effective 2019 election. 2. Instructing the City Administrative Officer (CAO) to report on the funding necessary to enable EmpowerLA to begin the Neighborhood Council Election outreach process in September 2017. 3. Instructing the City Clerk and EmpowerLA, in consultation with the City Attorney, to develop guidelines for the processing and security of Neighborhood Council voter registration information. 4. Instructing the City Clerk and EmpowerLA to review and modify the online voter registration and voting system for future online Neighborhood Council Elections. 5. Authorizing the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE) to use finds appropriated for FY 2017-18 Neighborhood Council election funds for election outreach this FY in preparation for Neighborhood Council elections in FY 18-19.

In addition, the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners encourages the City Council to:

1. Maintain the independence of Neighborhood Councils during this pilot phase by allowing them the choice on whether to include online voting as an option in their 2019 election/selection; 2. Improve the Pop-up poll process, if allowed in future, by:  Requiring pop-up polls to be set ahead of time at set times and locations by the City  Enforcing electioneering rules at popup polls  Explicitly preventing a candidate from requesting pop up poll location or require the full board or the Independent Election Administrator to approve the location  Have an aggressive public notice and outreach program to all candidates.

Thank you for considering our position and feel free to reach out to our Commission for clarification.

Yours truly,

Joy Atkinson, President Board of Neighborhood Commissioners

Honorable Council President Wesson September 22, 2017

Cc: Mayor Eric Garcetti Council President Pro Tempore Mitchell Englander, Twelfth District Council Assistant President Pro Tempore Nury Martinez, Sixth District Councilmember Gilbert A. Cedillo, First District Councilmember Paul Krekorian, Second District Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, Third District Councilmember David E. Ryu, Fourth District Councilmember Paul Koretz, Fifth District Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, Seventh District Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Eighth District Councilmember Curren D. Price, Jr. Ninth District Councilmember Mike Bonin, Eleventh District Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell, Thirteenth District Councilmember Jose Huizar, Fourteenth District Councilmember Joe Buscaino, Fifteenth District City Attorney, Mike Feuer City Controller, Ron Galperin General Manager Grayce Liu, Department of Neighborhood Empowerment