September 2, 2004

Honorable Members
Los Angeles City Council
Room 395, City Hall

NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL ELECTION PROCEDURES

Executive Summary

The Neighborhood Council Election Procedures Working Group (Working Group) has completed its work on the Neighborhood Council Election Procedures (Election Procedures) and hereby transmits these proposed Election Procedures to the City Council for its consideration and further action (see Exhibit I).

click here:
090204-NC Election Procedures - Draft 22.doc

The Working Group was ultimately composed of representatives of 10 Neighborhood Councils, the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners (BONC), the Los Angeles League of Women Voters, the City Attorney, the City Clerk and the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE). In addition, DONE conducted a series of public forums on the proposed Election Procedures prior to finalization by the Working Group (see Exhibit II).

The proposed Election Procedures represent the culmination of a one-year effort by the Working Group, with the support of DONE, to:

The key elements of the proposed Election Procedures include:

Transparency

The proposed Election Procedures include a number of provisions that enhance the openness of the process and the information available to stakeholders. Such provisions include: requiring that a Neighborhood Council’s election procedures be approved 90 days before the election and be adopted in a publicly noticed meeting 60 days before the election; establishing the minimum outreach and public notice requirements; strengthening the disclosure of candidate filing status; and providing basic standards for stakeholder registration and voting day participation.

Flexibility

The proposed Election Procedures allow Neighborhood Councils to “customize” their election to meet their unique community needs by choosing from a number of election modules (e.g. vote-by-mail, single or multiple polling sites, etc.).

Standard Process For Resolving Challenges

The proposed Election Procedures protect voter/stakeholder and candidate rights by establishing standard recount and challenge resolution procedures that are open and timely.

Empowering Neighborhood Councils

The proposed Election Procedures remove DONE and any other City agency from the actual administration of elections and the resolution of challenges. Rather, trained volunteers drawn from the greater Neighborhood Council community and other interested organizations will perform those functions.

After extensive deliberation, including consideration of the input from the public forums, the Working Group believes that the proposed Election Procedures should be made part of the Plan for Neighborhood Councils adopted by the City Council. Additionally, the City Council should establish an eight-month transition period after which compliance with all provisions of the Election Procedures would be mandatory. This transition period recognizes that Neighborhood Councils are in various stages of conducting their elections and full compliance with some of the early filing deadlines would result in the delay of some currently scheduled elections. It will be responsibility of DONE to ensure that the Neighborhood Councils comply with essential provisions of the Election Procedures during the transition period.

It should be noted that DONE has reorganized and established an Election and Policy Development Team, headed by a Senior Project Coordinator, that specializes in providing support to Neighborhood Councils as they conduct their elections. This Team has already developed a number of election support procedures and tools to assist Neighborhood Councils and many of the Neighborhood Councils are already conducting their elections based on the proposed Election Procedures.

Recommendations

Discussion

Process

Pursuant to direction from the City Council’s Education and Neighborhoods Committee (re: Council File No. 03-1104), the Working Group was formed and began meeting in late September 2003. The Working Group was ultimately composed of representatives of 10 Neighborhood Councils, the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners (BONC), the Los Angeles League of Women Voters, the City Attorney, the City Clerk and DONE.

The Working Group met every other week through the end of March 2004 in a publicly noticed meeting to discuss and draft the Election Procedures. Each subsequent draft version of the Election Procedures was made available to the public at the meetings and on the DONE web site. Public comment was taken throughout the development of the Election Procedures during the meetings of the Working Group and via e-mail. The development of the Election Procedures reflects an approach where Neighborhood Councils were involved in the actual drafting of the provisions, not just in reviewing and commenting on a finished product.

On April 5, 2004, the Working Group transmitted its “final draft” of the proposed Election Procedures to DONE. DONE then took a series of actions to obtain input on the proposed Election Procedures from the greater Neighborhood Council community.

	Reformatted the Election Procedures into a “tabbed” format to facilitate understanding and use.
	Distributed the Election Procedures widely via the Internet and then conducted a series of public forums, starting with two workshops at the May 22, 2004 Congress of Neighborhoods.
	Organized the input received and presented a summary to the Working Group in a report dated August 10, 2004.

The objectives of the Working Group, were to develop Election Procedures that would:

	Provide a set of minimum standards that could be utilized in all Neighborhood Council Governing Board Member Elections to ensure fair, open and inclusive elections that protect the basic voting rights of the stakeholders.
	Provide flexibility within those minimum standards to reflect the diversity of approaches to elections by the various Neighborhood Councils throughout the City.
	Provide a foundation or tool to assist Neighborhood Councils in developing the specific set of election procedures for their own Governing Board Member Elections.

Key Elements of the Draft Election Procedures

Transparency

Nothing undermines the legitimacy of an election more than the perception that decisions about the process are made in secret, with little or no public notice, to benefit a particular set of candidates. The proposed Election Procedures include a number of provisions that enhance the openness of the process and the information available to stakeholders. Such provisions include: requiring that a Neighborhood Council’s Election Procedures be approved 90 days before the election and be adopted in a publicly noticed meeting 60 days before the election; establishing the minimum outreach and public notice requirements; strengthening disclosure of candidate filing status; providing basic standards for stakeholder registration and voting day participation.

Flexibility

The Working Group recognized that the Neighborhood Councils have unique issues and capabilities that impact the optimum method for conducting elections. The proposed Election Procedures allow Neighborhood Councils to “customize” their election to meet their unique community needs by choosing from a number of election modules (e.g. voteby- mail, single or multiple polling sites, etc.). Those standards that are mandated across the entire system, such as minimum requirements for outreach and public notice, flow from the objective of protecting stakeholder voting rights.

Standard Process For Resolving Challenges

The proposed Election Procedures protect voter/stakeholder and candidate rights by establishing procedures for initiating an election recount or filing a challenge to the election. The procedures specify the process for filing a recount or challenge request, the parties responsible for conducting the recount or resolving the challenge, the maximum time frame for completing the recount or challenge review, and the public notice requirements associated with conducting the recount or the challenge review and announcing the results.

Empowering Neighborhood Councils

The proposed Election Procedures remove DONE and any other City agency from the actual administration of elections and the resolution of challenges. Rather, trained volunteers drawn from the greater Neighborhood Council community and other interested organizations will perform those functions.

A key role provided for in the proposed Election Procedures is that of the Independent Election Administrator (IEA). The proposed Election Procedures vest the responsibility and authority for conducting the actual election with the IEA. To act in the capacity of an IEA, a person must have received training from DONE and have had actual experience in assisting in the conduct of a Neighborhood Council election. The IEA will be responsible for all aspects of the election, including candidate filing, stakeholder verification, tabulating and certifying the vote count, and conducting any required recounts. The IEA will also have the authority to postpone an election if the IEA determines that an election cannot be conducted in accordance with a Neighborhood Council’s approved election procedures. It is expected that the IEA will utilize the assistance of the Neighborhood Council in terms of labor and material resources. However, the IEA will retain ultimate responsibility for conducting the election and handling any recount activity. A list of certified IEAs will be established and Neighborhood Councils can add additional qualified persons to the list. The IEA will be named by the Neighborhood Council in their election procedures.

The proposed Election Procedures also provide for the establishment of a pool of persons put forward by the Neighborhood Councils to act as Third Party Arbitrators to resolve election challenges. All persons serving as Third Party Arbitrators will receive training from DONE. When a challenge is filed, a minimum three-member panel will be drawn from the pool, on a rotating basis, to resolve the challenge.

Transition Period

There are now some 82 certified Neighborhood Councils. These Neighborhood Councils are in various stages relative to conducting their first or subsequent elections. Accordingly, the Working Group believes that the City Council should establish an eightmonth transition period after which compliance with all provisions of the proposed Election Procedures would be mandatory. This transition period recognizes that full compliance with some of the early filing deadlines would result in the delay of some currently scheduled elections. It will be responsibility of DONE to ensure that the Neighborhood Councils comply with essential provisions of the Election Procedures during the transition period.

Amending the Election Procedures

Experience over time in conducting Neighborhood Council elections under the proposed Election Procedures will undoubtedly demonstrate the need to amend the procedures. The continuing evolution of election procedures is a common occurrence. For example, the City Election Code has been amended 32 times since the current version was adopted in 1946. The proposed Election Procedures include provisions to allow a Neighborhood Council to request an amendment. In addition, there is nothing that would stop DONE or the City Council from initiating an amendment.

In conclusion, I want to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to all the Working Group members. The members spent numerous hours of their own time both in the actual meetings and outside of the meetings while reviewing and preparing written comments on the proposed Election Procedures. Each of the members brought unique perspectives to the development of the proposed Election Procedures and the final product has been greatly enriched by their input.

I also want to express my appreciation to the DONE staff, without whose assistance the Working Group could not have completed its task. The creation of the tabbed version and the organization and conduct of the public forums were critical to the development of the final proposed Election Procedures.

If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact me directly at (213) 978-1023 or via e-mail at fmartinez@clerk.lacity.org.

Sincerely,

Frank T. Martinez, Chairperson
Neighborhood Council Election Procedures Working Group

Enclosures

Cc w/enclosures: Board of Neighborhood Commissioners

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090204-NC Election Procedures - Draft 22.doc

Election Procedures Working Group - Agenda

Election Procedures Working Group - Minutes

LACP.org's Neighborhood Council pages

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