SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) – The Chair of San Francisco’s Democratic party, David Campos, wants the city to move to all mail-in ballots by November.
Steps are already being taken to make that happen.
Campos called for the change in this letter out to city leaders Tuesday because he doesn’t want to see what happened during the primary election in Wisconsin when voters lined up to cast their ballots during a pandemic to be repeated in San Francisco this November.
“It’s actually lead at least so far to at least seven people been infected with COVID-19 and I really think that’s wrong or you have voters having to make a choice between exercising their right to vote and protecting their health and their families health when it comes to San Francisco I don’t think San Francisco voters should have to make a choice between voting or getting COVID-19,” Campos said.
The Mayor of San Francisco says the city has been looking at ways to keep San Francisco voters safe for over a month.
“Working with the Department of elections to prepare for what could happen if in November we are still a very similar situation. We wanna make sure that this in no way impedes anyone’s ability to vote,” Mayor London Breed said.
John Arntz, the Director of the Department of Elections says they are expecting the governor to issue an executive order in May that will allow all counties to mail ballots to voters.
They are planning to build out their warehouse on Pier 31 to give their people more room while processing vote by mail ballots while maintaining social distancing.
They are also expected to add a self sealing strip to the envelopes that the ballots are mailed back in so voters don’t have to lick the envelope.
Some concerns have come up.
Julia Marks with the Asian Law Caucus says while they strongly support all voters getting vote by mail ballots, they are concerned that some voters might still need in person help, including those with disabilities needing assistance filling out their ballots and those with limited English needing translation assistance.
Arntz says they are expecting the governor’s executive order to give guidance on how counties can still provide in person voting in November while allowing voters and elections workers to practice social distancing.
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