Contact: Mark Church, Chief Elections Officer & Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder
Alternate: Jim Irizarry, Assistant Chief Elections Officer & Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder
(Redwood City, CA) On Thursday, August 17th at 11 a.m., the San Mateo County Registration & Elections Division and the Secretary of States’ Office will conduct randomized alphabet drawings. “I encourage the public to observe this important process,” said Mark Church, Chief Elections Officer & Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder.
The randomized alphabet drawings serve two essential functions for the November 7, 2017 Consolidated Municipal, School and Special District Election. First, they determine the placement order of candidates’ names on the official ballot. Second, they assign a letter to each measure that will appear on the ballot.
The randomized alphabet drawing is a crucial phase of the official ballot development process. “A randomized alphabet helps create a level playing field,” Church explained. “If we used the standard alphabet in every election, ‘John Adams’ would always appear above ‘George Washington.’” At the drawing, election officials and interested members of the public will draw letters from a basket to determine the candidates’ name placement order and to assign the letters for each measure listed on the ballot.
“The Secretary of State’s randomized alphabet drawing will determine the order for all city, school and special district office races,” stated Church. “The San Mateo County drawing will assign the letters to the local measures submitted to the voters,” he added.
The public is encouraged to observe the drawing process at the Registration & Elections Division, 40 Tower Road, San Mateo. For more information about the drawing, please contact Candidate Filing Officer Michelle Yue at 650.312.5293 or myue@smcare.org.
For more information on the November 7, 2017 Consolidated Municipal, School and Special District Election, please call 650.312.5222, visit www.shapethefuture.org or @smcvote on Twitter.
The press release is displayed in its original format. San Mateo County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder & Elections website now resides at www.smcacre.org