Secretary of State Seeks Report on San Francisco’s Vote Glitches
The state has no jurisdiction to run San Francisco’s upcoming runoff election, but will ask for a prompt report on glitches that marred the Nov. 7 primary, Secretary of State Bill Jones said this week.
Mayor Frank Jordan had asked Jones to step in after a printer’s error forced many absentee voters to fill out a second ballot, and a computer power failure interrupted vote counting.
Jordan and former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown will face each other in the mayoral runoff Dec. 12, and the district attorney’s post is at stake as well.
Jones said there is no provision in state law for his office to take over a local election.
“We don’t have the statutory authority to do that,” Jones said. “If there’s a perception that something illegal or inappropriate is done, we have the ability to assist, but it’s fairly limited.”
His office has asked for a full report on the problems by Friday, he said.
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