(a) Purpose. The Department shall seek to expand the use of vote-by-mail by San Francisco voters to the extent permitted by State law, without limiting in-person voting opportunities on or before election day. If any subsequent State or federal law (including, but not limited to, statutes and executive orders) that requires the Department to provide vote-by-mail ballots to all registered voters for all municipal elections is approved, enacted, or issued prior to or after the effective date of the ordinance in Board of Supervisors File No. 210604, this Article XI shall be inoperative and the City Attorney shall cause it to be removed from the Municipal Elections Code.
(b) Implementation.
(1) To the extent not otherwise rendered inoperative by subsection (a), in Exclusively Municipal Elections, the Department shall begin distributing vote-by-mail ballots to all registered voters, including to voters who have not applied to become vote-by-mail voters, by no later than 29 days before the date of the election.
(2) The Department shall attempt to inform every San Francisco household regarding the opportunity to register as a vote-by-mail voter, as authorized under the California Elections Code, for all municipal elections held in the City and County. Such attempts to inform San Francisco households may include: mail or postcards sent to San Francisco addresses; advertisements on radio or television; posts on the Department’s social media accounts; signs in public locations or on public transit; or flyers distributed through storefronts or at public events and gatherings.
(Added by Ord. 146-21, File No. 210604, App. 9/24/2021, Eff. 10/25/2021)