Department of Elections
City and County of San Francisco
John Arntz, Director
For Immediate Release
SAN FRANCISCO, Friday, April 19, 2024 – This Monday, April 22, San Francisco will celebrate the 54th Anniversary of Earth Day. In the upcoming November 2024 election, the Voter Information Pamphlet (VIP) will be very long, requiring hundreds of tons of paper for its printing and thousands of dollars for its mailing. In the spirit of Earth Day, the Department of Elections encourages voters to opt out of postal VIP and instead, choose to read it online.
By law, the Department of Elections must mail the VIP to every local voter unless they opt to access it online instead. This means multiple voters living in the same household will receive duplicate copies of the VIP unless they take action. A voter ready to make the switch (or who wants to switch back to paper delivery after opting out) can submit their request by logging into sfelections.org/voterportal, emailing SFVote@sfgov.org, or calling 415-554-4375.
“We want to make sure all local voters know they can get their Voter Information Pamphlet in several convenient and low-impact ways,” said Director John Arntz. “Reading or listening to the Pamphlet online is not only environmentally-friendly, but taxpayer-friendly as well. We are encouraging multi-voter households in particular to consider sharing a paper copy by having all but one voter in the household opt out of postal Pamphlet delivery.”
The VIP provides official, non-partisan information about local candidates, ballot measures, and voting options. For the November 2022 election, the Department printed over 460,000 copies of the 250-page VIP, using more than 177 tons of paper and costing over $1 million. The VIP for the November 2024 election is shaping up to be even longer!
The Department of Elections posts the online VIP approximately 40 days before every election in PDF, HTML, and MP3 formats. If you opt out of mail VIP delivery, the Department of Elections will send you a link to the online VIP when it becomes available.
The Department’s Outreach Team will be attending the Earth Day SF Festival this Sunday, April 21, to raise awareness about the digital VIP and to assist voters who want to try reading it online in the next election. For a complete list of all upcoming outreach events, visit sfelections.org/events. To discuss outreach partnership opportunities or schedule a voter registration event or informational presentation, please call (415) 554-5230 or email sfoutreach@sfgov.org.
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Department of Elections
City and County of San Francisco
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
City Hall, Room 48
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 554-4375
sfelections.org