Outreach Community Newsletter February 2026

With three months until the June 2, 2026 Election, we want our communities to know that voting in San Francisco continues to be secure, accessible, and welcoming. Whether choosing to vote in person or by mail, voters can participate with confidence, knowing that strong safeguards are in place and that every resident’s right to vote is protected from intimidation and interference.

Voting System Safeguards

San Francisco uses a voting system certified by the California Secretary of State and compliant with federal and state standards. The Department of Elections maintains strict physical security controls, and voting equipment is never connected to the internet, outside networks, or wireless technology.

Before every election, we conduct Logic and Accuracy testing to ensure machines properly record and count votes. After each election, elections staff perform additional verification measures, including a manual count of randomly selected ballots and a risk-limiting audit prototype the Department of Elections is developing. The public may observe all of these processes.

Paper Ballots and Accessibility

San Francisco voters use paper ballots, creating a physical record that supports transparency and post-election review. The Department provides accessible voting options, including the Accessible Vote-by-Mail system and ballot-marking devices at polling places, allowing voters to mark ballots privately and independently. All systems generate a paper ballot. California law prohibits online voting.

Safe In-Person Voting

We maintain welcoming, neutral voting sites. Our field support personnel monitor polling places on Election Day, and we train poll workers to uphold a respectful, nonpartisan environment and provide language and accessibility assistance. The Department partners with local and state agencies to promptly address any instances of intimidation or interference.

Secure Vote-by-Mail Voting

The Department mails official ballots to all active registered voters. Ballots may be returned by mail, in person, or at official ballot drop boxes. San Francisco’s drop boxes are tamper-resistant, and trained staff and Deputy Sheriffs regularly collect ballots following strict chain-of-custody procedures. Elections staff compare the signature on each returned ballot envelope with the voter’s registration record before the ballot is counted.

Through these ongoing efforts, the Department safeguards the integrity of every ballot and supports voters in participating with confidence. We encourage every eligible resident to check their registration status, make a plan to vote in the June 2 election, and choose the voting option that works best for them.

We are pleased to share that the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs (OCEIA) has determined that Vietnamese has met the threshold for a Substantial Number of Limited English Proficient (LEP) persons and has issued official notice of its eligibility for certification as a required language under the Language Access Ordinance.

Following the completion of the required notification period, on June 23, 2026, Vietnamese will officially join Chinese, Spanish, and Filipino as a required language for the City.

We are proactively integrating Vietnamese into our election services well ahead of the deadline so that residents can access election materials and services in Vietnamese starting with the June 2, 2026 Election.

Next month, the Department will send two targeted mailers to help ensure that voters who may benefit from translated materials are aware of the options available to them.

One mailer will reach voters born in countries where Bengali, Burmese, Hindi, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Thai, and Urdu are spoken, explaining how voters can request facsimile (reference) ballots in their preferred language. While state law requires facsimile ballots to be provided only in certain identified precincts, we go beyond that requirement by making them available to any voter who requests one and by providing copies at all polling places on Election Day.

A second mailer will be sent to voters born in Vietnam to share information about the option to receive official ballots and the Voter Information Pamphlet in Vietnamese for future elections.

Both mailers include instructions on how to request translated materials. Our staff will process all requests in the voter registration system and use that information to distribute translated election materials beginning with the June 2026 Election.

As always, we are grateful for our outreach partners who help share this information with local communities. Thank you for helping spread the word!

We recently held our first Language Accessibility Advisory Committee (LAAC) meeting of 2026, centering our discussion on how to reduce barriers for limited English proficient (LEP) residents when registering and participating in elections, and how to strengthen outreach in these communities in the year ahead.

During the meeting, we engaged in a discussion around several questions:

• Are LEP voters aware of their registration options?
• Are there gaps in language access during the registration process?
• What outreach strategies are most effective in your communities?
• Where do voters typically get their information about registration?
• How can we better partner with community organizations?
• How do voters learn about translated election materials?
• What tools, materials, or training would be helpful?

We would also like to invite all of you to share your perspectives on these questions. Your insights, including challenges you are seeing, best practices that are working, and opportunities for collaboration, will help guide our outreach efforts in 2026 and make voting accessible and inclusive for all communities.

To share your feedback, please contact our Outreach Team at sfoutreach@sfgov.org or call (415) 558-6100.

This month, our Partner Spotlight features Michael Cayabyab and Project Homeless Connect.

For many years, Project Homeless Connect and the Department of Elections have partnered to support voter registration and education among some of San Francisco’s most vulnerable and hard-to-reach residents. Working alongside the Project Homeless Connect team, we help ensure that residents experiencing housing insecurity understand their right to register and vote, as well as their access to the same election services available to all voters. These services include emergency ballot delivery, curbside voting, same-day registration, and access to election materials and assistance in a voter’s preferred language.

As Michael shared: “Project Homeless Connect is grateful to be in community with the San Francisco Department of Elections, ensuring people have clear and equitable access to the voting process. In a city where every voice matters, this partnership helps community members stay informed, raise their voices, and cast their ballots to fully participate in San Francisco’s civic life.”

Through our ongoing partnership with Project Homeless Connect, we remain committed to ensuring that all eligible San Francisco residents, regardless of housing status, have the resources and support needed to register and vote independently and confidently.

Meaningful voter engagement begins in the community. We rely on our community partners — all of you — to help connect with residents where they live, work, and gather, and to ensure voter education is accessible, welcoming, and responsive to the needs of San Franciscans.

To support our shared efforts, our multilingual Outreach Team offers a range of resources and services. We can host voter resource tables where residents receive registration assistance and ask questions; provide voter registration forms and informational materials; deliver presentations on ranked-choice voting and voting options; or conduct hands-on voting system demonstrations so first-time voters can practice casting a sample ballot.

Whether you are organizing a large event, a small gathering, a classroom workshop, or a community meeting, we can tailor our services, including the languages in which they are provided, to best support your outreach goals.

To invite our Outreach Team to your event or request election materials, please visit our Voter Outreach webpage, email sfoutreach@sfgov.org, or call (415) 558-6100.

Together, through strong community partnership, we can help ensure every eligible San Franciscan has the information and support needed to register and vote in 2026.

This month, our Outreach Team continued connecting with residents across San Francisco. From community events and neighborhood resource fairs to school presentations and partner-hosted workshops, our team provided voter registration assistance, answered questions about voting options, and shared multilingual election materials to help residents stay informed and prepared for the upcoming election.

Here are a few highlights from our recent events:

Providing information about the 2026 elections and poll worker service

Informing high school students about the Elections Ambassador program

Sharing information on language and accessible resources with residents

As we adjust to daylight saving time and welcome the arrival of spring, we look forward to sharing more updates with you next month. In the meantime, please stay connected, share this information with your communities, and reach out to us with any questions, feedback, or ideas. As always, let us know if there are specific topics you would like us to address in future editions.

Warmly,
Your Outreach Team: Nataliya, Anmarie, Adriana, Max, and Edgar