San Diego has seen budget ups and downs with potential cuts, lack of investment and deferred maintenance. This created an opportunity to educate the public on the budget process and City Council’s priorities. The annual non-partisan community conversations, led by the Library Foundation, also create an opportunity for officials to hear from residents. Hosting the forums, poll worker trainings and ballot drop off also creates an opportunity to showcase our buildings as important community resources.

The forums were held in person and shifted to virtual, which allowed more voters to attend. Beginning with the Mayoral election in 2020 and expanded to include each contested City Council race in 2022, the Foundation introduced candidates to residents in ways that they had not had access to previously. In the last presidential election, the library received more ballots than any other institution in San Diego County (33%), which led to a larger partnership that will now include permanent ballot boxes at City Libraries.

Our relationship with elected officials deepened, the Foundation advocacy efforts grew by more than 35%, investments in library programs grew by 50%, 100% of elected officials included library priorities in their proposed budgets and 100% of Councilmembers report a greater knowledge of library impact. Our partnership with elected officials and the Registrar of Voters continues to grow because we established ourselves as a trusted source in the community for voter education, poll worker training and ballot drop off.

Ballot Drop Box Locations