Located downstairs (at the basement level) at City Hall, the Elections Department has a walk-up service counter where residents can register to vote, request an absentee ballot or inquire about their voting place. The office also organizes and manages all local elections, conducts and tallies the City census and maintains campaign finance records and data from election results. The staff is immensely helpful and patient, which means you can see democracy in action here. We watched one staffer give the kindest and most thorough explanation of the voting process to a new citizen registering to vote for the first time and got all choked up. ADA Compliant voting booths were recently acquired by the department.