citizens advisory committee on elections and community involvement recommendations to the anaheim...

7/28/2019 Citizens Advisory Committee on Elections and Community Involvement Recommendations to the Anaheim City C

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Citizens Advisory Committee on Elections and Community Involvement

Recommendations to the Anaheim City Council

May 2013

Committee Members

Vivian Pham, Chair John Woodhead, Ex Officio Member

Bill Dalati, Vice Chair

Anthony Armas

Sandy Day

Amanda Edinger

Larry LarsenMartin Lopez

Gloria Maae

Keith Olesen

Vic Real


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Citizens Advisory Committee on Elections and Community Involvement

Recommendations to the Anaheim City Council

Executive Summary

Anaheim City Council Resolution 2013-038 (See Appendix A) established the

Citizens Advisory Committee on Elections and Community Involvement (noted as CAChereafter)on August 8, 2012 . The CAC held meetings at least monthly between October 18,

2012 and May 9, 2013, for a total of 12 meetings. During each of these meetings the CAC

heard citizen and expert testimony on the issues under their charge as outlined in

Resolution 2013-038. In fulfillment of their charge, the Citizens Advisory Committee on

Elections and Community Involvement respectfully recommends to the Anaheim City

Council that the City of Anaheim:

- Place the question of a potential change in the city election system, particularly thequestion of district or at-large council member elections to a vote of the citizens of

Anaheim.

- Expand the size of city council to either six (6) or eight (8) council members, with themayor serving as one additional member.

- Continue to have the mayor be elected at-large.- Continue to actively remove barriers to voter registration through the activities of city

staff and create a community outreach committee to encourage voter registration.

- Have the city voting official (city clerk) lead the following: working with localcommunity leaders to promote voter registration and turnout (e. g. church leadership,

PTA), partnering with schools, partnering with community groups (that are non-

partisan, non-profit or civic organizations) to assist with identifying local leaders.

- Continue partnering with the Orange County Registrar of Voters to provide electionmaterials in multiple languages (as required by law), translate election materials or

other items into multiple languages, translate all city community meetings, translate all

city council meetings, and explore Spanish language subtitles on ACTV to encourage

resident participation in elections and in local government decision making.

- Change the city council meeting time to 6:30pm to facilitate and promote participationin the electoral process.

- Increase the number of neighborhood council meetings in the range of six (6) to twelve(12) meetings annually to promote participation in the electoral process.

This report and set of recommendations was approved by the Citizens Advisory Committee

on Elections and Community Involvement on May 9, 2013 by a unanimous vote.


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Introduction

The Citizens Advisory Committee on Elections and Community Involvement is

pleased to submit this report with their final recommendations to the Anaheim City

Council. The report is a result of a great deal of work by Committee Members and reflects

the groups recommendations. The Committee wishes to acknowledge the value of the

process and is appreciative to the City Council for establishing the CAC in order forresidents to provide advice, and recommendations to the City Council regarding elections

and community involvement.

Overview

The Citizens Advisory Committee on Elections and Community Involvement met a

total of 12 times, the first meeting was held on October 18, 2012 and the final meeting was

held on May 9, 2013. The City Managers Office provided staff support to the committee.

Representatives of the offices of the City Manager and City Attorney were in attendance at

each of the meetings.

ResolutionThe Citizens Advisory Committee on Elections and Community Involvement (CAC)

was established by City Council resolution 2013-0381 . The resolution charged the CAC

with providing advice to the City Council on promoting the full participation of all ethnic

and racial groups in local elections, including recommendations on the following:

1. Potential changes in the Citys election systems, including election by district(solelyelected by residents of that district), residency-required districts (that retain at-

large elections), continuing with an at-large elected mayor or resuming Anaheims

historic system of having the mayor appointed by the council, the number of

districts, if any; cumulative voting; traditional voting; and the date of elections;

2. How to encourage voter registration;3. How to identify and engage community groups that can assist the City with

encouraging resident participation in elections and in local government decision-

making;

4. What language assistance programs would be cost effective to encourage residentparticipation in city elections and local government decision making; and

5. Other techniques, approaches, methods, or alternatives that, in the estimation of theCommittee, should be considered by the City Council or recommended to groups or

agencies with the ability to act to promote the participation of racial and ethnic

minorities in the electoral process.

Appointments to the Committee

CAC members were appointed to the committee based on the procedure establishedby City Council Resolution 2013-038. Three members2 of the CAC resigned prior to the

completion of this recommendation, and were replaced as prescribed in City Council

Resolution 2013-038. Vivian Pham was elected from the membership of the CAC to Chair

1 the full text of the Resolution appears in the appendix2 Peter Agarwal, David Dias, and Joseph Karaki


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the committee. The CAC membership upon completion of this recommendation was as

follows3:

Appointee Appointed by:

Anthony Armas Mayor Pro Tem Eastman

Bill Dalati Mayor TaitSandy Day Council Member Murray

Amanda Edinger Council Members Kring and Brandman

Larry Larsen Former Council Member Galloway

Martin Lopez Former Council Member Galloway

Gloria Maae Mayor Pro Tem Eastman

Keith Olesen Council Member Murray

Vivian Pham Mayor Tait

Vic Real Former Mayor Pro Tem Sidhu

TestimonyThe committee adhered to all of the procedures required by the Ralph M. Brown Act.

Public comment was heard at each meeting, which can be reviewed in the published

meeting minutes or the video recording of the meetings.

For six months, the committee heard testimony from a variety of experts in the field

as well as interested members of the public. An overview of the speakers follows:

Justin Tucker, Director of the Center for Public Policy, California State University -Fullerton. Provided an overview of local government electoral systems and some

information from cities in Orange County.

Justin Levitt, Associate Professor of Law, Loyola Law School. Provided an overview ofthe California Voting Rights Act and electoral systems.

Wayne Dernetz, Former City Attorney for the City of Vista. Provided an overview of theCity of Vistas citizens advisory committee and the community outreach committee.

George Petrulakis, Former Chair on the Charter Review Committee for the City ofModesto. Provided an overview of the City of Modestos decision to revise their

electoral system from at-large to district elections.

Peter Morrison, Demographer. Presented information about the demographics ofAnaheim and some projected trends in city demographics.

David Kimball, Professor, University of Missouri St Louis. Presented informationabout cumulative voting and instant runoff voting.

Steve Chessin, President, California for Electoral Reform. Presented information about ainstant runoff voting and various forms of proportional representation electoral

systems.

Neal Kelley, Orange County Registrar of Voters. Presented on what the Registrar doesand some of the programs that they use to encourage voting and registration, including

3 listed in alphabetical order by surname


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information on the voting trends in Anaheim, community involvement in election

administration, voter turnout, and voter registration.

Linda Andal, City Clerk, City of Anaheim. Presented information on the Citys currentoutreach and voter registration efforts.

Aly Zimmermann, Assistant City Manager, City of Vista. Provided an overview of howthe City of Vistas outreach committee performed its work.

Joan Hake, Vice President Voter Service, League of Women Voters of the Central OrangeCounty Area. Provided an overview of the League of Women Voters efforts to engage

the community in the voting process.

Elisa Sequeira, California Director of Civic Engagement, NALEO Educational Fund.Provided information about Latino participation in elections. She discussed voter

registration, get out the vote, information and education, and poll monitoring efforts.

Sarah Hill, Assistant Professor, California State University Fullerton. Presentedinformation on election costs, the number of city council seats, and at-large and district

elections.

Decision making processDuring the April CAC meetings, a professional facilitator, Steven Lynn, was brought

in to assist the committee in their decision making process. The CAC agreed to adhere to a

set of procedural rules in their discussions and deliberations. During the CAC meetings on

April 11 and April 18, Mr. Lynn facilitated a discussion of the five topical areas under the

charge of the committee. During the April 11 meeting, the committee crafted and approved

recommendations for the following topical areas: 1) encourage voter registration, 2)

identify and engage community groups, 3) language assistance programs, and 4) other

methods to increase participation of racial and ethnic minorities. During the April 18

meeting, the CAC crafted recommendations and held a vote on the remaining topical areas:

1) city election system to elect members of city council, 2) the number of seats on city

council, and 3) the method of electing the mayor. The CAC refers the City Council to theminutes of the April 11 and April 18 CAC meetings for the summary of the discussion on

each of the five areas.

Committee Recommendations and CAC Membership Votes

The recommendations respectfully submitted are as follows:

- Place the question of a potential change in the city election system, particularly thequestion of district or at-large council member elections to a vote of the citizens of

Anaheim.

CAC members Dalati, Pham, Lopez, Larsen, and Real voted in support ofdistrict elections

CAC members Armas, Day, Edinger, Maae, and Olesen voted in supportof at-large elections

Vote: 5 members voted in support of district elections and 5 members voted in support

of at large elections.

o After a discussion on hybrid options on April 18, there was not a consensus ofthe CAC to move that option forward. On May 9 there was a split vote on


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discussing the hybrid option any further, therefore the item did not move

forward.

o The CAC was unable to reach a majority recommendation on the method ofelection. However, the CAC unanimously recommended that the city council put

the issue of district or at-large elections to a vote of the citizens of Anaheim.

- On the issue of the number of members on the city council:o The CAC recommends that the council be expanded in number to either six (6)

or eight (8) council members, with the mayor serving as one additional

member.

CAC members Armas, Day, Edinger, Maae, and Olesen supported six (6)council members,

CAC members Dalati, Larsen, Lopez, and Pham supported eight (8)council members

CAC member Real abstained from voting on this issueVote: 5 members voted to support six council members, 4 members voted to supporteight members and 1 member abstained.

- On the issue of the selection of the mayor:o The CAC recommends that the mayor be elected at-large.

CAC members Armas, Dalati, Day, Edinger, Lopez, Larsen, Maae, Olesen,Pham and Real voted in favor of the recommendation

Vote: All 10 members voted in favor of electing the mayor at-large.

- On the issue of encouraging voter registration, the committee was split on the specificrole of the city, therefore they voted to recommend the following:

o Continue to remove barriers to voter registration through the activities of citystaff (as they currently do), and

o Take more affirmative action by creating a community outreach committee inaddition to removing barriers to voter registration through the activities of city

staff.

CAC members Armas, Dalati, Day, Edinger, Lopez, Maae, Olesen, Pham,Real voted for the dual recommendation noted above, CAC member

Larsen voted no.

CAC members Armas, Edinger, Larsen, Olesen, Pham, Day supportremoving barriers to voter registration

CAC members, Dalati, Lopez, Maae, Real support creating a communityoutreach committee

Vote: 9 members voted in favor of both recommendations, 1 member voted no.


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- On the issue of identification and engagement of community groups to assist the city withparticipation in elections and local government decision making, the committee

unanimously recommend that the city voting official (city clerk) lead the following:o Work with local community leaders (e. g. church leadership, PTA);o Partner with schools; ando Partner with community groups (non-partisan, non-profit , civic participation

groups) to assist with identifying local leaders.

Vote: All 10 members voted in favor.

- On the issue of what language assistance programs that would encourage residentparticipation in city elections and local government decision making, the committee

unanimously recommends that the city:

o Continue partnering with the Orange County Registrar of Voters to provideelection materials in multiple languages (as required by law);

o Translate election materials of other items into multiple languages;o Translate all city community meetingso Translate all city council meetings; ando Include Spanish language subtitles on ACTV.


- On the issue of other techniques, approaches, methods, or alternatives that should beconsidered to promote the participation of racial and ethnic minorities in the electoral

process, the committee unanimously recommends:o That the city alter the City Council meeting start time to 6:30pm to facilitate and

promote participation in the electoral process

o That the city increase the number of neighborhood council meetings in therange of six (6) to twelve (12) meetings annually



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RESOLUTION NO 2013038

A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THECITY OF ANAHEIMCALIFORNIA AMENDINGANDRESTATINGTHE RULES ANDPROCEDURES ESTABLISHING ANDGOVERNINGTHE CITIZENSADVISORYCOMMITTEE ONELECTIONS ANDCOMMUNITYINVOLVEMENT

WHEREAS th e City of Anaheim is a diverse community with a significant population ofvarying ethnic heritage and

WHEREAS th e City of Anaheim seeks to promote th e full participation of all residentsneighborhoods community groups and e thn ic groups in elections a nd

WHEREAS th e City Council is committed to studying it s electoral sys tem with anunders t and ing of th e demograph ic and e thn ic population in our community and

WHEREAS it is important to ensure equa l opportunity of all groups to participate in th eelec tora l process to elect cand idates t ha t reflect community interests a nd to ensure fullparticipation of all groups in local governmen t to ensure a representat ive governmen t t ha t servesall and

WHEREAS th e City Council of th e City of Anaheim adopted Resolution No 2012090which es tab l i shed th e Cit izens Advisory Commit tee on Elec t ions and Community Involvementand provided rules and procedures by which th e Committee would be governed and

WHEREASfollowing a public not ice process appl ica t ions for original membersh ip to th eCommittee were submit ted to th e City Clerk a nd 10 te n Committee members w e re selected and

WHEREAS th e City Council desires to amend and restate th e rules and proceduresapplicable to the Committee as s e t forth in this Resolution to address circumstances wherevacancies may arise in th e Commit tee membersh ip t ha t was appo in ted by CityCounci lmembersno longer holding office as Councilmembers

NOW THEREFORE BE ITRESOLVED t ha t th e City Council of th e City of Anaheimhereby amends a n d re s ta te s th e rules and procedures establ ish ing and governing th e Committee inthe manner hereinafter set forth

1 There is hereby es tab l i shed th e City of Anaheim Cit izens Advisory Committee onElections and Community Involvement Committee The Committee shall consist of 10 tenvoting members with th e City Manage r or his appo in tee serv ing in an exofficio capac i ty for atotal of 11 members

2 Members of the City Council shall each appoint 2 members to the CommitteeCommittee members serve a t th e pleasure of th e Councilmember appointing him or her If aCommitteemember appointed by aCity Councilmember still holding office asaCouncilmember

Appendix A


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r e s i g n s f r o m t h e C o m m i t t e e d u r i n g t h e C o m m i t t e ese r m t h e n t h a t C o u n c i l m e m b e r m a y s e l e c t ar e p l a c e m e n t C o m m i t t e e m e m b e r If a C o m m i t t e e m e m b e r a p p o i n t e d b y a f o rm e r C o u n c i lm e m b e rr e s i g n s f r o m t h e C o m m i t t e e t h e n a r e p l a c e m e n t s h a l l b e s e l e c t e d b y th e C i t y C o u n c i l ora l t e r n a t i v e l y th e C o u n c i l m a y a u t h o r i z e r e p l a c e m e n t b e m a d e b y a s u b c o m m i t te e c o m p o s e d o ftw o m e m b e r s o f t h e C i t y C o u n c i l a n d a n y s u c h r e p l a c e m e n t s h a l l s e r v e a t th e p l e a s u r e o f th e C i t yC o u n c i l A n y C i t y C o u n c i l s u b c o m m i t t e e f o r m e d p u r s u a n t to t h i s R e s o l u t i o n s h a l l t e r m i n a t e a t th etime provided in Sect ion 93 Nominees to t h e Committee must be Anahe im res idents The compilation of t h eCommittee m u s t c o n s i s t o f a majority from d i s p e r s e d g e o g r a p h i c a r e a s of t h e city a n d r e p r e s e n t ap l u r a l i t y o f t h e e t h n i c d i v e r s i t y i n A n a h e i m E l e c t e d o f f i c i a l s a n d a n y o n e r e l a t e d t o o r e m p lo y e d b ycity s t a f f o r p r o f e s s i o n a l s t a f f e l e c t e d o f f i c i a l s i n A n a h e i m a r e p r o h ib i te d f r o m s e r v i n g o n t h e

Committee

4 T h e Committee s h a l l provide a d v i c e t o t h e City Council o n promoting t h e fullp a r t i c i p a t i o n o f a l l e t h n i c a n d r a c i a l g r o u p s i n l o c a l e l e c t i o n s i n c l u d i n g r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s o n t h efollowing

1 P o t e n t i a l c h a n g e s i n t h e Citysl e c t i o n s y s te m s i n c l u d i n g e l e c t i o n by d i s t r i c t solelye l e c t e d b y r e s i d e n t s of t h a t district r e s i d e n c y r e q u i r e d d i s t r i c t s that r e t a i n a t largeelections continuing with a n a t large e l e c t e d mayor o r r e s u m i n g Anahe imsistorics y s t e m o f h a v i n g t h e m a y o r a p p o i n t e d b y th e c o u n c i l th e n u m b e r o f d i s t r i c t s if a n ycumulative vot ing tradit ional runof f vot ing a n d t h e d a t e of elections2How to encourage voter registrat ion3H o w to i d e n t i f y a n d e n g a g e c o m m u n i t y g r o u p s th a t c a n a s s is t th e City w i t he n c o u r a g i n g r e s i d e n t participation in e l e c t i o n s a n d in local governmentdecision making

4W h a t l a n g u a g e a s s i s t a n c e p r o g r a m s w o u l d b e c o s t e f f e c t i v e to e n c o u r a g e r e s i d e n tp a r t i c i p a t i o n i n c i t y e l e c t i o n s a n d l o c a l g o v e r n m e n t d e c i s i o n making a n d5O t h e r t e c h n i q u e s a p p r o a c h e s m e t h o d s o r a l t e r n a t i v e s that i n t h e e s t im a t io n of th eCommittee should b e considered by t h e City Counci l or recommended to groups ora g e n c i e s w i t h th e a b i l i t y to a c t to p r o m o t e th e p a r t i c i p a t i o n t h e r a c i a l a n d e t h n i cminorities in the electoral process

5 Th e Committeesecommendationshal l be communicated in writing to th eC i t y C o u n c i l b y M a y 3 1 2 0 1 3 o r t h r o u g h s u c h o t h e r m e a n s a n d o n s u c h o t h e r d a t e s a s s h a l l b e s e tb y t h e C i t y C o u n c i l C o m m i t t e e m e e t i n g s s h a ll b e o p e n to t h e public r e c o r d e d a n d a v a i l a b l e f o rviewing a twwwnahemne

6 To a s s i s t t h e Committee t h e Citysta f f a n d Citysonsultants a r e authorizeda n d d i r e c t e d to provide logistical support community o u t r e a c h a s s i s t a n c e a n d a l l n e c e s s a r yinformation t o t h e C o m m i t t e e r e g a r d i n g t h e following subjects1h e d e m o g r a p h i c s o f t h e Cityof Anaheim and i t s historic election results2h e California Voting Rights A ct and a s s o c i a t e dl a w s g o v e r n i n g e l e c t i o n s 3a p p r o a c h e s th a t o th e r c o m m u n i t i e s h a v e u s e d to p r o m o t e th e fullp a r t i c i p a t i o n o f r e s i d e n t s f r o m a l l c o m m u n i t i e s i n e l e c t i o n s 4t h e e s t i m a t e d c o s t a s s o c ia te d w i t hvariousoptions and5nyother informationormaterialswhicharerelevant to the tasks ass igned


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t o t h e C o m m i t t e e I n a d d i t i o n t h e C o m m i t t e e m a y i n v i t e s p e a k e r s w i t h e x p e r t i s e t o a d d r e s s t h eC o m m i t t e e o n s u b j e c t s w h i c h t h e C o m m i t t e e d e t e r m i n e s w i l l a s s i s t i t i n i t s m i s s i o n M e m b e r s o ft h e p u b l i c s h a l l a ls o b e i n v i t e d t o a d d r e s s t h e C o m m i t t e e r e g a r d i n g w a y s t o p r o m o t e t h e f u l lp a r t i c i p a t i o n o f r a c i a l a n d e t h n i c g r o u p s i n t h e p o l i t i c a l p r o c e s s i n c l u d i n g e l e c t i v e o f f i c e7 T o e n c o u r a g e p u b l i c i n p u t a n d a c c e s s t h e C o m m i t t e e s h a l l m e e t m o n t h l y a t am i n i m u m a n d h o l d m u l t i p l e m e e t i n g s i n d i f f e r e n t a r e a s o f t h e C i t y T h e C o m m i t t e e i s a l s oe n c o u r a g e d t o s o l i c i t i d e a s a n d s u g g e s t i o n s f r o m t h e S e c r e t a r y o f S t a t e C o u n t y R e g i s t r a r a n dl o c a l s c h o o l d i s t r i c t s a s w e l l a s f r o m Anaheimsl e c t e d s ta te a n d f e d e r a l o f f i c i a l s8 T h e C o m m i t t e e m a y a s s ig n t a s k s to s u b c o m m i t t e e s i t c re a te s a n d h a v e t h o s e

subcommittees report to th e full Commit tee9 T h e C o m m i t t e e s h a l l t e r m i n a t e i t s e x i s t e n c e thirty 30 d a y s a f t e r i t r e p o r ts to th eC i t y C o u n c i l a n d r e s p o n d s t o a n y a d d i t i o n a l r e q u e s t s f o r a d v i c e d i r e c t e d t o t h e C o m m i t t e e b y t h eC i ty C o u n c i l O n c e t h e t e r m o f t h e C o m m i t t e e h a s c o n c l u d e d i t s h a l l c e a s e t o f u n c t i o n a n d s h a l ln o t e x i s t a s a r e c o g n i z e d C o m m i t t e e u n l e s s e x t e n d e d b y C o u n c i l a c t i o n10 T h e C o m m i t t e e a n d i ts m e m b e r s s h a l l b e g o v e r n e d b y th e R a l p h M B r o w n Act th eA n a h e i m M u n i c i p a l C o d e r e g a r d i n g c o n f l i c t s o f i n t e r e s t a n d a l l o th e r a p p l i c a b l e f e d e r a l s t a t e o rl o c a l l a w s o r r e g u l a t i o n s U p o n t h e a p p o i n t m e n t o f t h e C o m m i t t e ese m b e r s t h e C i t y C o u n c i ls h a l l s e t a n i n i t i a l m e e t i n g o f t h e C o m m i t t e e i n a c c o r d a n c e w i t h t h e B r o w n Act a t a t i m e a n dp l a c e c o n v e n i e n t t o t h e C o m m i t t e ese m b e r s f o r t h e p u r p o s e o f o r g a n i z i n g i t s e l f a n d e s t a b l i s h i n g

a s c h e d u l e o f m e e t i n g s T h e s e m e e t i n g s m a y b e h e l d a t C i t y f a c i l i t i e s p r o v i d e d t h a t t h e f a c i l i t i e sa r e n o t o t h e r w i s e i n u s e T h e C i t y will e s t a b l i s h a s p e c i a l s e c t i o n o f th e Cityse b s i t e f o r f u l la c c e s s a n d t r a n s p a r e n c y o n a l l a g e n d a s m i n u t e s a n d s c h e d u l e s o f th e C o m m i t t e e11 T h e Committee s h a l l a p p o i n t a c h a i r p e r s o n and if desired t h e Committee m a ya d o p t p r o c e d u r e s f o r t h e c o n d u c t o f i t s m e e t i n g s a n d a c t i v i t i e s t h a t a r e n e c e s s a r y a n d c o n v e n i e n t t oenable th e Committee to c a rry o ut it s functionsB E I T F U R T H E R R E S O L V E D t h a t R e s o l u t i o n No 2 0 1 2 09 0 be a n d th e s a m e i s h e r e b y

rescinded


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THE FOREGOING RESOLUTION is appro ved a nd adopt ed by th e City Council of th eCity ofAnaheim this 5th day of March 2013 by th e following roll call voteAYES Mayor Tait Council Members Eastman Brandman Murray and KringNOES NoneABSENT NoneABSTAIN None

Tom Tait Mayor

APPROVED ASTOFORM ATTESTMichael HoustonInterimCity Atto LindaAna y Clerk A lby I By93956

citizens advisory committee on elections and community involvement recommendations to the anaheim...

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