In Focus This Week
New technology designed to deal with increased use of mail ballots
Signature verification software decreases time and costs, but still a work in progress
By M. Mindy Moretti
electionline.org
As the popularity of voting by mail increases and more and more voters are choosing to vote absentee, election officials are looking for ways handle the high number of ballots. One such way is electronic verification of signatures.
Although banks and retail businesses have long used electronic means to verify signatures, the concept is relatively new in the elections realm. Currently there are only a handful of companies who produce the necessary technology for elections administrators, including Diebold.
The procedure for verifying signatures in most states currently involves people, sometimes volunteers, sometimes election office staff, being trained by a handwriting expert to compare signatures.
“I have seen ‘human’ signature verification in Oregon many times,” said Paul Gronke, director of the Early Voting Information Center. “I was at first skeptical about such a system [as they have in Oregon] — the training seemed too brief and there seemed too many ballots to check. But I have witnessed it a couple of times, and what struck me is what a high percentage of the matches are quite obvious.”
Still, Gronke pointed out, this is a labor intensive and costly operation, which is why some jurisdictions like Los Angeles County rely on the new technology to verify signatures.
“I am encouraged by the new technological solutions,” Gronke said. “This seems to me a potential technological solution to processing large numbers of absentee ballots, and would both save labor costs and allow close and more expert scrutiny of problem signatures.”
The 2008 election cycle will be the second presidential election in Los Angeles County using the new signature verification software and with an anticipated record number of requests for absentee ballots — in excess of one million — county officials are extolling the virtues of the technology.
“For us, especially a jurisdiction of this size and the number of ever increasing absentee ballots we are dealing with, we feel very strongly about the use of signature verification software,” said Dean Logan, chief deputy registrar-recorder/county clerk. “We would have a difficult time of meeting the demand if we didn’t have it. It really provides for a level of continuity and consistency in the process that you don’t get with manual checking.”
Since switching to an electronic verification system the county has seen a cost and time savings. Manually, the county is able to process 2,160 absentee ballots per day, however, using electronic verification, the county is able to process 21,600 ballots in a 6-hour day with a cost savings of $130,160.
“The main impact of this is that we were able reallocate those financial resources to other enhancements and we were able to move the staff doing signature verification to other areas,” Logan said.
Logan noted that while electronic verification certainly increases productivity, the rate of signatures not approved is not dramatically different from manual verification.
“What we’ve known in the past is that even with manual checking, the percentage of matches is really high, so what I think this does is take the burden off the workers,” Logan said.
Logan was quick to point out that the system is never used to reject a signature, only to verify it. If the system is unable to match the signature, the ballot in question automatically goes through the manual verification process.
Los Angeles County uses the Diebold verification system. The county owns the equipment and it is stored and used on county property but because the county has a service contract with Diebold, representatives from the company actually run the equipment so there was no learning curve for county staff. Even though Diebold runs the equipment, if there are any questions at all about any ballots, those are given to an election office staff member.
Washington State, which is moving to an all vote-by-mail system – 36 of 39 counties currently vote-by-mail – recently enacted legislation that would allow the Secretary of State to approve electronic verification systems. Although some counties such as King and Clark would like to consider moving to the electronic signature verification, to-date, Secretary Sam Reed has not approved a system for use.
“This signature verification software is in use in all kinds of commercial operations,” Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey told a local paper. “You are not reinventing the wheel here. It [will] help us to achieve one of our major goals, which on Election Day is that we have processed and couned all the ballots that were in our office as of that morning.”
Although Oregon is all vote-by-mail that state still uses a manual verification process. And Montana, which is slowly moving to an all vote-by-mail format still uses a manual verification and according to Alan Miller in the elections office, hasn’t considered a switch yet.
“People vs. technology — an old debate. Compare football and baseball: one relies on a technological solution to the problem of human fallibility—the instant replay. The other believes that human fallibility is just part of the game and has rejected instant replay,” Gronke analogized. “Which results in more confidence in the final outcome? I am not sure—now that the instant replay genie is out of the bottle, football fans demand perfection. Baseball fans don’t expect instant replay. But baseball and football games are not elections.”
Election Reform News This Week
- Just when you thought it was over, Congress has ordered a further review of the voting machines used in the contested District 13 congressional race in Florida.
- In this day and age of identity theft, registered voters in West Virginia had concerns this week when they received information requests from the Secretary of State’s office that required them to put personal information on an open postcard and mail it back to the SOS. According to The Intelligencer, the information was being requested of about 193,000 Mountaineer voters to comply with provisions of the Help America Vote Act which requires a driver’s license number and/or the last four of a social security number. Most of the voters contacted were 55 years or older. “The decision was made to use postcards because it was the least expensive means to accomplish the black and white task of obtaining the necessary data,” Deputy Secretary of State Sara Bailey told the paper. “I suppose anything can happen in this day and age, but we’ve seen no evidence of this [identity theft].” Voters also have the option of dropping off the postcards at the county registrar’s office.
- New York’s primary election last week faced several challenges this week. In Dutchess County, where the difference in a county legislature race is two votes, the challenger is challenging one absentee vote and two emergency (provisional) ballots. The case is before the state supreme court. In Oswego County, a state supreme court judge ordered new elections in two GOP primary races after problems were reported with the way voting machines were set up in polling places. In Chautauqua County, a candidate chose not to seek legal action even though his name did not appear on the ballot in a voting machine in one precinct. And in Westchester County, the board of elections was waiting on the lifting of a court order to certify the election for mayor of Mount Vernon.
Opinions This Week
National: Voter ID, II, III, IV, V, VI, Instant runoff voting
Voting Technology: Diebold
Arizona: Voter ID
California: Voter apathy, Early primary, Voting technology, Vote-by-mail, New citizen voting
Florida: Broward County voting machines, Voting system
Hawaii: Voter ID
Illinois: Bilingual voting, II, National popular vote
Minnesota: Instant-runoff voting
Mississippi: Voter ID
Ohio: Voting system
Tennessee: Memphis election, Voting system
Virginia: Voting machines
West Virginia: Voting machines
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Job Postings This Week
All job listings must be received by 12 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday for publication in our Thursday newsletter. Job listings are free but may be edited for length. Whenever possible, include Internet information. Please email job postings to mmoretti@electionline.org
Director of Communications—Missouri Secretary of State’s Office. Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan seeks a talented and dedicated individual to serve as the Director of Communications for the Office of Secretary of State. This position requires an excellent communicator, manager, and writer who likes working on a team, exercises good judgment and can maintain multiple responsibilities in a fast-paced organization. Duties include: Managing communications and publications staff of seven, developing and implementing communications strategies, creating and coordinating public awareness initiatives, streamlining all communications from office divisions to public release, drafting media advisories, press releases, columns, speeches and radio news actualities for distribution to state-wide or targeted media, acting as formal spokesperson and media liaison for the Office of Secretary of State — responds to media inquiries, and establishing relationships with media, pitching stories and generating media coverage, providing staffing and advisement to the secretary. Qualifications: Management experience, excellent oral and written communications skills, strong interpersonal skills and ability to work on a team, excellent organizational and time-management skills, ability to prioritize work effectively, experience working in a fast-paced government office or organization, must be willing to work long and irregular hours with the ability to travel, experience interacting with media outlets, exceptional editing skills, and sense of humor. Application: Please send resume, cover letter, references and writing sample to Margie Peters. For more information on the office, visit: www.sos.mo.gov or call 573-522-9756. Deadline: October 12.
Director of Procurement and Voting Systems — Maryland State Board of Elections. Employee provides direction and guidance to the Division personnel for the procurement of the statewide voting system, as well as, all goods and services for SBE. The employee is further responsible for the procurement of the goods and services necessary to meet the mandated goals, objectives and mission of the Agency. The employee serves as the lead negotiator, contract manager and strategic planner for the bulk of procurement contracts at the agency, including all required FMIS documentation/facilitation. The individual will oversee the RFP development/procurement of entirely new statewide multimillion-dollar voting system procurement, pending future funding of SB392/HB18. The employee assists with voting system certification processes, policies, and procedures, to ensure that voting system manufacturers comply with the provisions of Election Law Article and COMAR. Employee must maintain a working knowledge of the Election Law Article and Code of Maryland Regulations as they pertain to elections, election management and procurement and good working relationship with DBM. Qualifications: A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university. Extensive experience and strong skills in project management, including ability to balance multiple projects while performing at a high level in a demanding fast-paced environment. Working knowledge of State procurement policies, procedures, COMAR Regulations (Title 21), Financial Management Information System (FMIS), and ADPICS coding instructions/application. Eight years of experience in administrative or professional work. Three years of this experience must have involved the supervision of other employees or exercising responsibility for program development. Salary: $55,388 – $88,927. Application: Submit a Maryland State Application/Resume and cover letter to Elizabeth del Castillo via fax to 410-974-2019, e-mail ldelcastillo@elections.state.md.us or mail to Elizabeth del Castillo, State Board of Elections, Office of Budget and Finance, 151 West Street, Suite 200, P.O. Box 6486, Annapolis, Maryland 21401.