In Focus This Week
Election administrators need to prepare for emergencies too
Mother Nature plays key role in preparing for the unexpected on election day
By M. Mindy Moretti
electionline.org
With recent fires in California, flooding from torrential downpours in Ohio and the threat of snow in much of the country during the peak of primary season, election officials nationwide have to prepare for just about anything Mother Nature might send their way on election day.
Because elections, even federal ones, are a state and local affair, there are no nationwide procedures in place to deal with natural disasters on election day although the U.S. Election Assistance Commission recently released a Contingency and Disaster Planning Quick Start Guide for state and local officials. The guide includes information on developing a management plan that addresses an election office’s response to emergency and crisis situations that might arise unexpectedly.
But what happens if disaster strikes on election day, or during the crucial days prior to an election varies from state to state and sometimes from county to county.
In July of 2007, the Wisconsin State Elections Board prepared a report giving guidance to local elections officials on how to deal with emergencies that may impact elections.
“Municipal clerks should ensure that each municipality has an election day emergency response plan. Contingency plans should be reviewed with election inspectors as part of the clerk’s pre-election training. Efforts should be made to have back-up election inspectors that are knowledgeable of election day procedures and on call in the event of an illness or other unforeseen incident,” the report stated.
Los Angeles County and six other Southern California counties are currently recovering from a series of devastating wildfires fueled by the Santa Ana winds. Each of these counties has emergency election procedures in place cover fire and earthquake.
Those procedures had to be put into effect in San Bernardino County when the registrar’s office set up an emergency voting assistance program at the Fire Emergency Local Assistance Center for mountain community residents impacted by the recent fires. The information for county voters is available online and was announced by local media.
In the small town of Potrero in San Diego County, Calif. residents were set to begin voting in an all-mail ballot recall election in early November. According to a local blog, San Diego’s Registrar of Voters Debra Seiler had not decided whether to postpone the recall election or how voters whose homes were destroyed by the Harris wildfire will receive their ballots should the election proceed. The county’s Web site indicates that the elections office will work with the U.S. Postal Service to assure delivery of ballots in Potrero
According to Angie LaPlace, commissioner of elections for Louisiana, the Bayou state has had emergency procedures in place since 1997 that allowed the Secretary of State, in conjunction with governor to suspend elections should it become necessary. Additional procedures were put in place in 2003 to allow clerks of the court to work with the SOS office to relocate polling places.
However following the hurricanes of 2005, the state legislature looked into the matter further and amended the procedures to prepare for just about anything imaginable.
“Our legislature added a provision in 2005 following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to allow our Secretary of State to provide an emergency election plan to the governor and the legislature for approval,” LaPlace said. “Such a plan can provide a resolution to technical, mechanical or logistical problems impairing the holding of an election with respect to the relocation or consolidation of polling places within parish, potential shortages of commissioners, shortages of voting machines and conduction of early voting in certain parishes to enable displaced voters.”
LaPlace noted that on election day — which sometimes occurs during hurricane season — each election poll worker is provided a guide to working on election day. The guide has a simple emergency procedures section describing actions for emergencies before, during and after an election.
“On election day, our procedures remind poll workers to remove the election results cartridge containing the votes upon leaving a polling place due to an emergency if time permits,” LaPlace said.
The pushed-up primary schedule for 2008 could present a host of problems for states holding elections months earlier than normal.
On February 12, Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia will all hold their primaries. Anyone familiar with the D.C-metropolitan area is also familiar with the unbridled panic that ensues any time there is even a hint of snow in the air. Grocery stores empty of milk, bread and toilet paper and local television news stations begin the “storm watch” drumbeat.
Officials in Maryland are still working on final preparations should such a snow event occur. For instance, while most of the state’s schools are already closed for election day, according to Donna Duncan, director, Election Management Division, Maryland State Board of Elections, said issues with the various school systems are still being worked out about removing snow and ice from sidewalks and parking lots.
With a primary that early in the calendar year, should inclement weather cause problems, Duncan said there is always the possibility of moving the primary, but that would be a major undertaking
“Moving it is an option, and would have to be seriously considered under blizzard/emergency conditions, however, the ripple effect on the process also seriously has to be considered,” Duncan said.
But before they get to that point, a lot of questions would have to be answered.
“For a small state like Maryland, there are about 20,000 election judges – can they all work on the re-scheduled election day? Or like many of them do they have scheduled vacations, family and work requirements that cannot easily be changed. All the other buildings that are scheduled for use as a polling place – will they be available on the re-scheduled day?” Duncan said.
“Certain buildings agree to close on election day for service to the community are closing their business are losing money – but will they will be willing to close for another day? Transportation of voting equipment – moving trucks may have other scheduled moves on that other day. An election is a highly orchestrated activity with millions of people and places involved and the decision to change that activity must be seriously considered.”
In Focus This Week Pt. 2
EAC continues debate on National Mail Voter Registration Form
Four states requesting changes to state-specific instructions awaiting action
By Sean Greene
electionline.org
At a public meeting held this week, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) continued its discussion of establishing interim procedures for responding to requests to make changes to state-specific instructions to the National Mail Voter Registration Form.
However, nothing was settled at the hearing, leaving states waiting for responses as the 2008 election season rapidly approaches.
Prior to the passage of the Help America Vote Act in 2002, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) was in charge of promulgating regulations under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), including making changes to the instructions for the national registration form.
As previously reported in electionline weekly, HAVA shifted this authority to the EAC, and the commission is currently considering transferring the regulations from the FEC or promulgating new regulations entirely. A public comment period on a plan to potentially undertake a transfer ends December 3, 2007. According to Edgardo Cortes, an election research specialist at the EAC, only one comment has been submitted so far.
In the meantime, though, states are filing requests with the EAC to make changes to the federal form instructions. EAC chair Donetta Davidson, a Republican appointee, introduced a potential procedure to address the issue, at least on a short-term basis.
“The EAC has the obligation and authority under NVRA to act on these requests, even if it has not yet promulgated regulations which would assist the agency in these efforts. The purpose of this policy is to provide the EAC with written temporary procedures regarding the processing of state requests for changes to the Federal Registration Form’s state specific instructions,” the proposal stated.
Davidson had emailed her fellow commissioners this proposal one hour prior to the meeting, which did not sit well with Commissioner Rosemary Rodriguez, a Democratic appointee. Commissioner Gracia Hillman, the panel’s other Democrat, also raised questions about the proposed framework, which was not brought to a vote.
Hillman was more upset when Davidson then proposed to vote on the specific requests from the four states, stating she was not aware these issues would be voted on at this meeting. “I am not prepared to vote yes or no on state requests,” she said.
Davidson then suggested all commissioners be given 48 hours to study the requests and then hold a tally vote – not a public vote. Rodriguez objected, stating votes with such ramifications should be conducted in public. She suggested calling an emergency meeting, which as of press time is one of the options the chair is considering.
The requests from the four states run the gamut from basic issues such as changing secretary of state address information to more controversial issues of voter eligibility. One, per the request of Arizona officials, would change instructions on the federal form for use in the state to require proof of citizenship for those registering to vote for the first time in Arizona or for those who have moved to another county in Arizona. The new language also provides a list of acceptable documents.
The request, which stemmed from the passage of a proposition, has been the source of an almost two-year battle between Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer (R) and the EAC. (See here and here for more information from electionline.org.)
In early 2006 the commission’s executive director sent Brewer a letter stating, “The Federal Form sets the proof required to demonstrate voter qualification. No state may condition acceptance of the Federal Form upon receipt of additional proof.”
The commissioners themselves were divided on the issue at the time and it appears they might be divided again. At an October 2007 EAC public meeting, Commissioner Caroline Hunter, a Republican appointee, said she believed states should be able to determine what eligibility requirements should be included on the forms.
“It’s very clear that the form can have not only whatever the state law has in their eligibility section of their law but whatever the states deems necessary to establish eligibility,” she said.
A proposal at the October meeting from Hunter led to a split 2-2 vote among the commissioners.
Advocacy groups have also objected to (and sued and lost over) Arizona’s requirement.
“Many American citizens do not have any of the required forms of ID including a certified copy of their birth certificate and it costs a significant amount to get one. People should not have to pay to register to vote,” stated the League of Women Voters.
The citizenship requirement, though, has so far survived court challenges and Secretary Brewer has threatened to sue the EAC due to their failure to amend the NVRA forms. Last month she expressed her displeasure in person to the commission.
“As it stands now, by not properly informing voters, you are accomplishing nothing. To be sure, anyone who utilizes the Federal Form and doesn’t provide sufficient proof of citizenship is still being rejected in Arizona. Thus, the actions of the EAC to not include instructions on the form proves not to be a loophole to getting around Arizona law, rather it simply serves as a way to disenfranchise voters from participating in the election process.”
Election Reform News This Week
- While voting absentee is becoming more available – and as a result more popular – a ruling by an appeals court in Michigan just made the process a bit more difficult for voters in the Wolverine State. The court upheld an earlier, lower court ruling that prevented county clerks from automatically mailing out absentee ballot applications to senior citizens and those who had voted absentee before. “We’re trying to encourage people to vote, and this is inhibiting it,” Macomb County Clerk Carmella Sabaugh told the Detroit Free Press. “Clerks will have to send out a letter asking people if they want to on a permanent list and that’s just wasteful.” In the city of Troy, where 14,000 applications are automatically mailed out, the council voted to allow the clerk’s office to continue practice, despite the court ruling. “We believe in local control,” City Clerk Tonni Bartholomew told the paper.
- Although the HAVA deadline is almost a year passed, some voters in New York are still voting on antiquated lever machines, some of which caused problems in one county. According to the Times Union, a lawyer representing Colonie County Republicans wants to know if the level machines were configured improperly. The problem, which no one disputes, stems from a mechanical pin that is meant to prevent voters from pulling the lever for the same candidate more than once — possible in New York because candidates can run on multiple party lines on one ballot. But the pin also prevented an unknown number of voters from selecting different candidates from opposing parties listed in the same vertical column on the ballot. Also, some machines were reconfigured during the day, meaning one that malfunctioned early may have worked properly later. Complaints by Republicans about glitches in the machines moved the matter to state Supreme Court where a Nov. 19 hearing on the problem is scheduled. County elections officials have downplayed the significance of the problem, saying the programming error would have affected all candidates equally, and that both sides were allowed to inspect the machines before Election Day.
- For county officials in New Mexico still recovering from sticker shock over the cost of new voting equipment, the recent contract from vendor ES&S detailing the maintenance costs for the new machines hasn’t helped. The first round of maintenance bills went out to county officials this summer with some counties, such as Bernalillo owing more than $250,000 in maintenance fees. According to a local television station, what made the maintenance bills so shocking is that with the old voting system, most maintenance was performed in-house by staff.
- A group of activists in Oregon are pushing the state to require proof of citizenship to register to vote. Jim Ludwick, president of the Oregonians for Immigration Reform, told the Register-Guard that his group was pursuing its “Respect for the Law Act” as an initiative for 2008 out of frustration with the Legislature’s inaction. The proposed initiative has yet to be cleared for petitioning. Backers will have until July to gather about 83,000 valid signatures for it to qualify for the November ballot. Under Oregon law it is a felony for noncitizens to vote and those who register to vote must sign a statement verifying that they are citizens. His initiative requires those registering to vote for the first time in Oregon to submit proof of citizenship. Secretary of State Bill Bradbury said voter registration and voting by people in the United States illegally “are nearly nonexistent problems” and that his Elections Division investigates every claim of voting by noncitizens. Bradbury also said such a requirement could deny voting rights not just to illegal immigrants but also to citizens who are not able to produce proof of citizenship.
Opinions This Week
National: Touch-screen ban, Photo ID, Voting system clearinghouse
Colorado: Vote-by-mail, Citizenship, Vote fraud, Voter ID
Connecticut: Voting experience
Indiana: One vote matters, Voting machines, Uniform voting systems
Iowa: Voter ID, Current elections
Florida: Voting rights
Michigan: Presidential primary, Voter ID
Minnesota: Instant-runoff voting
Montana: Vote-by-mail
New Jersey: 2005 election
New York: DOJ lawsuit
Ohio: Voting process
Washington: Poll worker experience, Vote counting
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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
Division Administrator — Wisconsin’s new Government Accountability Board is hiring a division administrator for the Division of Elections. Deadline for applications is November 30, 2007. Please visit http://elections.wi.gov to see the job announcement. Also to be hired is a division administrator for the Division of Ethics and Accountability.
Division Director — Florida Department of State, Division of Elections. The Director of the Division of Elections serves at the pleasure of the Secretary of State who is the Chief Elections Officer for the State of Florida and an appointed agency head within the Executive Branch. Some of the duties and responsibilities of the Director of the Division of Elections are as follows: directs, manages and coordinates all administrative, programmatic and operational activities of the division; oversees the management of the HAVA Section, Bureau of Voting Systems Certification, Bureau of Election Records and the Bureau of Voter Registration Services; oversees the development, implementation, and coordination of rules and administrative directives of the division as well as legislative proposals affecting election laws; reports directly to the Deputy Secretary for State Records. Qualifications: Applicants should have at least five years of election administration experience at a managerial level in either state or local government. Salary: $95,000 with excellent benefits. Application: Interested parties should send their resume with references to Dawn Kimmel Roberts, Assistant Secretary of State & Chief of Staff, Florida Department of State, Suite 118, R.A. Gray Building, 500 S. Bronough Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0250; by fax to (850) 245-6125; or e-mail to dkroberts@dos.state.fl.us. Deadline: November 30, 2007. Web site: http://election.dos.state.fl.us.
Election Director — Orange County, N.C. Reporting to the Orange County Board of Elections, this position provides administrative, technical, and managerial support to the Board and directs the registration, voting and election activities for the County. The Director of Elections is appointed by the Orange County Board of Elections and approved by the State. The successful candidate will supervise a staff of three permanent employees and will direct and supervise precinct office operations to ensure compliance with all related laws and procedures. The position oversees pre-election activities and ensures that the elections are conducted efficiently and in compliance with federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Representative duties include: Preparing legal notices for publication in newspapers, television, radio and web pages; maintaining the timetable for board members’ duties established by the State Board of Elections; preparing and maintaining the calendar of required board meetings and training for board members and staff; serving as secretary to the Board of Elections; prepares resolutions, bond ballots, and other board-related legal matters, in consultation with attorneys; and prepares ballots for all elections, including overseeing printing and production and ensuring that all supplies, materials and equipment are available for voting on election days. Qualifications: Requires any combination of education and experience equivalent to graduation from an accredited college or university with a Bachelor’s degree in public administration, business administration or related field and at least five years progressively responsible experience in state or local government elections. One year of supervisory experience is preferred. Requires excellent computer skills. Prefer knowledge of election system software, including United Software. Excellent communications skills and demonstrated ability to effectively interact with the citizens, elected officials and candidates, and the Board are required. Possession of or the ability to obtain a North Carolina State Board of Elections certification within one year of hire is necessary. Salary: $65,014 – $84,473. Application: Send resume and county application to: Orange County Personnel Dept.; 208 South Cameron Street, Post Office Box 8181; Hillsborough, North Carolina 27278; Telephone: (919) 245-2550, Facsimile: (919) 644-3009; online at www.co.orange.nc.us Deadline: Nov. 19, 2007.
Project Manager — The Pew Center on the States. Project manager will assist in developing and executing strategic and operational plans for the Make Voting Work project. The project operates in a highly collaborative environment that emphasizes teamwork and values input from a variety of perspectives. The project manager will be expected to contribute at multiple levels, taking lead responsibility for the design and implementation of certain activities, assisting in the execution of other activities, and filling in on duties where needed. The ideal candidate will have an educational and employment background in public policy or a related field, deep knowledge of the election system, and work experience undertaking projects involving many partners, complex issues, extensive writing, and live presentations. The candidate preferably will have experience at the state or federal level with issue campaigns, communications strategies, and grassroots or grasstops organizing. Qualifications: At least eight years of experience in the public policy arena, with a working knowledge of election administration issues. Experience working with state and federal policymakers, election officials, researchers and other stakeholders is strongly preferred; Masters or other advanced degree in a relevant area or equivalent experience preferred; Demonstrated strong analytical skills applied to public policy issues, including an ability to synthesize and summarize large amounts of information and to focus quickly on the essence of an issue. Strong systems skills including Microsoft Office products; Experience convening groups of policymakers, researchers, other professionals, and constituencies, and supporting their efforts to move toward a desired outcome. Application: Melissa Rosen, Manager, Human Resources, The Pew Charitable Trusts, One Commerce Square, 2005 Market Street, Suite 1700, Philadelphia, PA 19103-7077 or e-mailed to: recruiter@pewtrusts.org. Web site: www.pewtrusts.org