electionline Weekly

Election News This Week

II. Election News This Week

• Oversight of the Orange County, Calif. elections office will no longer fall under the oversight of the county’s chief operating officer. Instead Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley will now report directly to the county’s CEO. The switch occurred after county supervisors filed a formal complaint that COO Mark Denny should not have oversight of the elections division since he was convicted of voter fraud in 1996.
• New Mexico Secretary of State Dianna Duran has withdrawn an emergency petition seeking supervisory control over municipal elections in Sunland Park. The town was plagued with elections problems in 2012 and things did not seem to be going much better two years later with a candidate being left off the ballot and only two polling places. However the City Council recently passed resolutions rectifying many of the issues Duran’s office had concerns about.
• An Illinois woman — 7 months pregnant — is facing possible deportation after she cast a ballot in a congressional. Elizabeth Keathley, originally from the Philippines, moved to the United States on a fiancé visa in 2003. When she applied for her driver’s license she was asked if she wanted to register to vote as well and she said yes. Both Keathley and her husband assumed it was OK for her to vote. It wasn’t until she applied for full citizenship that the mistake was caught by any official. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is reviewing the case. “It’s a perfect storm of well-intended laws,” Richard Hanus, a Chicago attorney who’s helping her fight deportation told The Chicago Reporter. “[DMV employees] are not supposed to discriminate against anybody. But applicants, like my client, showing a foreign passport with a visa, shouldn’t be asked if they want to register to vote. In some cases, discriminating is good.”
• Somewhere in America during every election cycle, someone wears the wrong thing to the polls on election day (or during early voting) and it makes headlines. This time it was in Waller County, Texas during early voting for the March primary. Local voter Chris Driskill, a private security card, was wearing a pro-2nd Amendment t-shirt when he went to cast his ballot at the county courthouse. Driskill was told he would have to change the shirt or turn it inside out. But it wasn’t because elections officials in the Texas county were anti-2nd Amendment, it’s because the Republican primary ballot contained a proposition asking for a yes or no vote to expand the 2nd Amendment. A candidate outside the polling place offered Driskill a suit coat to put on so he could cast his ballot. “If you have to turn around and go change shirts, you know, so be it,” he old KHOU. “But get out and vote.”
• Personnel News: Kelly L. Green, the former head of the Philadelphia League of Women Voters, has been hired by Montgomery County, Pa. to serve as its new head of the voter services office. Green is the fourth voter services director in a year. Eric Campbell has resigned as the director of the Colleton County, S.C. elections and voter registration commission. The Dutchess County, N.Y. board of elections has six new staff members, all appointed by Marc Caviglia, the board’s new Democratic commissioner. Thomas Hardin is the new Republican representative on the Allen County, Ind. election board. Eight months after being hired, Howard Jackson has been fired as the Richland County, S.C. elections and voter registration office. Victoria Hall is out as the Bannock County, Idaho supervisor of elections after reaching an agreement to leave the job following a criminal theft charge. Chris Clem, a former attorney for the Hamilton County, Tenn. elections commission has recently been appointed to the elections commission to replace Tommy Crangle who resigned to run for office. Patrick Cawdette is the new administrative assistant for the St. Croix, U.S.V.I. board of elections office.

Research and Report Summaries

III. Research and Report Summaries

electionline provides brief summaries of recent research and reports in the field of election administration. The summaries are courtesy of the research staff of The Pew Charitable Trusts Elections Initiatives. Please email links to research to Sean Greene at Pew.

Millions to the Polls, J. Mijin Cha & Liz Kennedy, Demos, February 2014: This new report recommends sixteen policy practices or changes to improve elections including:

• Online voter registration
• Adopt or expand early voting
• Non-partisan election administration
• Uniform poll worker training and pay

The Effect of Fair Representation Voting on 2013 Cambridge, Mass. Municipal Elections, Andrew Douglas, FairVote, February 2014: This report examines the effects of ranked choice voting on Cambridge’s 2013 city council and school committee elections. It demonstrates that at-large ranked choice voting benefited candidates from ethnic and political minority groups, who would have been unlikely to win election under a winner-take-all system. 

The California Association of Clerks and Election Officials is seeking proposals for an Irvine-funded project to create an elections cost database as part of CACEO’s participation in the Future of California Elections (scope of work starts on page 19). Deadline is 3pm PST Monday March 3, 2014. Lead contact is Neal Kelley, Orange County Registrar.

Legislative Update

IV. Legislative Update

Alabama: The Senate approved a bill that would reduce from a felony to a misdemeanor the penalty for falsifying or fraudulently making an application for a state-issued voter ID card.

Arkansas: The Senate unanimously approved a bill that would allow the now-empty lieutenant governor’s seat to remain empty in order to avoid the steep costs of a special election.

California: Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez has introduced a bill that would allow counties and cities to conduct special elections by mail only.

Georgia: A measure approved by the House would shrink municipal early voting periods from 21 days to six. House Bill 891 also allows cities to retain the three-week early voting period if they can get legislative approval.

Missouri: The House gave a first-round approval to legislation that would require voters in the Show Me State to show photo ID in order to vote.

Nebraska: Lawmakers in the Cornhusker State are working on legislation that would, in part, introduce online voter registration.

Another bill making its way through the Legislature would allow nonpartisan voters to choose a party’s primary ballot to cast without changing their party affiliation.

Ohio: As expected, Gov. John Kasich (R) signed into law legislation that eliminates Ohio’s ‘Golden Week’ for voter registration and increases the items of identifying information absentee voters have to provide in order to have their ballots counted.

Senate Bill 216, which would require provisional voters to include birthdate and current and former address on their provisional envelopes, was approved by both the House and Senate and is now headed to the governor.

Oregon: Citing recent problems with the secretary of state’s website, lawmakers shelved Senate Bill 1515 that would have created a task force to review Internet voting.

South Carolina: Under a bill advanced by the House Judiciary Committee the directors of each county elections commission would become state employees instead of their respective counties.

Utah: This week, a House committee amended SB36, which would limit access to the state’s voter registration rolls and prohibit it from being put online. The committee amendment expanded the exceptions of those who would be allowed to obtain the lists to banks, hospitals and insurance companies.

Conferences

V. Upcoming Events

Please email upcoming event — conferences, symposiums, seminars, webinars, etc. to mmoretti@electionline.org.

Future of California Elections 2014 Conference: The FoCE conference has a focus on election reform and its potential impact on communities across the state.  It is an opportunity for policymakers, researchers and advocates to learn about how the state and communities can implement the many great reforms and improvements identified over the last few years to expand California’s democracy. Where: Los Angeles. When: March 3. Registration: For more information and to register, click here.

Opinions

VI. Opinion

National News: Presidential election commission | Voting Rights Act, II | Ex-felon voting rights

Arizona: Election law

California: Vote-by-mail | Secretary of state race

Colorado: Elections legislation

Connecticut: Registrar of voters | Secretary of state race

District of Columbia: Elections changes

Florida: Election reform | Polling places | Election dates | Ex-felon voting rights

Georgia: Early voting

Kansas: Secretary of state races

Kentucky: Ex-felon voting rights, II, III, IV, V, VI

Michigan: Open primaries

Missouri: Voter ID

New Hampshire: Election fraud

North Carolina: New election law

Ohio: Early voting site | Polling places

Oregon: Cyber security

Pennsylvania: Special election | Empty elections

Puerto Rico: Voting rights

Texas: Voter ID | Voter fraud | Voter preparation | Around-the-clock voting

Washington: Yakima elections

West Virginia: Election legislation

Job Openings

VII. Job Openings

electionlineWeekly publishes election administration job postings each week as a free service to our readers. To have your job listed in the newsletter, please send a copy of the job description, including a web link to mmoretti@electionline.org. Job postings must be received by 5pm on Wednesday in order to appear in the Thursday newsletter. Listings will run for three weeks or till the deadline listed in the posting.

Director of Elections, Forsyth County, N.C. —position is the department head appointed by the Forsyth County Board of Elections. The position works in a fast-paced environment and utilizes a thorough knowledge of procedures and policies set forth by the State Board of Elections and the General Statutes for registration, voting, and reporting the results of elections. The position requires the ability to interpret and apply election laws and regulations; the ability to train and supervise others effectively and to maintain an effective working relationship with employees; the ability to establish and maintain good working relationships with precinct officials and representatives of news services and the ability to deal courteously with the general public. Responsibilities include preparing the ballots for Board approval and arranging for the distribution of all essential materials to all precincts; preparing budget proposals and administering the budget for the department. The Director obtains legal opinions from the State Board of Elections on election procedures and advises municipalities, proposed new municipalities, and attorneys on various election procedures. Qualifications: Experience in election administration through several presidential elections is preferred. Previous experience in supervising employees is preferred.Graduation from a four-year college or university in public administration, or related field and three years management experience. A higher education level may be considered as a substitution for all or part of the experience requirement. A four-year degree outside of the relevant academic field plus additional years of relevant experience may also be considered. Deadline: March 11, 2014. Application: For the complete listing and to apply, click here.

Elections Administrator, Tarrant County, Texas — shall perform the duties and functions of the Voter Registrar; the duties and functions placed on the County Clerk by the Election Code or by statutes outside the Election Code. Provides executive strategic and tactical direction and support to directors, managers, and supervisors in the operations of their department or division. This level of support and direction is achieved by delegating and/or reviewing the management of work assignments, service delivery, resources provided, and budget required; ensuring the training, evaluation and personal development of their employees; handling difficult problems; managing the development, implementation, and oversight of applicable unit products and services; monitoring department resources; and ensuring compliance with policies and laws. Salary: $3,283.96 – $3,612.36 biweekly. Deadline: Open until filled. Application: For the complete job posting and to apply, click here.

Elections Data Analyst, Colorado Secretary of State —position provides data administration services related to the statewide voter registration system. Oversees voter registration data and elections data posted to the state website. Serves as technical writer for data utilization as required. Responsibilities include: Extracting, analyzing, and presenting or reporting data in various formats for multiple stakeholders, including election officials and the public. Qualifications: Four years of combined experience creating and executing SQL database queries, posting reports/data files to FTP sites, relational database experience, MS Office Professional experience. A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university will substitute for one year of experience. Salary: $3,590 – $4,943 monthly. Deadline: Monday March 10, 2014 at 11:59pm MT. Application: For complete job posting and to apply click here.

Election Programmer, Jefferson County, Texas — coordinate and code all ballot information including precinct, office, candidate, and polling location data; and provide English, Spanish and audio coding.  Coordinate the accuracy of the paper and iVotronic ballot.  Responsible for loading election data on iVotronic touchscreens, personal electronic ballots, and flash cards.  Responsible for performing operational testing.  Responsible for overseeing the logic and accuracy testing of ballots.  Program and make ready all electronic pollbook tablets which contain the voter registration database, including backup of data.  Create and maintain election equipment inventory database.  Must assist field technicians during early voting and on Election Day.  Responsible for backing up all audit data and election files.  Report election results to Secretary of State of Texas.  Create and maintain computer database files utilizing various software applications to create documents.  Preserve the election files as prescribed by the Secretary of State. Provide training to employees and election workers in the use of voting equipment and on pertinent election laws.  Coordinate work orders to Warehouse Supervisor, to prepare, test and set up election equipment as needed.  Maintain the Online Poll Worker training and election websites through website publishing, quality assurance, feedback monitoring, and performance monitoring. Assist with training scheduling and support at the Election Barn.  Perform the management duties of the Elections Warehouse Technician Manager in his/her absence. Education & Experience:  Education and experience equivalent to an Associate’s degree from an accredited college or university in computer science, or in a job related field of study required.  One (1) year of work related experience.  Experience in election programming preferred. Salary: $43,094-$58,858. Deadline: Open until filled. Application: For the complete job posting and to apply click here