electionline Weekly

Primary Update

 II. Primary Update

Arizona was the only state to conduct a primary election and the majority of the state’s 15 counties, things went well. The problem though is that the majority of the people live in one county–Maricopa–and that’s where there major problems.

Prior to Tuesday’s presidential preference primary, due to the increasing popularity of vote-by-mail and to cut costs, the county drastically reduced the number of polling places from several hundred to just 60. Some people waited in line to vote for up to five hours and many cast their ballots after the polls had closed and television stations were already calling the races.

Although initial reports indicated that Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell put the bulk of the blame on Independent voters who thought they could vote in the closed primary, she later took full responsibility for the situation.

“We certainly made bad decisions, and having only 60 polling places, didn’t anticipate there would be that many people going to the polling places,” she told The Arizona Republic. “We were obviously wrong — that’s my fault. So we’ll certainly look at that for future elections.”

In the wake of Tuesday’s problems in Maricopa County, several lawmakers are calling for changes. Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton has called on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate. Secretary of State Michele Reagan has said that her office will conduct a full-scale, statewide review of county election offices. And Gov. Doug Ducey addressed the problems of Independent voters not being able to vote, which in part led to some of the long lines.

Also in Maricopa County, there were some reports of voters who claimed to be registered Democrats finding out that they were really registered as Independents. According to Purcell’s office, they had never been registered as Democrats.

While they didn’t suffer the lines that their fellow voters in Maricopa County did, some voters in Pima County did also run into the incorrect party-affiliation problem. However, unlike Maricopa where it did seem to be voter error, in Pima County, the number of people experiencing registration problems seemed to be more systematic.

F. Ann Rodriguez, Pima County recorder, said the issues will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. “We’ll plug through these things. If it’s our error, we’ll fix it, right then and there,” she said.

And in Cochise County, which debuted a new voting system on Tuesday, everything seemed to come off without a hitch according to Martha Rodriguez, elections coordinator. “I think everything went pretty smoothly, considering all the equipment was new and all my board workers were a little nervous, but they all did very well,” Rodriguez said.

Election News This Week

III. Election News This Week

• A “transitional audit” by the Johnson County, Kansas auditor of the county’s election commissioner–current EAC Executive Director Brian Newby–claims that Newby improperly claimed mileage and travel expenses, intentionally skirted oversight of government credit card expenses and wasted taxpayer funds. Newby told The Associated Press that the audit is “inaccurate, very misleading, very incomplete” and said he didn’t get to review it before it was released.
• A task force of state, local and federal officials is preparing for contingencies to ensure Nevada’s upcoming primary and general elections are fair and accurate. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, at a recent meeting the multi-jurisdictional task force discussed how to deal with a wide range of scenarios, from finding last-minute substitute poll workers to moving entire polling sites because of natural disasters or terrorism. Wayne Thorley, elections deputy for the secretary of state’s office, asked task force members for recommendations on development of a statewide emergency election plan. The task force has been meeting since 2008.
• Washington recently joined Oregon and one county in Montana in using the mail for more than just ballots. The State Elections Division sent out cards to more than 200,000 unregistered, but eligible residents over 18 and the process netted the state more than 27,000 new voters. This is the fourth year the outreach mailings have gone out, netting nearly 104,000 new registrations, said state Elections Director Lori Augino. “We are so grateful for this opportunity to reach thousands of new voters, and it’s good to get this recognition of the ERIC project and Washington’s successful use of it for both outreach and keeping our voter records clean and up-to-date,” Secretary of State Kim Wyman said.
• In other mail-related news, a coalition of groups opposed to cuts to the U.S. Postal Service testified at a hearing this week about their concerns those cuts may affect voting by mail. A Washington-based group called the Grand Alliance to Save our Public Postal Service, which started as an effort of postal unions but now includes civil rights, religious and environmental organizations, will conduct hearings across the country on the issue. “What I’ve noticed in the past year is that the delivery times have slipped significantly,” John L. Seibel, president of a TrueBallot told The Baltimore Sun. Sue Brennan, a spokeswoman for the Postal Service, said officials do not anticipate any issues with mailed ballots. “Voters can rely upon the mail as a reliable method of participating in the political process,” Brennan said in a statement. “Every election cycle, the Postal Service works with state, local and federal election officials to ensure the timely delivery of election mail.”
• Following a recent report by the Elections Center that found found poor morale, bad communication and shoddy work practices at the Sacramento County, California elections office, Registrar Jill LaVine and Chief Deputy County Executive Paul Lake appeared before the board of supervisors to address the report. “We are taking this very seriously,” LaVine said. According to the Sacramento Bee, LaVine said her office has already taken steps to correct underlying problems that led to past mistakes.
• Personnel News:Robert Kando, executive director of the Rhode Island board of elections has been suspended for failing to sign up for management classes he was required to take in connection with a previous suspension. Joan Nixon has been appointed the interim administrator of elections for Davidson County, Tennessee. Sharon Steif, chief deputy of the Manatee County, Florida supervisor of elections office was recently honored by her colleagues for her 25 years of service. Delmas Taylor, Livingston Parish, Louisiana registrar since 1997 has announced that he will retire. Rebecca Huntley, Ogle County, Illinois clerk has retired.

Research & Report Summaries

IV. Research & 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.

Democracy Rebooted: the Future of Technology in Elections – Conny B. McCormack, Atlantic Council, March 2016: This report looks to start answering questions about voting technology, including how governments around the world can use technological innovation to better serve more and more tech-savvy voters and how to do so in a way that is transparent, efficient, and trusted by the public. Benefits and obstacles in using electronic voting are discussed, along with recommendations including:

• Conducting research to determine the cost of electronic voting;
• Establish international guidelines for electronic voting; and
• Ensuring independent and autonomous institutions are running elections.

The Year in Elections, 2015 – Pippa Norris, Ferran Martínez i Coma, Alessandro Nai, and Max Grömping, The Electoral Integrity Project, February 2016: This annual report assesses which elections across the world met international  standards. The assessment is based on a survey of more than 2,000 election experts from around the globe, asking them to monitor the quality of elections in 139 countries based on 49 indicators. Last year 54 national elections were evaluated. Findings include:

• Two-thirds of assessed elections in 2015 had failed (scored less than 40 on the project’s 100-point scale) standards of campaign finance;
• 8 out of the 54 elections (in Ethiopia, Burundi, Togo, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Belarus, Uzbekistan, and Haiti) failed to meet international standards of electoral integrity; and
• The 2012 U.S. Presidential election and the 2014 U.S. Congressional elections were ranked worst of any long-established democracy.

Colorado Voting Reforms: Early Results – The Pew Charitable Trusts, March 2016: The Pew Charitable Trusts recently released a brief documenting the impact of Colorado’s Voter Access and Modernized Elections Act of 2013 as reflected in state data and a survey of more than 1,500 Colorado voters. Findings indicate that the average cost per vote of administering elections decreased, the number of provisional ballots issued declined sharply, most voters returned their ballots in person rather than by mail, and voter satisfaction with the new system is very high.

Legislative Updates

V. Legislative Updates

Alaska: The Anchorage Assembly has approved legislation that will move the city to all vote-by-mail elections. Beginning in 2017, all municipal elections will be conducted by mail.

Connecticut: A legislative committee passed a bill Monday to start moving toward automatic voter registration at the Department of Motor Vehicles, but delayed implementation of the measure until 2018. According to the Hartford Courant, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill supported the legislation, but some lawmakers questioned whether the DMV — which has dealt with long lines and numerous glitches after the installation of a new computer system last year — was ready to take on the task.

Guam: Guam’s election commission is supporting a bill that would allow 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections as long as they are 18 by the time of the general election.

Illinois: Rep. Mark Batinick is pushing a proposal that would reduce the number of sites where voters could register and vote on the same day. While current law allows same-day registration at all polling place, Batinick is proposing that it only be allowed at one polling site per township. Batinick told the Herald-News he envisions centralized locations with high-speed Internet, on-demand ballot printing capabilities and election judges trained specifically to register voters.

Kentucky: The Senate has approved a bill that would put a constitutional amendment before the voters on whether or not ex-felons should have their voting rights restored. The House had previously approved legislation that would automatically restore their rights.

Louisiana: The House has approved House Bill 529 that will give deputy parish custodians of voting machines a $25 raise per election. The deputy parish custodians are now paid $75 per election, and the pay hasn’t been raised in 20 years.

Also in Louisiana, the Senate and Government Affairs Committee reported favorably on Senate Bill 164 which would allow people to vote-by-mail without an excuse.

Massachusetts: State lawmakers are considering legislation that would allow victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking to shield their address from the public on voter rolls. The legislation is co-sponsored by Secretary of State William Galvin. “They shouldn’t have to give up the right to vote to be safe,” Galvin told The Boston Globe. “We’ve had many inquiries, especially this year as the presidential elections have been ramping up.”  

Minnesota: The Legislature is contemplating several election-reform related pieces legislation including moving the state to a presidential primary system, lowering the voting age to 16, making changes to absentee voting and legislation inspired by the state’s Elections Emergency Planning Task Force.

Missouri: According to MissouriNet, Democratic lawmakers are hoping that their GOP counterparts will compromise on voter ID legislation.

Virginia: Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) has vetoed legislation that would have required registrars to to deny registration to certain people who leave out certain details on their voter registration forms. McAuliffe highlighted a part of the bill that would require the “automatic denial” of applicants who fail to check a box indicating that the applicant will be at least 18 years old before the next general election. “The checkbox is not material to determining whether the applicant meets the age requirements to register to vote, because the applicant is already required to provide his or her date of birth,” McAuliffe told the Richmond Times Dispatch.

West Virginia: We’re not sure how we missed this, but last week when the West Virginia Senate gave final approval to voter ID legislation, the bill passed with an added amendment that would allow for automatic voter registration. “If managed properly, automatic registration is a great benefit to our citizens and will encourage more people to go to the polls,” Senate President Bill Cole, R-Mercer told The Associated Press. The bill is now before Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (D) who has not hinted one way or another whether he will sign it.

Legal Updates

VI. Legal Updates

Federal Litigation: Plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed to regain voting rights for former Illinois residents who have moved to U.S. territories, such as the U.S. Virgin Islands, filed a motion for summary judgment in U.S. District Court in Illinois.

Arkansas: A lawsuit that claimed Jefferson County Clerk Patricia Royal Johnson was being prevented from doing her job by the Jefferson County election commission has been settled out of court. The suit had sought a temporary restraining order prohibiting members of the election commission, their employees or representatives from “violating state law” by “interfering with, preventing or otherwise prohibiting the county Clerk of Jefferson County, Arkansas from performing her duties and responsibilities as it relate to early voting.”

Florida: A federal judge has ruled that Jefferson County has until April 4 to redraw county district lines excluding the prisoners at the Jefferson Corrections Institute. In the past, the county had split the jail population between the five voting districts, but the ACLU argued that since the prisoners are from all over the state and cannot vote, they should not be counted.

Illinois: A federal appeals court has denied an attempt by Adams County’s State’s Attorney Jon Barnard to allow voters who were unable to vote in the March 15 primary due to long lines or no ballots, to cast their vote this week.

Texas: State District Judge James Morgan has ruled that there will not be a new election in a McLennan County commissioner race. Cory Priest who lost the election by just 25 votes had sued for the new election when county officials admitted that 93 voters were disenfranchised because they received the wrong ballots. Morgan said there was not enough evidence to warrant another election.

Also in Texas, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has announced that it will rehear the Texas voter ID suit on May 24.

Tech Thursday

 VII. Tech Thursday

Kentucky: More than 10,000 people have used the state’s new online voter registration system to register or update their registration since it launched about a month ago.

Missouri: Following a pilot program in 2014, all polling places in St. Louis used e-poll books during the March 15 primary. In addition to streamlining the check-in process, Mary Wheeler-Jones, the Democratic director of the St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners told St. Louis Public Radio that the new e-poll books also make it possible to update the city’s voter rolls more quickly.  

New York: With the deadline to register to vote looming, a large influx of users caused the state’s DMV online voter registration system to stall for several counties Tuesday into Wednesday. Between March 10 and 20, more than 40,000 people registered to vote or updated their information through the DMV-based system. The DMV notified the counties about the problem and worked to get it fixed.

Vermont: The state is once again making ballot tabulators and operating subsidies to the roughly 43 percent of towns that still rely on hand-counting ballots. Although towns of less than 1,000 people are not required to use ballot tabulators, the state is pushing for the use to ensure quick and accurate results.

Opinions This Week

 VIII. Opinions This Week

National Opinions: Voter ID | Regional primaries | College-aged voters | Voter ID

Arizona: Maricopa County, II, III | Voting conspiracies

California: Turnout, II | San Francisco voting system

Colorado: Primaries

Florida: Ex-felon voting rights | Voting snafus | Poll problems

Guam: Voter registration

Idaho: Election changes

Illinois: Adams County | Voting proposals | Aurora County | Election problems | Automatic voter registration

Kansas: Elections officials

Kentucky: Early voting | Ex-felon voting rights  

Maryland: Long-time voters | Automatic voter registration

Minnesota: Primaries v. caucuses | Voting access

Nevada: Turnout

New Hampshire: College-aged voters

New York: Voter access

North Carolina: Voter ID, II | Voting delays

Ohio: Extended hours

Texas: Voter fraud, II, III | Turnout; March primary  

Virginia: Voter ID

Washington: Pac-12 primary

Wyoming: Primary system

Available Funding/Awards

 IX. Available Funding/Awards

Charles T. Manatt Democracy Award
The International Foundation for Electoral Systems’ (IFES) Charles T. Manatt Democracy Award recognizes the exceptional work of individuals who demonstrate unwavering commitment to freedom and democracy. IFES presents the Democracy Award annually to three individuals: a Republican, a Democrat and a member of the international community.

The recipients of the Democracy Award embody the character and spirit of former U.S. Ambassador and IFES Board of Directors Chairman Charles T. Manatt. Manatt served as Chairman of IFES’ Board of Directors from 1993 to 1999 and was a distinct leader, dedicated to spreading democracy around the world and nurturing the next generation of political leaders.

The three Democracy Awards are presented in a single ceremony each year. To nominate someone, click here.

Innovation in American Government Awards
Applications are now being accepted for the $100,000 Innovations in American Government Awards. Offered by Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, the Innovations Award is the nation’s premier award for the public sector. It recognizes programs that demonstrate creative and effective government at its best.

All units of government — federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial — from all policy areas are eligible to apply for recognition.

This year, the Ash Center is also once again offering the Roy and Lila Ash Innovations Award for Public Engagement in Government, a special Innovations Award that will recognize government-led programs that demonstrate novel and effective approaches to increasing public engagement and participation in the governance of towns, cities, states, and the nation.

The winners of the Innovations in American Government Award and the Roy and Lila Ash Award will each receive a $100,000 grant to support replication and dissemination activities in 2017. Top finalists will also receive monetary grants.

Applications and additional information is available here. Applications are due April 15.

Upcoming Events

X. Upcoming Events

Election Center Special Workshop — “The Calm Before the Storm” is an Election Center special workshop that will cover issues such as media relations in a presidential year (including a discussion on press releases), tips and reasons for gathering data; voter registration and elections litigation update, updated information from the USPS, vote-by-mail and other issues and the impacts polls and media projections have on election administrators. There will also be two CERA/CERV/CEM core courses 3 and 4 and Renewal Course 24. When: April 27-May 1. Where: Kansas City, Kansas. For more information and to register, click here.

NACRC/IACREOT Annual Conference — the 2016 annual conference—the last to be held under the NACRC/IACREOT banner will feature plenary sessions, a trade show, committee and board meeting, awards breakfast, annual banquet and a ballgame. When: June 25-30. Where: Memphis, Tennessee. For more information and to register, click here.

National Association of Secretaries of State Summer Conference — NASS will hold its annual summer meeting in Nashville this year. Agenda programming will include: policy discussions on important issues facing secretaries of state, idea-sharing panels highlighting best practices in state programming, sessions designed for professional development and networking, induction of national officers for the 2016-2017 cycle and excursions to explore Tennessee and learn more about the culture and state government.  When: July 14-17. Where: Nashville, Tennessee. For more information and to register, click here.

National Association of State Election Directors Summer Conference — the 2016 NASED summer conference will be held in Nashville, Tennessee. Details about the event are still being hammered out, so be sure to check the website often. When: July 14-17. Where: Nashville, Tennessee. For more information, click here.

National Association of Counties Annual Conference — NACo’s Annual Conference and Exposition provides an opportunity for all county leaders and staff to learn, network and guide the direction of the association. The 2016 Annual Conference is hosted by Los Angeles County. The conference will be held at the Long Beach Convention Center. Attending the Annual Conference provides member county officials with the opportunity to vote on NACo’s policies related to federal legislation and regulation; elect officers; network with colleagues; learn about innovative county programs; learn more about issues impacting counties across the country; and view products and services from participating companies and exhibitors.​ When: July 22-25. Where: Long Beach, California. For more information and to register, click here.

National Conference of State Legislators Summer Meeting — the 2016 Legislative Summit will be held in Chicago. The elections portion will include: Politics 2016: State Election Preview, Evaluating Elections, What to Do If You’ve Got a Disputed Election, Technology: Improving Elections One Bit or Byte at a Time? And Helping our Military Vote.  When: Aug. 8-11. Where: Chicago. For more information and to register, click here.

Job Postings This Week

 XI. Job Postings This Week
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 tommoretti@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.

Customer Relations Association, Albuquerque, New Mexico–Dominion Voting is searching for a highly motivated, enthusiastic, and hands-on Customer Relations Associate for our Albuquerque, NM office. The key responsibilities for this role will be to manage one or more customer accounts to include product support, problem resolution, and placing product and service orders. In addition, this role will be responsible for managing customer projects such as election support, new product implementations, upgrades, and providing superior customer service. Salary: Negotiable base + bonus target & benefits. Deadline: Open until filled. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.

Customer Relations Manager, Dominion Voting Systems, San Leandro, California — Dominion Voting Systems is seeking a highly motivated and enthusiastic, Customer Relations Manager, to be based in our San Leandro, California office! This position will be responsible for supporting customers by partnering with the sales and operations teams to exceed customer needs and requirements; addressing and resolving customer concerns; and, identifying ways to implement preventive measures for continuous process improvement. Salary: Negotiable base + bonus target & benefits. Deadline: Open until filled. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply,click here.

Elections Technician, Wayne County, North Carolina  — Installs hardware and software, manages system upgrades, and coordinates with county IT department. Implements upgrades and/or updates to the State Election Information Management Software (SEIMS) as provided by the State Board of Elections. Manages voting equipment to include inventory, preparation of voting equipment and systems for elections, delivery and return of equipment for each election, and general maintenance or oversight of maintenance in accordance with federal and state regulations. Trains and supervises small technical work group during voting equipment preparation for polling location and as Election Day support. Prepares and administers polling location computerized poll books and voting tabulation software. Inspects and prepares supplies for each polling location prior to each election. Supervises temporary and part time elections workers. Conducts voting machine training for both technical and user level. Administers and maintains county elections website. Salary: $40,994 – $63,937 Deadline: March 25. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.

Executive Director, Washington, D.C. Board of Elections — seeking qualified applicants for Executive Director of the District of Columbia Board of Elections, an independent agency of the District of Columbia Government. Incumbent serves at the pleasure of the Board, as the primary management official, directs program operations and support activities associated with election operations including the conduct of elections and agency administration.  Provides leadership and direction to subordinate divisions in the areas of voter registration and services, administration and support.  Represents the Board in the management of financial, material, and personnel resources, including administering the agency’s independent personnel authority; providing oral or written support information for formal hearings and meetings through guidance and specialized oral or written backup information; assists the Board and the General Counsel in developing legislative proposals affecting agency operations in the delivery of elections services. Advanced degree in policy administration/and or law preferred, work experience in governmental organization(s) and election processes; and comprehensive background in election administration, organizational development, administration and supervision. Applicant should possess the ability to communicate effectively in both oral and written forms.  Excellent salary and benefits.  District of Columbia residency requirements is required. Application: For immediate consideration, please send confidential CV and Cover Letter to dhudson@thechoiceinc.com

Junior Product Support Specialist,Toronto, Ontario — Dominion Voting Systems is seeking an out-going, technology savvy, Junior Product Support Specialist, to be based in our downtown Toronto office. This position is responsible for supporting installation, operation, repair, and maintenance of all Dominion Voting Systems products; as well as developing and executing training sessions; and assisting with warehousing and logistics. Salary: Negotiable base + bonus target & benefits. Deadline: Open until filled. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply,click here

Network & Systems Specialist, Denver, Colorado — Dominion Voting Systems is seeking a tech-savvy and detail oriented, Network & Systems Specialist, to be based in our downtown Denver, Colorado office. This role is responsible for assisting with the deployment and troubleshooting of advanced elections hardware and software system configurations; providing support to the logistics associated with procuring elections systems and equipment; performing tests and evaluations of various voting solutions; and providing election support to customers both remotely and/or on-site. Salary: Negotiable base + bonus target & benefits. Deadline: Open until filled. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply,click here.

Product Support Specialist, Toronto, Ontario — Dominion Voting Systems is seeking an experienced and motivated, Product Support Specialist, to be based in our downtown Toronto office. This position is responsible for supporting installation, operation, repair, and maintenance of all Dominion Voting Systems products; as well as developing and executing training sessions; and working closely with the Operations and Development Teams on a number of critical projects. Salary: Negotiable base + bonus target & benefits. Deadline: Open until filled. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply,click here.

Programming Specialist, Toronto, Ontario — Dominion Voting Systems is seeking a highly-driven and detail-oriented, Programming Specialist, to be based in our downtown Toronto office. This position is responsible for elections design and programming; ensuring elections systems meet all performance criteria, standards and requirements; developing and executing trainings; implementing Dominion Voting System products; and providing technical support to customers, co-workers and election officials. Salary: Negotiable base + bonus target & benefits. Deadline: Open until filled. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply,click here.

Marketplace

XII. Marketplace
electionline provides no guarantees as to the quality of the items being sold and the accuracy of the information provided about the sale items in the Marketplace. Ads are provided directly by sellers and are not verified by electionline. If you have an ad for Marketplace, please email it to: mmoretti@electionline.org