In Focus This Week
A bipartisan plan for better elections
Bipartisan Policy Center releases new report
The Bipartisan Policy Center’s Task Force on Elections today released its long-awaited findings on ways to ensure the American voting process is more secure, accessible, and accurate.
Called Logical Election Policy, the report is a roadmap for legislators—particularly at the state level—to understand their policy options and highlight the upstream and downstream effects of policy reforms.
“For the task force, we assembled 21 key election officials from 17 states—including Ohio, Georgia, Michigan, Florida, Nevada, Virginia, and others—to analyze the current election ecosystem and to work together to develop innovative ways to improve the voting experience,” says Matthew Weil, Director of BPC’s Election Project and one of the report’s lead authors.
The recommendations include: ways to meet voter expectations for more modern, integrated, and secure voter rolls; updated and more efficient methods of casting ballots; and better ways to count votes that increase public confidence in the integrity of elections.
“American elections are complex,” Weil says. “They involve many federal and state laws administered by over 8,000 local administrators who have to be everything from logistics managers to cybersecurity experts. Getting registered, casting your ballot, and having confidence in the vote count is not as easy as it could be.”
Although the task force members included Democrats and Republicans across a wide political spectrum, they unanimously endorsed a package of reforms to improve U.S. elections that they believe are implementable on realistic timeframes and under tight budget deadlines.
“I think there’s a pretty remarkable thing about the process,” said Judd Choate, Colorado director of elections. “There are Democrats and Republicans [on this stage]. There are people with a lot of experience, there are people with less experience. There are people from more rural states, more urban states. States that sort of have that Eastern model which is based more in polling places, the Western model which is based more in vote at home. And we were able to come up with 30-plus recommendations that we could all agree to, every one of us in the room could buy into those recommendations and I think that is an amazing thing.”
The recommendations are broken into three sections: Voter registration, casting a ballot and counting the vote. There are five recommendations under voter registration including that all states should become a member of ERIC and that states should set voter registration deadlines to the fewest days necessary to prepare for the election to provide constituents a reasonable opportunity to register to vote.
Under the heading of casting a ballot, the Task Force has 10 recommendations including a number of recommendations related to vote-by-mail, early voting and accessibility. With regard to early voting, the Task Force recommends that voters should have the option of voting early and in-person for a period of at least seven days in advance of a federal election, that states should set a minimum standard for the number of early voting sites and most interestingly, that smaller, municipality-based election jurisdictions should be allowed to join together to offer shared, convenient early voting.
There are six recommendations under the counting the vote heading are all issues that have very much been in the news of late. Those recommendations include that election administrators should be permitted to process vote-by-mail ballots beginning at least seven days prior to Election Day but must be prohibited from producing results, that state election certification deadlines should be set no earlier than 14 days after a general election to provide time to complete pre-certification tasks and that states should allow sufficient time for voters to cure eligibility deficiencies in vote-by-mail ballots, even if this period extends beyond Election Day.
During an event releasing the recommendations, Chris Thomas, former Michigan director of elections and a fellow at the BPC’s Elections Projected noted how different these recommendations are from how they would have been not that long ago.
“This is a report by election officials that is voter centric,” Thomas said. “There was a time if you put that many elections officials together you would have had an elections officials view of the world. Election officials today are very voter centric which is where they need to be.”
Our Say
Improving data quality
2018 Policy Survey
Dr. Nichelle Williams, PhD
The most recent EAVS introduced the 2018 Policy Survey, a research tool with close-ended questions that enables standardized data collection and more precise analysis of states’ policies.
The Policy Survey replaced the Statutory Overview, an open-ended questionnaire. Using fixed responses in the Policy Survey reduces many of the problems associated with trying to categorize and analyze election laws and administrative procedures for states and territories.
Data collection through the Policy Survey supplements EAVS data by providing a contextual understanding of laws and administrative procedures that govern election activities.
The Policy Survey is geared toward state-level officials and can be used to capture any anomalies in EAVS data reported by local jurisdictions. When it was reported through state-level data in the Policy Survey that their state does not have an online portal in which individuals can register to vote, EAC staff was able to conduct a quality check of data submitted by local jurisdictions that report individual voters submitting registration forms via a web-based online system.
An interesting topic captured in a series of close-ended questions in the newly administered 2018 Policy Survey is Criminal Convictions and Voting.
Through the three questions in the Criminal Convictions and Voting section of the Policy Survey, 52 percent of states and territories (N=28) reported that individuals who are convicted of any felony are required to be removed from the voter rolls and in two-thirds of these states and territories (n=19), the person with a felony conviction loses his or her right to vote during the period of incarceration and any period of probation and parole. Thirty-one percent of states and territories (N=17) require individuals who are convicted and incarcerated be removed from voter rolls and a person with a conviction loses his or her right to vote during the period of incarceration in more than 75 percent of these states and territories (n=13).
The Policy Survey also provides some clarity around what is required for a person with a felony conviction to become an eligible vote again after losing the right to vote due to criminal activity.
Sixty-one percent of states and territories (N=31) reported that a person is automatically eligible to register to vote again. Eighteen percent of states and territories (N=9) reported that a person must present documentation showing that he or she has completed the requirements for registering to vote. Sixteen percent of states and territories (N=8) report that a person must have his or her voting rights restored by the state through a formal administrative process such as gubernatorial restoration or action by the state pardons and paroles board. Six percent of states and territories (N=3) report that a person’s previous registration is automatically restored.
While 2018 was the first data collection period for the Policy Survey, as this survey tool continues to be deployed alongside the biennial EAVS, researchers and data analysts, like myself, will benefit from access to publicly available data that captures and somewhat categorizes election law and administrative procedures for our diverse mix of states and territories.
The Policy Survey will allow trend analysis of several topics such as Voter Registration, By-Mail Voting, In-Person Voting Prior to Election Day, Vote Centers, Voter Identification, Election Recounts and Audits and, Criminal Convictions and Voting. It provides valuable contextual information that may enable stakeholders to draw meaningful conclusions about election administration and develop tailored policy interventions.
Dr. Nichelle Williams works in the field of election administration and has worked in policy analysis and research for more than 10 years. She received her B.S. and Master’s from Old Dominion University and and her Ph.D. from Howard University.
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Election Security Updates
Shelby Pierson, the election security threats executive at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said this week that the federal government is geared up as never before to protect the 2020 election, but there are still limits as to what can be done.
“The threats as we go into 2020 are more sophisticated,” Pierson said the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s 2020 Elections Summit. “This is not a Russia-only problem. Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, non-state hacktivists all have opportunity, means and potentially motive to come after the United States in the 2020 election to accomplish their goals.”
While the threats are real, Pierson also noted that it was important not to undermine the trust people have in the election system.
“We’re uniquely cognizant that as we share information on election threats, we don’t want to undermine American confidence in our democratic process,” Pierson said. “What I want for the American voting public is that they understand these threats, that they’ve heard about it so frequently that they have availed themselves of the resources to them, that they can know where to vote, know how to vote if they’re not on the voter rolls, know where to seek authoritative information on candidates and ballot measures, so it’s with the confidence of knowing these threats that they’re empowered to participate in the process.”
Last week, executives from three voting machine vendors — ES&S, Hart InterCivic and Dominion Voting Systems — testified before Congress. According to NBC News, The hearing touched on a wide range of issues from the security of the machines and the prospect of independent review to lobbying and voter registration databases.
The vendors agreed to support future legislation that would require additional disclosures around their supply chain, cybersecurity practices, cyber incident reports, employee background checks and screening, and corporate ownership.
2020 Candidates on Voting Issues
During an event organized by Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight Action Group, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg rolled out his plans for voting rights if elected president. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, his plan centers on a national Voting Rights Act that requires states to conduct automatic voter registration. It would block states from purging voters on the basis of inactivity, restore voting rights to people with felony convictions and add more federal observers at polling sites. Another part of the proposal would require states to establish independent redistricting commissions to draw political maps. And it would mandate that all states allow early voting and adopt new standards for convenient polling place locations.
Election News This Week
Voters in Las Cruces, New Mexico used ranked choice voting for the first time during the November municipal election and an exit poll conducted on Election Day found that 53 percent of voters would support using ranked choice voting in future elections and that 60 percent of voters were confident their voters were counted as they intended them to be. The results also showed that 85 percent of voters understood how ranked choice voting worked. According to the Las Cruces Sun News, 41 percent of voters liked ranked choice at least somewhat, 35 percent disliked it at least somewhat and 24 percent said they felt neutral. The Dona Ana county clerk’s office said it saved about $100,000 using ranked choice instead of holding runoff elections.
The devil is in the details. Although a new state law allows Kansas counties to move to vote centers, this week Secretary of State Scott Schwab told the Senate elections committee that technical considerations, including cellphone coverage problems, in the state’s 105 counties made the process of drafting rules complex and the program won’t be finalized until 2021. “They are not going to be ready by this year simply because we don’t want to screw up,” the secretary of state said according to The Topeka Capital-Journal. “If we rushed it through for this year, I promise you there would be a lot of mistakes.”
Although you won’t need to show your AARP card to get in, the Douglas County, Georgia board of elections and registration is hoping to make voting a bit more convenient for the 55 and older crowd. The county will provide a sixth early voting location geared towards older voters. It will be located at the Woodie Fite Senior Center and the county will run shuttle buses from several locations to the voting site. “We are trying to accommodate all our voting citizens but also increase our customer service focusing on Douglas County’s older adult population,” County Elections Director Milton Kidd told The Patch.
The long-standing (about 60 years) tradition of voting at midnight in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire will continue for the February 11 presidential preference primary. Earlier this year, when the town’s population dipped to just four, the state warmed the hamlet that if they couldn’t come up with a fifth resident by the beginning of 2020, they would no longer be able to host a polling site. A local developer, who owns numerous properties in Dixville Notch, but resides in Maine has agreed to move to the town and register to vote.
Color us surprised, but the League of Women Voters is set to open the very first chapter on a college campus. The new chapter will be on the Penn State campus. The chapter is scheduled to be up and running by the end of the spring semester. “Penn State is a massive university but only a very low number actually vote [36 percent in 2016], so we’re trying to encourage student voting, especially because what we vote for is really important for us since we’ll be the ones most affected,” Sarabeth Bowmaster, president of the Penn State chapter told the Daily Collegian. “Our goal is to try and raise voter turnout and voter knowledge on campus.”
Vote At Home recently released its Annual Report 2019. Not only does the Annual Report detail the work of the Vote At Home organization, but it also covers the movement itself and includes lots of interesting numbers and details about who’s voting at home.
Sticker News: Voting opened this week in North Dakota, not in the 2020 presidential contest, but in the important contest to determine what the state’s new “I Voted” sticker will look like. The contest was open to fourth graders throughout the state and there were 168 submissions. Voting is now open in counties throughout the state and the winner will be announced in April.
Shoe News: Beginning this month, customers in Steve Madden stores will be able to buy a new pair of shoes and register to vote while doing it. Eighty-one Steve Madden locations will encourage customers to register with a unique text code that will be displayed in stores. The text code then prompts an online voter registration page powered by Voto Latino. For a chance to be featured on @stevemadden social, newly registered voters can grab an “I registered” sticker, take a selfie and post it using #GenSteveVotes.
Personnel News: Michael Watson has been sworn in as the Mississippi secretary of state. Alicia Treadway is the new Fayette County, West Virginia clerk. Debbie Steidl, Putnam County, Tennessee administrator of elections will be stepping down after 11 years on the job. Steve Ulrich has been hired as the new York County, Pennsylvania director of elections & voter registration. Charlotte Murphy has joined the Sampson County, North Carolina board of elections. West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner has filed for re-election. Christina Smith is the new Monroe Township, Michigan clerk.
Legislative Updates
Alaska: Supporters of an election reform initiative that would include allowing ranked choice voting, have turned in 41,000 petition signatures. To earn a spot on the ballot this fall, a measure needs the support of 28,501 registered Alaska voters from at least 30 of the state’s 40 House districts. The names submitted will be verified by the Division of Elections, and the measure’s backers told the Alaska Daily News they are confident they will have enough.
Indiana: The House is considering a bill that would keep polling locations open until 8 p.m. Polls currently close at 6pm.
Iowa: The Des Moines City Council will consider doing away with the city’s runoff elections after three such races cost the city $86,603 in 2019. According to the Des Moines Register, instead, the council could change the rules so the candidate with the most votes on the day of the general election would be the winner, regardless of whether the contender secured more than 50%. There would be no runoff contest. The city council will consider changing its election process at a later workshop meeting.
Kentucky: A Senate committee has approved a bill that move the state’s elections to even-numbered years. The proposal would go into effect after the 2023 election and make the first even-numbered election take place in 2028, putting Kentucky gubernatorial election years in line with presidential ones.
Maryland: A bill that would allow Montgomery County to add an additional early voting site in a diverse area of the county is moving forward after the Education, Elections and Housing Committee voting unanimously in support.
Nebraska: Legislators will once again consider a constitutional amendment (LR292CA) that would require a voter to show a photo ID in order to vote. According to the Lincoln Journal Star, the proposal requires poll workers to “review a photograph or a digital image of each voter to verify the identity of the voter.” The specifics on how those reviews would take place, as well as any exemptions for specific situations, would be up to future Legislatures to decide. This is the ninth time in 10 years that the Legislature has considered a voter photo ID proposal.
New Hampshire: Democrats on the Fiscal Committee voted to cut $477,000 from the Department of Justice’s litigation budget, arguing that the state should stop funding its ongoing defense of Senate Bill 3 and House Bill 1264.
New Jersey: The Legislature sent a couple piece of elections-related legislation to Phil Murphy this week. One bill, if signed, would allow New Jersey to offer online voter registration. The second bill fixes issues with 2019’s vote-by-mail legislation which was rendered moot by an obscure state committee on unfunded mandates. The new bill would require an annual appropriation each year to cover the costs associated with vote-by-mail.
New York: By a 40 to 20 vote, the Senate has approved a bill that will introduce automatic voter registration in the Empire State. The bill had previously been approved by both chambers in 2019, but was scrapped before being sent to the governor because it was discovered that a typo in the legislation would have allowed noncitizens to register to vote.
Ohio: There are two automatic voter registration bills pending in the Ohio Legislature. Under the House bill, voters would still have the option to opt-out of registering at the BMV, but those who choose to register would not be able to choose their party affiliation at that time, they would have to wait to do that at the polls. The bill would also use high school enrollment records to register new voters. The Senate bill
South Dakota: House Bill 1050, which would allow for online voter registration, has been introduced. It is sponsored by the Committee on Local Government at the request of the State Board of Elections. According KOTA, ff passed, the county auditors will still be in charge of maintaining voter registration records in their respective counties and any eligible voter with a valid driver’s license or state-issued ID card can register to vote through the online system.
Washington: Legislation has been introduced that would make the state’s recently implemented automatic voter registration to an opt-out system similar to Oregon’s. Currently voters at DMVs and government agencies are given the opportunity to opt-in. Titled the “VOTE Act,” the bill would also create “Voter Empowerment Centers” at all of the state’s public four-year colleges, with the stated goal to “make it easier for college students to cast their ballots if they have last-minute challenges that would otherwise be a barrier to voting.”
Virginia: The Senate Privileges and Elections Committee have advanced a bill that would allow for no-excuse absentee voting in any election. The committee voted 11-4, with two Republicans joining the majority Democrats. The bill heads to the Senate floor.
Wisconsin: The General Assembly is considering a bill that would have the state reimburse local clerks for the cost of conducting special elections. The bill was approved by the Senate several months ago and has the support of the governor.
Legal Updates
Minnesota: The Minnesota Supreme Court has denied a request by another Republican candidate for president to be featured on the ballot meaning that elections officials could go ahead with the printing of the ballots for absentee voting which is set to begin this week.
Missouri: In a 5-2 ruling the Missouri Supreme Court eliminated portions of the state’s voter photo ID law. According to the Kansas City Star, voters can once again bring non-photo identification — like a voter ID card, a college ID or a utility bill — to the polls without having to sign an affidavit stating they don’t have “a form of personal identification approved for voting.” This ruling returns state statute to where it was in 2016. “Although the State has an interest in combating voter fraud, requiring individuals voting under option two to sign a contradictory, misleading affidavit is not a reasonable means to accomplish that goal,” Judge Mary Russell wrote
New York: District Judge Alison J. Nathan has ruled that the New York State Board of Elections is violating the Constitution and federal election law when it designates certain registered voters as “inactive” and keeps those names out of poll books used on Election Day and during early voting. In her ruling, Nathan said the state must make those lists available to poll workers. In her 60-page ruling Nathan blamed the U.S. Postal Service and the national change of address registry for providing unreliable information.
Texas: Judge George D. Gilles has ordered that a ballot box found, after a recount seeking to solve an 832-vote discrepancy in a Midland County bond election, be opened and the ballots inside counted. The judge ordered that a ballot found at the bottom of a voting machine also be counted.
Also in Texas, voter Jarrod Stringer has filed a federal lawsuit arguing that the state is disenfranchising an unknown number of voters by violating the motor voter law. The state allows driver’s licenses applicants to complete their voter registration when they physically appear at a Texas Department of Public Safety office, but does not allow the same result when residents update or renew licenses online. Stringer filed a similar suit in 2014 which was eventually tossed but not without a sharp rebuke from the judge to the state.
Wisconsin: On Monday, Ozaukee County Circuit Court Judge Paul Malloy found the Wisconsin Elections Commission in contempt of court for failing to purge more than 200,000 voters from the rolls after he ordered that the commission do so following his ruling earlier this year. However, on Tuesday, the Wisconsin Appeals Court stayed the rulings ordering the elections officials to purge the voters in question. Also on Monday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court split 3-3 on whether to hear an expedited appeal of the lower court’s ruling. “The court’s decision to take a pass on this case irreparably denies the citizens of Wisconsin a timely resolution of issues that impact voter rights and the integrity of our elections,” wrote conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley. “The court disregards its duty to decide significant issues of statewide importance.”
Tech Thursday
Oklahoma: Five years ago, the state Legislature approved a bill directing the state to create a way for Oklahomans to register online to vote. Currently voters can update their registration online, but they cannot register for the first time. While state elections officials had hoped to have the system finally ready for 2020, unfortunately it won’t be. State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax told KGOU election officials are waiting for the Department of Public Safety to complete computer upgrades that would allow online voter registrations to be cross-referenced with applicants’ driver’s licenses or state-issued ID cards. Ziriax hopes that the system will be able to launch in 2021. “As Oklahoma’s chief election official, I strongly support online voter registration,” he said. “However, online voter registration should only launch when it is both technically feasible and secure, and not before.”
Opinions This Week
National Opinions: Election security | Fixing democracy | Chief Justice | Ranked choice voting | Suffrage | Turnout | Postmaster General | Election security | Election reform | Voting rights
Alaska: Open primaries
California: Ranked choice voting
Connecticut: Ranked choice voting
Florida: Ex-felon voting rights | Voter suppression
Georgia: Voting machines
Indiana: Poll hours
Kentucky: Voter ID, II, III, IV, V
Michigan: List maintenance
Minnesota: Primary
Missouri: Election preparations | Voter ID
New Jersey: Vote-by-mail
New York: Voting machines
North Carolina: Voter ID, II | Bladen County
Pennsylvania: York County | Paper ballots | Voting machines
Texas: Online voter registration
Virginia: Voting rights
Upcoming Events
IGO 2020 Mid-Winter Conference — The International Association of Government Officials will hold its 2020 Mid-Winter Conference in Isle of Palms, SC on January 24-30, 2020. This conference will offer approximately 30 hours of continuing education with 9 hours hosted by iGO’s new Certified Public Leader (CPL) Partner, Pepperdine University! Join iGO at Wild Dunes Resort this January to further your education on best practices, industry trends, and emerging technology, all while creating and strengthening professional relationships. iGO’s conferences provide the perfect combination of education and networking events to appeal to current members, prospective members, and non-members alike. Where: Isle of Palms, South Carolina. When: Jan. 24-30.
NASED Winter 2020 — Twice a year, the National Association of State Election Directors members gather to discuss the latest developments in election administration. Members of the public are welcome to attend at the non-member registration rate. Check back here for more information about the Winter 2020 Conference. Where: Washington, DC. When: January 30-February 2.
NASS Winter 2020 — The National Association of Secretaries of State will hold their Winter 2020 conference at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, D.C.’s West End. Check back here for more information about the Winter 2020 conference when it becomes available. Where: Washington, D.C. When: January 30-February 2.
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 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.
Advanced Data Analyst, North Carolina SBOE— This position is responsible for technical and analytical work with an emphasis on data analytics. Employee uses their knowledge and expertise to participate in the collection, preprocessing and analysis of structured, unstructured, and geospatial data, analyze data from disparate sources to discover trends, propose solutions and strategies to business challenges, and present information using various data visualization tools and techniques. The employee should be able to work collaboratively in cross-functional teams as well as independently with minimal supervision. Salary: $82,485 – $95,000. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Assurance Engineer, Free & Fair — Free & Fair (F&F) seeks an experienced assurance engineer—a developer who is thrilled to work on high-assurance open source elections technologies that demonstrate what is possible with modern applied formal methods-based development processes, methodologies, tools, and techniques. Our focus on national critical infrastructure, transparent engineering, and formal assurance makes this opportunity unique. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Database Administrator, North Carolina SBOE— Responsible for the administration of all county and state campaign finance and elections databases and database server instances. Collaborate and consult with the Infrastructure Group personnel on issues relating to data storage, access, backup/restore, and data archiving. Implement measures to provide for database integrity, backup and recovery, disaster recovery, and business continuity. Establish data security and access policies/practices. Based on knowledge of agency systems and supported applications; develop complex SQL code to automate routine administration tasks, continuously monitor infrastructure resources and processes and generate timely operational and maintenance alerts (including the disposition of county/state transactions, replication, scheduled database jobs, and the status of servers and services). Establish and administer database management, design, and coding standards. Create and maintain technical and procedural documentation. Model database entities and attributes and maintain data dictionary. Communicate database related issues and problems with relevant agency team members, developers, testers, and managers. Recommend and employ third party database tools to enhance efficiency and support capabilities. Salary: $82,485 – $95,000. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Deputy Director of Elections, Douglas County, Colorado — Directs, administers, and coordinates the Core Services of the Elections Division of the Clerk and Recorder’s Office, including voter registration, conducting elections, voter education and outreach, and precincting and boundaries. Performs complex administrative and supervisory work in a variety of management functions including personnel management, statutory compliance, and execution of the integrated processes to conduct all primary, general, coordinated, and other special elections within the county. Responsible for strategic planning, policy/procedure development and implementation, and continuous improvement. Salary: $7,295.58 – $9,119.42 Monthly. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Elections Clerk I, Douglas County, Colorado— This position serves as office support for the Elections Division of the Clerk and Recorder’s Office. The Election Clerk provides customer service, assists with clerical functions, and performs data entry for voter registration. Other duties in support of the conduct of elections or mail ballot processing may be assigned. Must be detail oriented, well organized, productive, and able to adapt in a high change environment. This role requires both independent judgment and the ability to work well as a part of a team. Professional representation of the Clerk and Recorder’s Office to the public is required to include standards outlined in the Vision, Mission, and Core Values of the Office. Salary: $2,304.00 – $2,879.00 Monthly. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Elections Outreach Coordinator, Thurston County, Washington— The Thurston County Auditor’s Office is looking for a candidate to join our outstanding team as our Election Outreach Coordinator. In this role, the successful candidate will coordinate activities related to candidates, voter and election outreach. This position also develops and produces election information and voter education materials and prepares and disseminates informational materials to encourage citizen participation in the election process. Salary: $3,952-$5257/month. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Elections Specialist, Douglas County, Colorado — This position is focused on routine customer service and general office/clerical support including data entry, communications, and processing mail. This is a support role capable of performing a variety of tasks, with problem solving abilities, managing multiple competing responsibilities and prioritizing to maintain a continuous flow of election office operations. This is a visible and crucial position requiring exceptional computer, customer service, and communication skills. This position may require technical work in a lead role capable of performing a variety of complex tasks, with solving problem abilities, managing multiple competing tasks and prioritizing to maintain a continuous flow of operations and temporary support. This position may be classified as an Elections Specialist I or II dependent upon the skills of the candidate and the department’s business needs. Salary: $2,842.00 – $4,017.00 Monthly. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Elections Specialist, King County Elections — The Department of Elections – is searching for energetic and resourceful professionals who like to “get stuff done”. The Administrative Specialist II positions in the Voter Services Department combines an exciting, fast-paced environment with the opportunity to cultivate talents and apply a variety of skills. The ideal candidate will have a desire to help ensure the democratic process through public service. They will thrive in an innovative environment and will not hesitate to roll up both sleeves, work hard, have fun, and get the job done. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Elections Warehouse Worker, Douglas County, Colorado — This is a highly physical position with a heavy emphasis on warehouse work, requiring the ability to continually lift equipment weighing more than 50 pounds. This position will perform routine maintenance on voting equipment, identify non-routine repairs to election equipment and mark and track equipment for follow up maintenance. incumbent will coordinate equipment and maintain records documenting device history. Forklift certification is a plus. Salary: $2,445.00 – $3,056.00 Monthly. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Embedded Systems Engineer, Free & Fair— Free & Fair (F&F) seeks an experienced embedded systems engineer—a developer and engineer who is thrilled to work on a high-assurance open source elections technologies that demonstrate what is possible with modern development processes, methodologies, tools, and techniques. Our focus on national critical infrastructure, transparent engineering, and formal assurance makes this opportunity unique. One component of the BESSPIN Voting System is a custom-built, open source, open hardware platform for demonstrating secure hardware. It includes low- and mid-range FPGAs running softcore RISC-V CPUs, simple I/O devices, and an RTOS. This platform is called CASCADES (Configurable, Affordable System-on-Chip for Analysis and Demonstration of Election Security) and is a CrowdSupply project. A prototype for CASCADES is the Smart Ballot Box that we brought to DEF CON 2019. We call this role an embedded systems engineer, since much of the development that we do spans hardware, firmware, and software design and development. Moreover, we use a mixture of low-level and high-level languages, COTS and novel (FPGA-based) development platforms, and traditional and novel operating systems. We hope that potential applicants do not put themselves in an unnecessarily small box. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Executive Director, Chicago Board of Election Commissioners— The Executive Director serves as the chief administrator, providing leadership and implementing policies and programs to carry out the work of the Board. The Executive Director directs an annual operating budget of approximately $34M and leads a staff of 130 full-time employees broken into 7 Divisions comprised of: Registration; Information Technology; Human Resources; Finance; Community Services/Poll Workers; Pre-Election Voting & Logistics; and, Warehouse Operations. All full-time employees, including the Assistant Executive Director, are compensated through the City of Chicago and subject to the benefits offered to City employees, although they are employees of the Board and not the City. Although an employee of the Board, the Executive Director is compensated through Cook County and receives employee compensation and benefits in line with County policies. By statute, the Executive Director must take an oath of office before the Cook County Circuit Court. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Grants Specialist, U.S. Election Assistance Commission— The Grants Specialist will assist the Grants Director to manage and administer the grants program for the EAC pursuant to 5 USC §3109 (See 42 USC §15324(b)) and §204 (6)(c) of HAVA. The incumbent provides expert advice to EAC leadership regarding grants management; provides advice and guidance to States and U.S. territories regarding the use of funds provided by EAC to ensure State/U.S. territory compliance with HAVA, Appropriations Law and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) circulars; conducts pre- and post-audits to review how funds have been spent; and makes recommendations to the Executive Director for audit resolutions. Salary: $69,581 to $128,920 per year. Deadline: June 17, 2020. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Project Manager, Hart InterCivic— Project Managers at Hart InterCivic are highly motivated “self-starters” who are enthusiastic about providing exceptional customer service. Working with other members of the Professional Services and Operations teams, the Project Manager directs activity, solves problems, and develops lasting and strong relationships with our customers. Hart InterCivic’s unique and industry known culture of innovation, transparency, and customer-centric focus creates an environment where team members will continually grow and be challenged to develop their careers. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Research Manager, Center for Election Innovation and Research — The Research Manager will report to the Executive Director and will be responsible for the execution of CEIR’s research agenda. The Research Manager will assist or lead research activities generally associated with the conduct of elections and voting. Under the supervision of the Executive Director, the Research Manager determines objectives and milestones, builds effective relationships within the team and with partners, and performs the following activities: Manage day-to-day operational and tactical aspects of multiple research studies, delegating or coordinating duties with research staff as appropriate; Develop and manage project activity timelines, study budgets, and tracking documents for study management, progress tracking, and general logistics; Design and manage research studies, including the development of methodologies and data collection tools; Lead and supervise research and support staff. Provide and oversee appropriate training of research staff; Develop and maintain research-team specific standard operating procedures and training materials; Submit routine (informal) progress reports to the Executive Director; Work closely with the operations manager on issues related to budget, grant compliance, and other financial issues; Collaborate with public and private sector partners, including academic and research organizations, to facilitate implementation of project objectives; Conduct data analysis and draft study reports; Conduct literature reviews to identify research and emerging data relevant to projects. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Rigorous Systems/Software Engineer, Free & Fair — Free & Fair (F&F) seeks several experienced systems/software engineers—developers who are thrilled to work on high-assurance open source elections technologies that demonstrate what is possible with modern development processes, methodologies, tools, and techniques. Our focus on national critical infrastructure, transparent engineering, and formal assurance makes this opportunity unique. We call this role either/both system engineers or software engineers, since much of the development that we do spans hardware, firmware, and software design and development. Moreover, we use a mixture of low-level and high-level languages, COTS and novel (FPGA-based) development platforms, and traditional and novel operating systems. We hope that potential applicants do not put themselves in an unnecessarily small box. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Software Sales Specialist, VOTEC— VOTEC’s Sales Specialist is responsible for creating news sales with prospects and existing clients in targeted areas in the US. We are looking for an election professional comfortable using insight and consultative selling techniques to create interest that offers unique solutions on their operations, which link back to VOTEC’s solutions. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
UI/UX Engineer, Free & Fair — Free & Fair (F&F) seeks an experienced UI/UX engineer—someone who practices user-centric design, finds usable security a fascinating area of R&D, someone who appreciates usable and accessible technologies, and a developer and engineer who is thrilled to work on high-assurance open source elections technologies that demonstrate what is possible with modern development processes, methodologies, tools, and techniques. Our focus on national critical infrastructure, transparent engineering, and formal assurance makes this opportunity unique. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
VP of Engineering, Free & Fair— Free & Fair (F&F) seeks an experienced systems engineering development leader—an executive who can step in and build a dynamic, distributed engineering team, deliver solutions to the market, and execute challenging development activities focused on national critical infrastructure. The VP of Engineering at F&F will be responsible for executing on the Company’s overall technology vision and driving its development execution. This person will recruit world-class talent, manage and evolve development processes and methodologies, and foster an organizational structure to help our high-performing development team deliver applications to the market. This person will keep abreast of and influence research and technology trends, standards, and stakeholders. This person will have the ability to bridge technology with business acumen, will bring experience in developing state-of-the-art customer-facing applications, and will develop and sustain a culture of passion, hard work, and innovation. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Voting Equipment/IT Technician, Alamance County, North Carolina— An employee in this class performs election duties as it pertains to the certified voting equipment, including but not limited to coding, programming, testing and performing required maintenance on all equipment, requiring application and compliance with the Election Laws of North Carolina and Federal/State/Local voting regulations. This position performs technical and complex support activities associated with the preparation for and conduct of elections to include calibration of equipment, developing test scripts, collecting and auditing tabulation data. Employee will perform yearly ADA site evaluations and assist in assembly and distribution of precinct supplies. Employee within this position will need to possess proficiency in organizational skills, a strong aptitude in math, and knowledge of, or the ability to learn and adhere to State and local statutes/regulations affecting elections and elections process. Public speaking will be required for training classes for election workers. This position covers a variety of hardware and software support for Board of Election and their devices (PCs, laptops, smartphones, tablets, Photo ID Camera). Work is performed in accordance with Alamance County and Board of Election policies and procedures that are compliant with HIPAA, CJIS, and PCI. Responsibilities include but are not limited to supporting hardware and software applications, resolving technical issues through diligent research. Employee may consult with precinct officials, vendors and others to resolve technical issues. The Employees IT work will be coordinated through the Alamance County IT Network Team and compliant with the safety and security protocols set forth by the County’s IT Department. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
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