Running Elections Efficiently, A Best Practices Convening

On May 20, 2013, I attended the "Running Elections Efficiently, A Best Practices Convening" at the Kellogg Center, Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), International Affairs Building in New York.

A side note: This was their graduation ceremonies day. Walking through the campus as they were setting-up was an interesting experience, got to talk with some graduates.

This one day event is designed to bring together election administrators, advocates, Legislative staff, and members of the public from throughout the nation to learn about election practices that have been adopted in different regions.

The event was co-sponsored by Common Cause, Common Cause/NY, and the Urban and Social Policy Programs, School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University with support from the George S. McGovern Great Government Endowment.

The goal of the convening was to learn procedures, costs, and effective practices from administrators who have implemented these types of reforms and what the future holds for our election process.

The Panels:

Early Voting
Michael Dickerson - Director, Board of Elections Mecklenburg County, NC
Maggie Toulouse Oliver - Clerk, Bernalillo County, NM
Ross Goldstein - Deputy State Administrator, Maryland Board of Elections
Wendy Weiser - Director, Democracy Program, Brennan Center (Moderator)

The moderator started the panel with the facts that 32 states and D.C. had early voting and 20 states had bills to start or increase early voting days.

The first panelist to speak was the Director from North Carolina. They allow 17 days of early voting and no excuse absentee ballots. They use a centralized database that allows laptops for voter verification with a signature device like a store credit card system. This system is a version of an E-Poll Book. They are evaluating to include registration during the early voting period. They are looking at adding a photo in future versions of their E-Book.

The next panelist was the Clerk from New Mexico. They allow 28 days of early voting and no excuse absentee ballots. They use an advanced E-Poll Book system that uses Ballot on Demand printing. They use a leased annex next to the board's office for early voting and absentee ballot receipt. They are looking at adding a photo in future versions of their E-Book. They use a optical scan system from Election System and Software, like the system used in New York. They are not happy with the system's close process and its management system and will replace it.

The last panelist was the Deputy State Administrator from Maryland. They allow 8 days of early voting and no excuse absentee ballots. This system is a version of an E-Poll Book. They are getting ready to pilot including registration during the early voting period. They are looking at adding a photo in future versions of their E-Book. Because they are centralized and synced, they allow candidates to download voter list daily of who voted early. This radically changes how a candidate would do their grassroots work.

Registration Modernization
Michael Dickerson - Director, Board of Elections Mecklenburg County, NC
Maggie Toulouse Oliver - Clerk, Bernalillo County, NM
Samuel Derheimer - Manager, Election Initiatives, PEW Charitable Trust
Paul Kominers - TurboVote, New York City
Wendy Weiser - Director, Democracy Program, Brennan Center (Moderator)

The moderator started the panel with the facts that 25 states are working on bills to change their registration process. The 11 states and D.C. with same-day registration are: California, Connecticut, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

The first panelist to speak was the Director from North Carolina. They are planning to use their E-Poll Book system to allow registration during early voting. They use the postal system, by sending a postcard, to verify an address. They print their backup poll books on the Saturday before election day.

The next panelist was the Clerk from New Mexico. They currently use a paper registration system. They are developing an in-house system using tablet/iPad with a third-party company called EVOTEE for registration and record updates. They also are looking at putting these touch-screen systems in their Motor Vehicle offices.

The next panelist was the Manager from PEW Charitable Trust. He talked about a new initiative to create a voter database. Currently the states of Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, Nevada, Utah, Virgina, and Washington share voter data. The project is called Election Registration Information Center (ERIC Project). The Pew Charitable Trusts is partnering with election officials, policy makers, technology experts, and other stakeholders toward a voter registration system that features:

•Greater coordination among states in order to increase accuracy and reduce costs.
•Better use of available databases, such as motor vehicle information, Social Security death records and National Change of Address information, to keep voter registration lists current.
•Access for voters to securely update records electronically in order to minimize manual data entry.

An analysis of ERIC's database determined in 2012, there was 3.5 million provisional ballots and we do not know if they were all counted and 1.2 million voters did not or were unable to vote.

The last panelist was from TurboVote. TurboVote, an up-and-coming start-up, who wants to become the "Netflix of voting" by revolutionizing voter registration and vote by mail via the Internet and snail mail. The concept is: Users fill out voter registration or vote by mail forms on their Internet browser, then TurboVote prints an official document based on that data. TurboVote sends users a paper copy through snail mail along with an envelope pre-printed with the address of each user's local voter election board — very much how Netflix's original business model works. Once a user gets the form and envelope, all they've got to do is sign the form, stuff it in the envelope and drop it in the mail. TurboVote also send users text message reminders when registration or voting deadlines are approaching to remind them to get their paperwork in the mail. Reminders are sent for elections at every level of government, including local, state and federal.

Online Registration and Voter Education
Ester Fuchs - Director, Urban and Social Policy Programs, Columbia University (SIPA)
Art Chang - Chairman, Voter Assistance Advisory Committee, NYC Campaign Finance Board
Dean Logan - Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, Los Angeles County
Ross Goldstein - Deputy State Administrator, Maryland State Board of Elections
Jenny Flanagan - Director of Voting and Elections, Common Cause (Moderator)

The moderator discussed the challengers of voting online and their effort of voter education. CLICK HERE for more information about Common Cause's efforts.

The first panelist was the Director, Urban and Social Policy Programs (SIPA). She explained their new website for New York City voters, WhoseOnTheBallot.org features.

The next panelist was the Chairman, Voter Assistance Advisory Committee, NYC Campaign Finance Board. He explained a new App called NYC Votes. While initially aimed at helping campaigns to deal with donations, developers say they plan to add features in the coming months that will allow voters to find and research candidates; interact over social media; localize their ballot; and get elections results. The app was developed by the Voter Assistance Advisory Committee (VAAC) of the CFB with the assistance of partners from the city's civic-oriented tech developer community, including Pivotal Labs and Method. TekServe, an Apple sales specialist, has agreed to help candidates get swiping technology working on their devices. It will be rolled out later in May.

The next panelist was the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, Los Angeles County. He discussed an analysis that paper registration produced 72% voting but online registration in 12 states produced 81% voting. He spoke about the social networking to get out the vote with RockTheVote, LaVote.net helped to be proactive with voters. He hopes to have an online voting system fully developed by 2016.

The last panelist was the Deputy State Administrator, Maryland. He talked about how he is using the ERIC Project for online registration and hopes to add the ability to apply for an absentee ballot in the future.

Post Election Procedures - Audits and Recounts
Douglas Kellner - Co-Chair, NY State Board of Elections
Philip Stark - Chair, Statistics Dept., University of CA, Berkeley
Pamela Smith - President, Verified Voting Foundation (Moderator)

The moderator spoke about the need for consistent audits for all types of ballots, chain of ballot custody, and an escalation process to handle problems as quickly as possible.

The first panelist was the Co-Chair, New York State Board of Elections. He explained that NY went optical in 2005 that included a voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT). That there is an automatic audit of a 3% hand count with random selection of machines. There is a recanvas if the vote is within .5%. One problem with the optical scanners was voter intent in a recount. Looking at the ballot, if a voter circled a name it would not be counted originally but the court might accept it. If a ballot is signed by the voter it becomes invalid but the scanner would count it. New York hopes to modify the scanner to put an identifiable mark on the scanned ballot to be able to retrieve a redacted version of the stored ballot image. The re-count process is still not decided for the upcoming September Primaries in New York.

The last panelist was the Chair, Statistics Dept., University of CA, Berkeley. He explained new algorithms for recounts. He called it Leveraging by Stirring a Random sample of ballots. After showing different charts, he explained Risk-Limited Audits that only requires counting ballots until you know the winner, the different will not change if you continue counting. He also talked about software that would match the machine count number to the ballot image.

Disaster Preparedness and Polling Place Challenges
Denise Liberman - Senior Attorney, Advancement Project
Valerie Vazquez - Public Affairs and Communications, NYC Board of Elections
Douglas Kellner - Co-Chair, NY State Board of Elections
Dean Logan - Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, Los Angeles County
Susan Lerner - Executive Director, Common Cause/NY (Moderator)

The moderator spoke about the effort in New York City after Super Storm Sandy to send out canvasser to make sure the provisional ballots were delivered.

The first panelist was the Senior Attorney, Advancement Project. He spoke about better poll worker training, better wages, using students at the polls, giving tax credits for poll workers, 1/2 day shifts, and having more bi-lingual poll workers.

The next panelist was the Public Affairs and Communications, New York City Board of Elections. Using a slide show, she gave a detail report of what happened before, during, and after Super Storm Sandy. She spoke about the need to include opt-in email address during registration for better notification using all available options. There was also the moving stored scanners away from flood areas (A zone) helped but they missed the areas near (B zone) areas.

The next panelist was the Co-Chair, NY State Board of Elections. He spoke about some of the good things the New York City's Board of Elections did during the storm. He suggested there is a need to pre-stage generators. There was many cases of long lines and he did inform there was a 30 minute wait time limit in the law. There was another round of discussions about how to eliminate long lines.

The last panelist was the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, Los Angeles County. He spoke about the need for better absentee ballot processes, extending return dates for all mail-in/military/oversees ballots, the need for reserve poll workers, pre-depose equipment, using students at the polls, using county workers at the polls, and off-site ballot counting.

It was a long day, but I meet many new people who are interested in versions of structural political reform.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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