Author: Gary O. Bartlett, Executive Director
Dear Directors,
This is a reminder to begin planning how your county will conduct one-stop voting for the Nov. 6, 2012 general election. Counties that wish to provide additional one-stop absentee voting sites, expanded hours, or open a site “in lieu of” the CBE office in a different building must submit an implementation plan to SBE for approval. To review, one-stop voting must be available at the CBE office from the third Thursday before each election, open during general business hours on weekdays up until the Friday before the Election, and also on the last Saturday before the Election until at least 1 p.m. (G.S. §163-227.2(b)).
State law mandates submission of implementation plan to the State Board, if the county wishes to change or expand sites and/or hours. G.S. §163-227.2(g). The implementation plan must be brought by unanimous vote of all the county board’s members. If unanimity cannot be reached on a plan, a member or members of a county board may also petition the State Board to adopt a proposed plan.
Plans must be received by the State Board office by close of business on Friday, Aug. 10, 2012. Plans should be e-mailed to George McCue at george.mccue@ncsbe.gov.
Be advised that there are currently no plans to provide counties with state funding for the establishment or operation of one-stop sites for the 2012 general election.
Generally, one-stop voting sites must follow the guidelines for polling locations as set forth in G.S. §163-129. However, G.S. § 163-227.2(g1) sets forth criteria for exceptions should there be unusual circumstances in selecting a one-stop location.
Please be aware that your implementation plan must cover all one-stop locations within your county, even if there have been no changes to accepted plans submitted for previous elections, including the May primary. Also, counties that must comply with federal DOJ preclearance requirements will need to seek preclearance of the implementation plan (even if the same plan has been precleared before), but they should submit the plan to SBE. Please allow at least 60 days before the beginning of one-stop for federal preclearance.
As with the May primary and second primary, site information will need to be entered into One Stop System Manager after the implementation plan has been approved. Instructions will be provided at a later time, once plans begin to be approved by SBE.
The following list provides guidelines to create your county’s one-stop implementation plan. Add any necessary details to clearly state procedures. The plan should be statutorily compliant and thorough enough to use it as an explanation of your procedure in the case of any protest, legal proceeding, or question from the public. Also, attached separately is a sample plan for further guidance, if needed, as to the level of detail that SBE looks for in a successful implementation plan.
Guidelines for Completing a One-Stop Absentee Voting Site Implementation Plan
- Resolution: State that the CBE unanimously agreed to the one-stop implementation plan. Include a copy of the resolution or minutes verifying that unanimous agreement was reached. Implementation plans are good for one election cycle only. Any changes in the plan will have to be approved by the SBE Executive Director.
- Specify whether sites are in addition to the CBE office or “in lieu of” the CBE office: If the one-stop site is “in lieu of” the CBE office, the site must be proximate to the CBE office and must provide adequate coverage for the county’s electorate. Explain why the CBE office will not be used and how the “in lieu of” site was selected. SBE approval is not required if the county wishes to simply move one-stop voting to a different room in the same building as the CBE office.
- Location: List the name and street address of the building that will house each one-stop site. Explain how and why the building was selected.
- Open hours: Provide the exact days and hours that one-stop voting will occur at each location covered by the plan.
- Notice: Describe when, where, how, and what notice will be given regarding places and times of one-stop voting. Notification must be given to news media and political party chairs no later than 30 days prior to election day (10 days prior to the beginning of one-stop absentee voting).
- Security: Describe how this building will be secured. Give sufficient details to demonstrate that the voting machines and ballots will be safe.
- Signs: Describe the signage that will be used to direct voters to the correct building as well as any signage used on the interior of the building directing voters to the correct room.
- Accessibility: For new one-stop sites, address the accessibility of the building and the parking by completing a polling place survey (if the site is not new and a polling place survey has previously been completed and is still current, please specify so).
- Voting equipment: Describe the voting equipment, how it will be used, and how it will be secured at the end of each day. Describe the process used for testing equipment.
- Laptop computers: How will data be transferred from the remote site to the county server? (The two options would be a “hybrid” connected mode in which data is transferred periodically throughout the day, or by a “disconnected” mode in which data is transferred manually via a USB drive.)
- Staffing and training: Describe staffing and training for staff (i.e. number of training opportunities and hours for each, type of training).
- Operation procedures: Describe procedures for daily setup, closing, and end of voting. Explain measures taken for daily security of ballots, equipment, and other election materials.
- Ballot retrievability: Describe how ballots can be retrieved from the Optical or DRE machines.
- Chain of custody of equipment and materials: How will equipment and supplies be returned to the elections office if the plan is for an additional or alternative site not in the elections office?
- Voter process: Describe how the voter will move through the voting process. Start at the door and explain the voting process step by step.
- Registration: Describe procedures for processing in-person registration and one-stop voting applicants pursuant to G.S. 163-82.6A.
- Voter assistance: How and under what circumstances will assistance be given to voters?
- Curbside voting: Describe curbside voting and how it will be conducted at each site.
- Provisional voting: Describe the provisional voting process.
- Voter challenges: Describe the challenge procedure.
- Observers: How will you provide for political party observers?
- Emergency/backup plan: What will you do if one site or even more than one becomes unavailable without warning? Provide a contingency plan that addresses all sites (consolidate sites, alternate sites, etc.). A key component of any emergency plan is that the county board of elections will be contact as soon as possible to assess the situation and take action if needed.
As always, thank you for your cooperation.
[Download the PDF below for the sample implementation plan attachment.]
↓ One-Stop Voting Implementation Plans for the 2012 General Election: Numbered Memo 2012-17 (PDF)