Author: Kim Strach, Executive Director
Your preparation and hard work have been very evident over the one-stop early voting period. Voters have been making their voices heard across the state with very few complaints, especially regarding the administration of photo ID. I attribute this to your dedicated efforts to ensure uniform processes in your voting sites.
Note on one-stop early voting sites: Because the deadline to request a mail-in absentee ballot has passed, the large posters explaining voter’s rights to request an absentee ballot at one-stop early voting sites (titled “NO ID? Request an absentee ballot here today”) should have been taken down by now.
Lessons From One-Stop Early Voting
With March 15 only days away, we want to make sure every Election Day precinct official is as prepared as possible. Throughout one-stop early voting, state board staff have been visiting voting locations across the state. The following is provided based on those observations, feedback from voters and feedback that many of you have provided:
- Election greeters have been a great asset. When used appropriately, our greeters have helped make the process run smoother and faster. Please ensure that our election greeters are not acting in the role of evaluating photo ID for compliance and reasonable resemblance.
- All voting sites must properly monitor their curbside voting areas. It should never be necessary for someone to come inside to come inside to get a precinct official for a voter to vote curbside.
- Please make sure precinct officials are using the Station Guide and the scripted language it provides for different situations; the language in the Station Guide helps ensure uniformity.
- Precinct officials must ask unaffiliated voters their party preference. Just because an unaffiliated voter does not volunteer a preference does not mean the voter must vote a nonpartisan ballot. Please ensure that precinct officials provide all options to the unaffiliated voter.
- Some voters have asked to change their party affiliation at the time they present to vote. No changes of party affiliation can be made for the March 15 primary. A voter who is not unaffiliated, but insists on voting a ballot of a different party from his or her affiliation, should be allowed to vote that ballot style as a provisional ballot.
- Please ensure precinct officials are using the Help Referral form. This form is not only helpful within the voting site but also provides your office with an excellent audit tool.
- Voters who do not present acceptable photo ID must be given all of their options. If the voter does not vote a provisional ballot, it is critical that precinct officials have the voter sign the Acknowledgement. This is our assurance that no voter is being turned away.
- DMV customers do not receive their drivers license or state identification card when they depart the DMV office after applying for either card. DMV has recently started providing those customers with a paper document that contains an image of their card. This document does not qualify as an acceptable form of photo ID. But note that if the voter has no other acceptable photo ID, the reasonable impediment option is available. The DMV paper document bearing the voter’s card image would qualify as a government document for a voter who needs to provide a “HAVA document” — and that could include voters voting curbside or making a Reasonable Impediment Declaration.)
(Attached is a document that reviews the next topics; it should be directed to your county’s chief judges.)
Election Day Lines
In the past, this office has collected information about voter wait times or lines. For the 2016 primary, we are asking county board of elections offices to collect information about lines of voters in the county’s precincts. We will be testing a more automated method of collecting this information during the June election.
For each precinct, please ask the precinct’s chief judge to report:
- number of voters in line at the time polls open and close
- maximum number of voters in line during the day
- minimum number of voters in line during the day (if there was any point in the day where there is no line, this number would be zero)
- average number of voters in line during the day For this purpose, the “line” is defined as the number of voters waiting to step up to the check-in table.
Collecting this information: We are aware that precinct officials may not have collected information on lines or wait times in the past, and that there are challenges involved in collecting this data. The attached document (addressed to precinct chief judges) contains a template to collect the voter line information.
Maintaining Confidentiality of US House Contest Results at the Precinct Level
As we have stressed in earlier communications, the election results of the U.S. House primaries on the ballot must not be counted and must remain confidential. That means those results will not be included in election night reporting.
It is equally critical that precinct officials know to not look at or provide precinct-specific numbers on U.S. House contests to anyone. These numbers will appear on the results tape printed out from voting equipment, which means that precinct officials cannot print out an extra copy of that tape for anyone (unless it is redacted), and they must not show that tape to any person who is not an election official. Redacting the U.S. House contests requires marking over the numbers with a black marker on both sides of the tape. The preferred way to ensure confidentiality of the U.S. House results on the tape is to keep the entire printout of tape secure. Members of the public, including election observers, do not have the right to see that tape (unless redacted) because it contains confidential information. If a member of the public or observer wishes to know information about contests other than U.S. House, a precinct official could read aloud those numbers to the inquiring person.
It cannot be stressed enough that precinct officials must be prepared to ensure all U.S. House election results are kept confidential.
Continued Success
Thank you again for your dedication and that of your personnel during this unique and challenging election season.
[Download the PDF below for the letter attachment directed to chief judges.]