Oswego County Board of Elections Official Annual Statistical Summary & Narrative Report of Election Operations 2003 Commissioners of Elections Donald M. Wart and William W. Scriber
Elections Operation A Year Round Operation The majority of the work of the Board of Elections goes unnoticed, but the election system runs year round. The greater part of the technical workload happens without the notice of the press and public, but is just as important to the administration of Elections to insure the voters have confidence in an Election System that is free, fair and efficient. Over the course of the year, the Board of Elections is responsible from everything in the two volumes of New York State Election Law to the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act 2002, which started to phase in during 2003. Each of these mandated requirements has a certain timetable and strict reporting or certification dates which are established by the federal and state political calendar. Work Flow for Year 2003 Based on 52 weeks Mail Check NOCA Voter File Maint Petitions Sig Review Inspector Training General Election Records Retention Out Reach - Voter Reg. HAVA 2003 Primary Election Designating Petitions Designating petitions are one of the most time intensive tasks the Board handles each year. Each petition goes thought a six-step process. The entire process is under strict bi-partisan operation to insure all have complete faith in the system. 1. On face review at counter two clerks review. 2. Official receipt and time stamp. 3. Entry into computer tracking program two clerks verify spellings, office and enter. 1
4. Generation of Notice of Filing to candidate- - two clerks or secretaries enter and mail notice by end of business each day. 5. Commissioners face review both commissioners review according to guidelines established by the New York State Board of Elections. 6. Filing in secure filing cabinet filed by a bi-partisan team and locked. The designating petitions remain in a secure state until the time period expires for challenges. This year the Board received 772-designating petitions, 34-independent petitions and 8-town caucuses making us near the top of all counties for number of filers in 2003. In addition, the Board ruled on eight challenges it received in relation to petitions that were filed. One case made it to Supreme Court and the Board s decision was upheld in that case. Financial Filings A shared responsibility that the Board has with the New York State Board of Elections is the tracking and filing of campaign financial disclosure statements. In recent years the State Board has created a computer filing system for state office campaigns and there is now a serious discussion on requiring filings over $1000.00 to be made to the state. The local Boards responsibility is the tracking and filing of all county, town and city filers in Oswego County. The total number of filings in 2003 was 342, which ranked Oswego County in the top 1/3 of all counties in New York State. Ballot Preparation/Supply and Voting Materials The Board of Elections is responsible to prepare each ballot in both cities and all twenty-two towns in Oswego County. State law strictly regulates the process of ballot preparation. There are 59 individual ballot styles in Oswego County that must be prepared, checked one by one for correct placement and spelling, and cross checking for offices and Election districts. This is a totally manual process that takes over a week twice each year. From these are generated the absentee ballots, voting machine strips, and affidavit ballots. In addition to the ballot preparation, over a week is dedicated to the packing and preparation of the supplies that must be distributed to each of the 120 election districts. Every district must contain voter lists, election supplies, maps, a flag, poll book, pens/pencils, paper, inspector instructions and over twenty additional important and necessary supplies. 2
File Maintenance/Mail Check/National Change Of Address At 90,615 voter files in our system, both computer and paper, the Board has a considerable task of keeping correct address and current voter status accurate. This year the added requirement of including drivers license numbers or the last four social security numbers to all new registrations has increased the record maintenance. The numbers of new registrants were 1221 at close of 2003 that still needed required identification as mandated by HAVA. The Board has three main methods to insure we keep as accurate accounting as possible. First, each year we match our database against the United States Post Office s Change of Address database to check any persons that have moved and have not sent a change of address to us. Second, we mail a Voter Mail Check Card to each active registered voter to verify they are still at their registered address. Our improvement in correcting mailing addresses has shown progress over the last several years from a 10.2 percent return rate in 2001 compared to 1 percent in 2003. This return rate is a huge cost savings to county taxpayers. Third, the Board has one person who reviews a number of sources to remove deceased persons from our voter files. This position was eliminated in early 2003, which has slowed the Board s identification and removal of these deceased voter files. Canvass Counting the Votes/Certifying the Elections After each Election the Board of Elections has the responsibility to insure the accurate tally of the votes cast. The Canvass or tallying of the votes is usually a two to three week process that has defined timetables in state law. Each of the 120 individual Election District s paperwork must be re-checked for accuracy and completeness along with each voting machine s reading. All absentee, affidavit and emergency ballots must be checked and added to the machine totals. All these totals are kept on official canvass sheets, and then transferred to the Board s computer system where reports are run to insure everything matches. During this process each voting machine must be rechecked to insure all numbers are correct. Where there are discrepancies both 3
commissioners must re-canvass the machine to insure each line, each number is 100 percent true and accurate. After this process both Election Commissioners jointly check each and every line to insure accuracy and after this the re-canvass becomes the official canvass. The Board then certifies the Election totals and sends notices to the winners and certifies to the New York State Board of Elections. In 2003 the deadline was December 2 nd, the county board with the reduction of staff mid-year made it by just one day, December 1 st. Voter Registration/Enrollment Oswego County s voter enrollment level has led to one of New York s highest levels of processing of voter registrations, absentee applications and annual database maintenance. This has equated into an increased workload in voter file maintenance. In 1980 the Board s average number of records per Election Clerk was 7,372, nearly doubling in 2001 to 14,585. At present the workload per Election Clerk is, at reduced staff level, 22, 641 files. 92000 90000 88000 86000 84000 82000 80000 78000 76000 74000 72000 70000 77,783 80,267 82,905 86,293 87,51287,629 90,615 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Oswego County Ranked as the 19 th Largest County for Voter Enrollment in New York State. Other counties in New York State that were in the same general voter level were Chautaugua, Schenectady and Rensselaer all with enrollments in the 90,000+ range. 4
Election Inspector Training and Election Day Operations The Oswego Board of Elections administers 120 Election Districts at 62 different polling sites throughout the county. In order to accomplish this we appoint over 480 Election Inspectors and 37 alternates. With the normal turn over and the need to continually insure Election Inspectors are as well informed as possible the Board ran seven training courses in 2003. We instructed over 175 Election Inspectors and alternates in the three-hour class. New York State Election Law requires that each inspector every three years take a course and pass a test to be certified. In 2004 inspector training maybe required each year. As part of our commitment to provide the most advanced training possible to our Election Inspectors we additionally created a web-training course that mirrors our in person lessons to be used as a refresher or could be taken if an Election Inspector could not make the course. This is a training course in addition to a workbook and training tape that is used in conjunction with the web. Re-Mapping Oswego County Election Districts and County Legislative Lines April 1 st marked the start of the official new election districts in Oswego County. The three month long project that remapped most every election district in Oswego County finished with the certification of enrollment by the commissioners to the New York State Board of Elections. As the voter population increased and as a result of the legislatures reapportionment it was necessary to manually review each Election District and make changes. Many Screen shot of the Board of Election s GIS district mapping system. boundaries had to be corrected, as they had no legally accepted permanent lines and new districts were created to accommodate the county legislatures new district lines. The process was done entirely with the use of the Boards new Maptitude for Precinct & Election Management mapping software. The estimated savings by using this software was approximately $25,000 by minimizing un-necessary election district creation. After the creation and realignment of the districts the process did not end. Each change had to be transferred to the voter registration database and hundreds of maps printed for the various constituencies. 5
Future of Elections 2004/2005 and Beyond As we enter 2004 we are quickly closing in on the deadline for the complete enactment of the Help America Vote Act. The implementation of this federal mandate will require additional resources to successfully introduce new voting systems over the next two years. While the federal legislation requires a significant increase in the Board s responsibilities it also carries with it a significant amount of federal funds to Oswego County. Potentially, we will be eligible for 1 to 1.5 million dollars distributed in 2004 thru 2005. As the 2004 state legislative season begins the legislature will consider legislation that will address guidelines, timetables and an appropriation schedule for the restructuring of election s administration in New York State. As yet the full details are not rock solid, but the Proposed new Electric Voting Machine NYS Board of Elections HAVA Plan gives us clear details on the upcoming changes. Given the average production cycle of a new electronic voting machine of 6-8 months, that places us with state bid requirements, at close to a year in preimplementation to January 1, 2006. This clearly places us at a starting point in mid to late 2004 with running a fully new voter election process in 2005. Even as most details are not certain the Boards operations have already been affected with proposed requirements to train all Election Inspectors each year, additional mail requirements for identification of mail registrations and the necessity to change our procedures on Military and Federal voters. The changes are going to take full effect in the coming two years with the problem of the present delays creating a very short period of time to successfully implement them. As we get closer to the January 1 st, 2006 deadline our Board will have a more difficult time insuring the process goes smoothly. Voters will not accept anything less than a system that works well and one that they have full faith and confidence in. 6