In Focus This Week
The long and the short of it
Jurisdictions dealing with particularly long ballots this election
By M. Mindy Moretti
electionline
The ballot in Seminole County, Florida is 56 inches long. If it was a human it would be tall enough to ride all the rides at Disney World, even Space Mountain!
In Pasco County, Florida, the double-sided 17-inch ballot could only ride a handful of amusement park rides, but at 34-inches long, it’s still a long one.
Longer ballots may lead to Election Day lines and in some jurisdictions could lead to a slower process on election night. Especially long ballots in the 2018 election cycle are forcing elections officials and voters alike to rethink how they cast and process their ballots.
“The longer ballot won’t directly delay results,” explained Michael Ertel, supervisor of elections for Seminole County. “But longer ballots do mean longer lines of voters. At 7 p.m., those longer lines could mean the precinct will close later, thus the results would only be reported after the polling place closes.”
Brian Corley, supervisor of elections in Pasco County has also been stressing the importance of sample ballots.
“We have been and will continue to preach the importance of voters being #ElectionReady and each voter is sent a sample ballot in which they can do the research on the candidates and issues and show up to vote and by simply transposing their selections from their sample ballot to the actual ballot, it will greatly speed up the process for them and the other voters behind them.”
Ertel said the two-page ballot has also caused a significant change to the county’s spoiled ballot procedure for poll workers.
And elections officials in Florida are not alone. From coast to coast voters and election administrators will be faced with long ballots this year.
In St. Louis County, Missouri, voters will be faced with a 19-inch, front and back ballot, which may be the longest ballot in the county’s history. In addition to numerous candidates, there will also be 15 countywide questions/propositions for voters to wade through.
Eric Fey, the Democratic Director of Elections for St. Louis County said the elections office’s paramount concern was keeping the ballot on one page since voters and poll workers have never experienced a two card ballot. As a result they altered the font size on the ballot in addition to eliminating some headings. This is not optimal, but Fey said they thought having two pieces of paper was even worse.
“It is not costing us anything extra to print these ballots, but it is wreaking havoc with our ability to print in house and fold the ballots,” Fey said. “Our in house ballot on demand printers have a very difficult time duplexing (printing front and back) the 19” ballot. As a result, we have ordered more absentee ballots from our printer.”
Fey said the folding of the absentee ballots will make running these through the scanner problematic and it may very well take extra time to scan these ballots. That being said, Fey does not anticipate it taking any longer to process the ballots on election.
“What we are more worried about is the amount of time it will take people to vote. Missouri is an excuse only absentee state which means 90 percent of voters vote at their polling place on Election Day. We deploy DRE’s and paper ballots to every polling place. We don’t have any additional DRE’s to send out, so we anticipate a higher than normal amount voters switching over to paper ballots when the lines for the DRE’s get long,” Fey said. “We are sending additional paper ballots and voting booths to hopefully accommodate the influx. We have been timing some our absentee voters so far and it has been taking an average of about 9 minutes to complete the ballot.”
Voters in Denver will face their longest ballot since the state moved to a vote center/vote-by-mail format. In addition to candidates, the three-card ballot also includes multiple local initiatives. Denver Elections will spend about an additional $114,200 to print the ballot.
Although the city is vote-by-mail/vote center, Denver Elections has been very proactive about encouraging voters to complete their ballots at home and drop them off, early. State law allows Denver Elections to begin processing ballots before Election Day.
“As usual, we are advising voters to not wait until the last minute to vote. We have 28 24-Hour Ballot Drop-off Boxes available starting October 15 and most of our Vote Centers offer drive-through ballot drop-off, so there is no reason to wait until Election Day,” explained Alton Dillard, spokesman for Denver Elections. “If you’ll pardon the pun, you reach a point of diminishing returns when you grind through into Wednesday morning with the vote count so we are planning to wrap the count at Midnight and get our team rested so they can resume the count Wednesday morning.”
Dillard said in his meetings with local news room management he’s warning them about the three card ballot. The ballot itself contains language asking the voters to vote all cards and all sides as do the ballot instructions, which is a switch from the primary where unaffiliated voters were instructed to only return one ballot card. Dillard said Denver Elections will also continue to do strong social media campaigns once the ballots drop in a week or so.
In Yellowstone County, Montana, Elections Administrator Bret Rutherford has gone on the offensive with expectations about results. The county has a two-page ballot with the front page being candidate races and the back being initiatives. Rutherford announced recently that the results from page one of the ballot will be available on election night and the results from page two will come the next day.
“The majority of the public interest will be for the races,” Rutherford said. “The second sheet has two initiatives.”
It will cost the county about $25,000 extra to print the ballot and despite the added time to count the ballots, Rutherford doesn’t anticipate it will take any longer for voters to vote on Election Day.
“Two pages will not affect the lines on election day,” Rutherford said. “We have plenty of overflow areas to use if people are in the booths for extended time.”
Additionally, a majority of the county’s voters typically cast their ballot by mail.
Planning for the future
While ballots are now complete for the 2018 election, as more and more jurisdictions move to consolidate elections and voters are facing numerous initiatives, it’s never too soon to start thinking about the next long ballot.
Dana Chisnell and Whitney Quesenbery with the Center for Civic Design have some great advice for elections officials.
“The most important message is to keep each contest on same page in a single column,” Quesenbery said. “Splitting a contest is the single biggest way to cause errors, because voters will often mark a candidate in each part of the contest.”
Citing the 2018 California primary with more than 28 candidates running for governor, Quesenbery said there were a few things that helped but did not completely solve the over-voting problem:
- Strong headers extending across the 2 columns
- Darker lines around the contests to emphasize the boundary
- Stronger message in the header emphasizing the number of candidates.
- Nothing else in the columns with the large contests
Make the header for the large contests take up extra vertical space, so they call attention to themselves, and set the contest off from the one next to it.
With many counties being forced to move to two cards to accommodate all the candidates and ballot questions, Chisnell and Quesenbery said it’s important how elections officials talk about the ballot itself. Reinforce the number of pages and not the number of cards for example.
“Because the ballots are double-sided, the second most important thing is to put a navigation prompt at the bottom of the right hand column if at all possible. The typical banner across the bottom doesn’t work. It’s basically invisible,” Chisnell said. “In a study we (and friends) did in 2008 in Sarasota County, even the poll workers were unlikely to vote the second side without the prompt at the bottom of the column (versus then bottom of the card).”
There is more great advice in the Center for Civic Design’s Field Guide: Designing usable ballots.
Two things everyone interviewed agreed about are open lines of communications with voters about what to expect at the polls and afterwards and if at all possible, vote-by-mail.
“Oh! AND — They should encourage people to vote by mail if at all possible because longer ballots will probably cause longer lines at the polling place,” Chisnell said in parting.
Federal-State Updates
According to Martin Matishak with Politico, the timeline for approving the Secure Elections Act is quickly slipping to 2019. The House is on recess until after the election the Senate is focused on judicial nominations. Also, Sen. James Lankford isn’t sure the revamped legislation would be ready for the post-election lame duck session.
At this point it’s getting the text done. And when we get the text done, get it moved,” Lankford told Politico last week. “I know that doesn’t sound like a deadline … If we can get it in the lame-duck, great. If we have to wait until early in the next session, great.”
In happier news, speaking at a cybersecurity event hosted by The Washington Post, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen highlighted many of the improvements in information sharing across the federal government and with state and local officials.
“First of all, the information sharing is much stronger than it even has been before,” Nielsen said when asked what had changed in the department’s approach since 2016 according to FCW. “So [we’re] working very closely with the intel community, and the moment that we see something significant we are — in conjunction with the IC — sharing with our state and local partners. The sharing is quicker, faster, more tailored.”
Also at the summit, Nielsen said DHS hasn’t seen any signs that China is seeking to interfere in the midterm elections by targeting election infrastructure.
This week, the Senate has approved the authorization of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) which would create an independent agency within the Department of Homeland Security—similar to FEMA. The legislation now must be taken up by the House.
Election News This Week
It happens every year, including this year. Voters get unsolicited voter registration forms in the mail, sometimes addressed to deceased family members or even pets. But in 2018 scam artists have taken it a whole different level, by calling voters instead of contacting them via mail. Officials in several states including Idaho, Illinois, Mississippi, and Washington have reported that voters are receiving calls from someone claiming to work with TurboVote and seeking personal information to register the resident and/or to send them an absentee ballot. Elections officials in the states where residents have received the calls are encouraging them to reach out to their offices or the local authorities. The National Association of Secretaries of State and The National Association of State Election Directors have reached out to their members to warn them about the scam and many statewide officials including those in Louisiana, Maine, and Oklahoma have reached out to state and local media to alert the public. On Thursday, TurboVote put out a statement, which in part says, “While we are still gathering the facts, it appears that a scam is being perpetrated in our name. We recognize the seriousness of this issue and wanted to assure you that we are cooperating with state and local election officials, along with federal law enforcement, to provide whatever assistance possible as they pursue relevant leads.”
Although the plaintiffs are seeking a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, North Dakota is moving ahead with plans to implement its voter ID law in the November election. The law requires residents to provide a street address although some residents living on Reservations don’t have traditional street addresses and rely on post office boxes. The secretary of state’s office has notified the state’s five tribes about the law and how residents can obtain a no-cost residential street address. Tribal members need to contact the local 911 coordinator for a street address. Rolette County Emergency Coordinator Mike Stewart told The Tribune that residential street addresses have been assigned in 99 percent of the county including on the Turtle Mountain Reservation. Stewart said many people don’t necessarily realize they’ve been assigned a street address, which is where the secretary of state’s campaign comes in.
Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson is encouraging county elections offices to accept faulty absentee ballot applications that were sent out by the state Democratic Party. According to Indiana Public Media, state law requires applications for absentee ballots to include instructions about how to submit them. But applications distributed by the Indiana Democratic Party didn’t. And some counties denied some of those applications when voters submitted them. “If you got a mailing from the Indiana Democratic Party and in that mailing was an application for an absentee ballot, that you need to double check that your application is good and you will be receiving a ballot,” Lawson said. Lawson said she wants to ensure voters aren’t disenfranchised by the mistake.
Although New York City is the most populous city in the country, only about 55 percent of New Yorkers went to the polls for the 2016 general election and Mayor Bill de Blasio has a plan, or in this case, a person, to fight voter apathy. This week de Blasio created the position of chief democracy officer, a $165,000-per-year position. But don’t look for a position description in the Job Postings, the slot has already been filled by Ayirini Fonseca-Sabune, a civil-rights lawyer. According to the New York Post, she’ll be developing voter registration drives, expanding civics lesson plans for teachers . . . and engaging local and national partners to engage people civically at all levels of government.
That’s a lot of potential “I Voted” stickers to hand out! A record 800,000 people registered to vote on National Voter Registration Day last week. Nonprofit VOTE, which coordinates NVRD had hoped to register 300,000 people. “Some us were saying, ‘Hey, maybe we’ll hit 400 or 500,000,” says Brian Miller, executive director of Nonprofit VOTE. “No one that I know of thought we would surpass 800,000 voter registrations. That surprised all of us. But I think it’s a sign of the interest in the midterms and the interest in having this unified day of action.” By comparison, the holiday drew in 771,321 voter registrations in 2016. In 2014 — the only other midterm election for which the holiday has existed — 154,500 people registered to vote. The holiday was first observed in 2012.
Personnel News: Former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander announced that he has dropped his mayoral bid in Kansas City in order to focus on recovering from post-traumatic stress depression. Kander, who also founded Let America Vote said in his announcement he had been ignoring symptoms of PTSD and depression for more than a decade. We wish Jason well and look forward to seeing him again very soon. Benjamin Hovland has been nominated by President Donald J. Trump to serve as a commissioner on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Hovland is currently the acting chief counsel with the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration.
Research & Report Summaries
Research and Report Summaries are provided by Sean Greene. Greene has served as the director of research for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and the Pew Center on the States Election Initiatives. He currently lives in Rome where he is studying Italian, drinking Moretti beer and still paying close attention to the administration of elections in the United States. He’s looking forward to casting his first ballot as a UOCAVA voter.
Cost of Voting in the American States – Quan Li, Michael J. PomanteII, and Scot Schraufnage, Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy, Vol. 17, No. 3, September 18, 2018: Examining state election laws, the authors create a cost of voting index for the past six presidential elections, ranking each state on a scale of how easy or difficult it is for a voter to cast a ballot. This includes 33 variables related to voter registration or voting including registration deadlines, the existence or lack thereof of early voting, and what identification is required at the polls.
Legislative Updates
Federal Legislation: The House has passed a non-binding resolution opposing allowing non-U.S. citizens to participate in local elections. Forty-nine Democrats joined 230 Republicans to approve the resolution 279-72. Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., proposed the resolution after hearing from naturalized citizens who said they felt “disenfranchised” by non-citizens taking party in school board elections. “This dilutes why people work so hard to become citizens. It dilutes an election as well,” McCarthy told NBC News. “I think only American citizens can vote.”
A group of senators has introduced the Native American Voting Rights of 2018, legislation that will provide then necessary resources and oversight to ensure Native American have equal access to the electoral process. The legislation would implement key provisions to ensure Native Americans have equal access to the ballot box, including the establishment of a first of its kind Native American Voting Rights Task Force, which would authorize funding for tribal-state consortiums to bolster Native voter registration, education and election participation efforts in tribal communities. The bill would also increase Native access to voter registration sites and polling locations and ensure equal treatment for tribal ID cards for voting purposes. Finally, the bill addresses the devastating effects of Shelby County by prohibiting states from undertaking discriminatory actions without Department of Justice agreement while emphasizing the importance of government-to-government consultation.
Michigan: The House has approved a three-bill package that they hope will deter election fraud by clearly defining election forgery as a crime. Under the legislation, any person who knowingly makes, files or publishes a false document or document with false signatures with the the intent to defraud is guilty of forgery. House Bills 5992 (105-2), 6107 (91-13) and 6108 (93-14) now move to the Senate for consideration.
Also this week, the House has unanimously approved a package of bills that will allow Michigan to offer online voter registration. The Senate must now concur with technical changes to the bill, but it appears likely that online voter registration will be in effect by 2020.
New York: State Assemblyman Anthony D’Urso has introduced ab ill that would allow locations that have been designated a polling place to decline to have voting there if they have a valid reason.
North Carolina: This week, the Legislature agreed to provide the State Board of Elections with $400,000 to help with voter education about absentee voting in the wake of Hurricane Florence, but the Legislature did not change any existing absentee voting laws as some had sought. The Legislature also agreed to extend the voter registration deadline by three days.
Ohio: Next week, the Toledo City Council will consider a proposal that would give city employees paid time off to work at the polls on Election Day. The Precinct Election Official Leave Program would not cover training, which would have to be done on the weekends or the employee’s own leave time.
Legal Updates
Arizona: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments this week over Arizona’s ballot-harvesting law. The case hinges on several aspects of federal postal law, which allows some private carriers to deliver mail when they are engaged in official duties and using a postal route. The state argued that volunteer poll worker deliveries don’t meet those criteria, but attorneys for the plaintiffs say they do.
Colorado: The secretary of state’s office has asked the U.S. Attorney’s Office to investigate allegations of voter intimidation in Pitkin. Residents are not required to live in the town for any period of time in order to be eligible to vote and many who leave town for the winter months have reported that their utility records have been subpoenaed and their cars photographed.
Georgia: The Coalition for Good Governance along with four voters have filed a motion asking U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg to issue an injunction directing the secretary of state’s office, the state board of elections and the Fulton County board of elections to put in place a plan that would provide more checks on the county’s voting system.
Kentucky: Attorney General Andy Beshear has appointed an independent counsel to examine allegations that Secretary of State Allison Lundergran Grimes misused voter data and potentially violated the commonwealth’s personnel laws.
Missouri: Oral arguments wrapped up this week in the legal fight against Missouri’s voter ID law. Senior Judge Richard Callahan is expected to rule next week.
North Dakota: The Native American Rights Fund, which is representing Native American voters in North Dakota, has filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court of the United States after a federal appeals court halted part of a lower court’s ruling that said the state must accept IDs and supplemental documentation with a current mailing address as a form of voter ID.
South Carolina: Attorney General Alan Wilson has sued the State Election Commission in an effort to extend the voter registration deadline by more than a week citing flooding from Hurricane Florence. Currently, the deadline to register is October 5 in-person, October 7 online and October 9 by mail. Wilson wants to extend the registration deadline to October 17 for in-person and mail registration. According to The Post and Courier, the Election Commission says it does not have the authority to extend the registration deadline and supports the lawsuit. On Tuesday, Judge Robert Hood granted a 10-day extension.
Tennessee: The U.S. Supreme Court will not take up the challenge to Amendment 1 in Tennessee. In 2014, 53 percent of the voters approved Amendment 1 which would have eliminated a right to an abortion under the state constitution. Plaintiffs had sued focusing their efforts on language in the state’s constitution about how ballot measures are counted.
U.S. Territories: The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to meet on October 5 to determine whether or not to grant review of Segovia v. United States. The case centers around voting rights for people living on U.S. Territories. The plaintiffs assert that people who have moved from one of the 50 states or District of Columbia to one of the U.S. territories, should continue to be allowed to vote absentee in the state from which they moved.
Tech Thursday
Tech Companies: Cleveland-based Votem, a mobile voting company, has acquired Everyone Counts. Votem offers mobile-voting products based on blockchain technology. Votem and Everyone Counts are currently working in eight jurisdictions and CEO Pete Martin told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that next steps include merging and revamping some products and adding blockchain security to all of the company’s offerings.
Pennsylvania: The Keystone State has joined a growing list of states that are blocking overseas IPs from accessing their elections website, which in turn prevents overseas voters from registering or updating their registration information and from applying for an absentee ballot. Department of State spokesperson Wanda Murren said Tuesday that officials have begun notifying voters about the issue and giving them a work-around
Opinions This Week
National Opinions: Voting rights; Voting machines; Election security, II, III | Federalized voting system | Voter rolls | Ex-felon voting rights
Alaska: Anchorage elections
Arkansas: Secretary of state race
California: Secretary of state race | Voter ID
Colorado: Secretary of state race
Florida: Voting rights | Escambia County | Ex-felon voting rights, II, III
Illinois: Ballot selfies, II, III
Indiana: Paper trail | Local elections | Vote centers
Kansas: Election confidence
Maryland: Voting rights
Michigan: Election integrity
Minnesota: Voting system
Missouri: Voter registration
New Hampshire: Secretary of state, II
North Carolina: Florence impacts, II | Voter ID, II | Voting Rights Act
Oregon: Pre-paid postage
Pennsylvania: Turnout | Unaffiliated voters
South Carolina: Automatic voter registration
Texas: Voting rights
Vermont: Voting system
West Virginia: Voter ID
Wisconsin: Vote-by-mail | Voting system
Upcoming Events
Council of State Governments Annual Conference — The Council of State Government will hold its 2018 National Conference in the Northern Kentucky, Greater Cincinnati area in December. Keynote speakers are J.D. Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy and Story Musgrave who started life in the Marines and finished is public service at NASA where he spent more than 1,200 hours in space. The conference will include a 2.5 hour session on election cybersecurity communications mapping. Where: Cincinnati, Ohio. When: December 6-8.
Election Audit Summit—The Election Audit Summit will provide a space for participants from across the scientific, policy and legal worlds to discuss new developments in the field of post-election auditing, and engage in the ongoing conversation on the current status and future directions of the election audits in the United States. Where: Cambridge, Massachusetts. When: December 7-8.
International Association of Government Officials — IGO’s 2019 mid-winter conference will be held in Irvine, California, January 6-11, 2019. Watch this space for more details about agendas and registration.
National Association of State Election Directors — The NASED Winter Conference will be held in Washington DC, February 1-4, 2019. Watch this space for more details about agendas and registration.
National Association of Secretaries of State — The NASS Winter Conference will be held in Washington, DC, February 1-4, 2019. Watch this space for more details about agendas and registration.
International Association of Government Officials — IGO’s 2019 Annual Conference will be held in Houston, Texas, July 11-17. Watch this space for more details about agendas and registration.
National Association of Counties — NACo’s 2019 Annual Conference will be held in Clark County (Las Vegas), Nevada July 11-15, 2019. Watch this space for more details about agendas and registration.
National Association of State Election Directors — The NASED Summer Conference will be held in Austin, Texas, July 14-16, 2019. Watch this space for more details about agendas and registration.
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.brinkdev.com. 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.
Certification Manager (Denver, CO) – Dominion Voting Systems — Dominion Voting Systems is seeking a Certification Manager to join our team in Denver, CO! This position is a cross -functional leader playing a key role in managing certification efforts for Dominion Voting products. In this role, you will act as a representative of the company with State and Federal certification officials, test labs, and other key internal and external stakeholders throughout the certification process. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Certification Project Manager, Hart InterCivic — The Certification Project Manager manages state and federal certification projects of our Hardware and Software products, under the direction of the Certification Program Manager. The Certification Project Manager must be able to exercise sound judgment and interact with regulatory authorities in a professional manner, particularly in high-pressure situations. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Customer Relations Manager (Phoenix, AZ) – Dominion Voting Systems — Dominion Voting Systems is seeking a Customer Relations Manager to join our team in Phoenix, AZ! This position will be responsible for effectively and proactively managing the day-to-day relationship, administration and technical/product support of one or more assigned customer accounts. Additionally, the CRM will serve as project manager for specialized projects such as pre- and postelection day support, new product implementations, and/or product upgrades/updates. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Director of Government Affairs, Hart InterCivic — The Hart InterCivic Director of Government Affairs oversees all aspects of support services for Hart’s government relations activities for state and federal government entities. These include: identifying and engaging critical stakeholders at the federal, state, and county level, researching and providing consistent and proactive communication of company’s regulatory strategy, partnering with key internal cross-functional departments, participating in industry forums ensuring active engagement where most critical, and developing monitoring/measurement tools to provide visibility and transparency. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Elections Program Manager, CIS— the Elections Program Manager is assigned to the Elections Infrastructure ISAC (EI-ISAC) at the Center for Internet Security. Reporting to the Director of the EI-ISAC, the Elections Program Manager will partner with other cybersecurity team members to promote the CIS mission and help support our growth. The primary purpose of this position is to serve as a subject matter expert on and represent the EI-ISAC in public forums regarding election infrastructure issues. The Elections Program Manager will work with the EI-ISAC Director to build relationships in the elections community and identify tools, products, and initiatives that meet the security needs of election officials. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Elections Supervisor, Pinal County, Arizona— performs professional and administrative work in planning, organizing and directing strategic and daily goals and objectives, operations and activities of the Elections Department. Work is performed under the general administrative direction of the Elections Director. The employee is expected to exercise initiative, independent judgment and discretion. Salary: $49,647-$56,473. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Field Sales Director, Hart InterCivic — the Field Sales Director works primarily on the road and from a home office when he/she is not on business travel. The Field Sales Director is responsible for creating news sales with prospects and existing clients in a defined region. Today, this role is a single contributor and does not directly manage people. This position will report to the VP of Sales. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Full Stack Architect / Senior Software Engineer, Clear Ballot— Clear Ballot is looking for an accomplished, Boston MA based Architect/Senior Software Engineer who wants to bring their technical and leadership skills to bear on a hugely consequential problem: Bringing transparency to democratic elections. The successful candidate will implement new products and features under tight deadlines. You will be using primarily Python and MySQL that interface with front-end web applications implemented in JavaScript and HTML5. The ideal candidate should have strong technical and leadership skills and a good working knowledge of the latest concepts in security, performance, and resilience. You will be working with a small team of highly skilled individuals to build and enhance a platform that is changing the elections industry. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Full Stack Software Developer, Clear Ballot — The successful candidate will build and enhance enterprise-level, highly available applications using primarily Python and MySQL that interface with frontend web applications implemented in JavaScript and HTML5. The ideal candidate should have strong technical skills and a good working knowledge of the latest concepts in performance, security and resilience. One of the hallmarks of our system is its emphasis on new visualization techniques made possible by sophisticated data structures that enable high-performance in a multi-user environment. You will be working with a small team of highly skilled individuals to build and enhance a platform that is changing the elections industry. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Inside Sales Representative, Runbeck — to support our desired growth and market expansion, we continue to hire outstanding talent in multiple departments. We are looking for highly motivated, dedicated and talented individuals who will be able to contribute significantly to the success of the company while receiving great opportunities for professional growth and financial benefits. Responsibilities include: Contact potential or existing customers to inform them about a product or service; ability to present solution and its value to a prospect over the phone; answer questions about products or the company; ask questions to understand customer requirements and close sales; enter and update customer information in the database; keep records of calls and sale and note useful information in the CRM; process orders in an accurate manner; and go the “extra mile” to meet sales quota and facilitate future sales. Application: In order to apply, please send a resume to Tammy White: twhite@runbeck.net.
Program Manager, Overseas Voting Initiative, Council of State Governments — the Program Manager of CSG’s Overseas Voting Initiative, funded through a cooperative agreement with the US Dept. of Defense (DOD) Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP), provides day-to-day management and oversight of the Initiative, including research and policy analysis of electronic absentee voting systems for military voters, and development and dissemination of educational policy programming and deliverables to state leaders in support of the cooperative agreement. The Program Manager works within CSG’s Center of Innovation and in cooperation with CSG’s policy and executive management teams as well as regional offices, affiliates and members to support, monitor and improve state elections processes for military and overseas voters. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Project Manager (Austin, TX) – Hart InterCivic — Hart InterCivic is looking for a project manager to work with our Professional Services Team. The project manager oversees the deployment of voting systems and training to both existing and new Hart customers. The ideal candidate has experience in the elections industry, is PMP certified, and is motivated to achieve success for our customers with initiative. Travel up to 80 percent. Reports to the Manager of Professional Services. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Sales Engineer, Clear Ballot — Our Sales and Marketing team is looking for a seasoned, hardworking and energetic Sales Engineer with proven experience and a passion for selling technology solutions. This role is responsible for being the primary technical resource for our sales force while also actively driving and managing the technology evaluation stage of the sales process. You will be required to have an in-depth technical knowledge of Clear Ballot’s Clear Vote suite and demonstrating the product capabilities to prospective customers. The ideal candidate must also be able to identify and provide reliable solutions for all technical issues to assure complete customer satisfaction. Measures of success include new customer acquisition rates, renewal rates, upselling, cross-selling, customer satisfaction and contribution to overall sales team and new customer success Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Senior Level Software Developer, BPro — We are a well-established small business that has been developing requirements and producing software for the needs of state governments since 1985 and continue to maintain and upgrade many of those systems. We have offices in Pierre, South Dakota, Fargo, North Dakota, Minnesota & Virginia. We’re currently looking for an energetic and intelligent .Net Developer to join our growing team. Our ideal candidate is one who loves to learn, enjoys working as a team, and who can multitask and meet deadlines. Skills required: .NET, VB, VBA, ASP, SQL, HTML, and JavaScript. A four-year college degree is the minimum educational requirement. All applicants must have excellent written and verbal communications skills. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Senior Software Developer, Runbeck— Runbeck Election Services is looking for full stack enthusiasts who are comfortable tackling end-to-end and enjoy building products that solve big problems and delight customers. We’re a collaborative team who knows how to get things done (Lone Rangers need not apply). We believe that small teams focused on shipping software move the fastest and make the most impact. The ideal candidate for this position has extensive back end skills (C#, MVC, ASP.Net, SQL Server) paired with solid web and desktop skills (IIS, JavaScript, HTML 5, CSS, jQuery, WPF, Win Forms). Must have a solid grasp of our basic toolset (Jira, Visual Studio). Willing to learn new plug-ins and IDE enhancements in order to boost your productivity and are excited to introduce us to new tooling experiences that have worked for you in the past. You bring discipline and care about implementation practices. You are familiar with Agile/Scrum processes, practice common design patterns, embrace clean coding principles, and employ many other techniques in an effort to bring a high level of software craftsmanship to your finished product. Application: In order to apply, please send a resume to Tammy White: twhite@runbeck.net.
Software Product Specialist II (Phoenix, AZ) – Dominion Voting Systems — Dominion Voting Systems is seeking a Software Product Specialist II to join our team in Phoenix, AZ! This position will be responsible for delivering a wide variety of technical and non-technical customer support services related to the implementation, operation, repair, maintenance and upgrades of Dominion Voting Systems technology products. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.
Systems Engineer, Clear Ballot — We are looking for a talented Systems Engineer who has both a technical and services/support background which enables them to quickly assess customer needs and offer value to Clear Ballot’s customers. The Systems Engineer will gain a deep understanding of how Clear Ballot’s products operate and their optimal configuration to build a streamlined installation process of the Clear Vote election system. The ideal candidate for this position can prioritize mission critical tasks and coordinate the implementation and expansion of our systems. They will be able to work directly with customers, display innovation, think conceptually and act tactically to build consensus around system installation and enhancement and meet deadlines. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.