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October 11, 2018

In Focus This Week

Election 2018 Preview: Ballot measures
Voting on how we vote

By M. Mindy Moretti
Electionline

On November 6, in addition to political races, voters in 38 states will decide 157 statewide ballot measures and countless other local initiatives and referendums.

There will be the usual suspects like pot, taxes Medicaid expansion, and the minimum wage. But in addition there will be eight statewide ballot measures on election reform covering everything from photo ID to early voting to ballot collection.

In addition to the statewide elections-related ballot measures there will also be at least nine local elections-related ballot measures covering everything from lowering the voting age to non-citizen voting to ranked choice voting.

Here is a snapshot of how voters will be voting on voting on November 6.

Statewide Measures
Arkansas: Voters will decide on State Issue 2 which if approved would require voters to present a valid photo ID to cast non-provisional ballots in person or absentee. This amendment was referred to the ballot by the House after other voter ID laws were overturned by the courts.

Florida: Amendment 4 would automatically restore the voting rights to about 1.4 million Floridians who have completed the terms of their felony convictions. The exceptions would be those who were convicted of murder or felony sexual offense. Polls have indicated that the Amendment has wide support.

Maryland: Question 2 would allow the state Legislature to amend the state constitution in order to allow for registration at polling places on election day. Currently the state allows for same-day registration at vote centers during early voting.

Michigan: This citizen lead-initiative (Proposal 3) would amend the constitution to implement no-reason absentee voting, give military members additional time to vote, let citizens register to vote anytime with proof of residency, allow straight party voting, protect secret ballots and require audits for election results.

Montana: This legislatively referred state statue (Montana LR-129) would ban  persons from collecting the election ballots of other people, with exceptions for certain individuals. Exceptions include election officials, postal service workers or others authorized to transmit mail, caregivers, family members, household members and individuals known by the voter.

Nevada: Question 5 is an indirect initiated state statute that would provide for the automatic voter registration of eligible citizens when receiving certain services from the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles.

North Carolina: After a protracted legal battle and a contentious legislative session voters will make the ultimate decision on North Carolina’s Voter ID Amendment. If approved, voters would be required to show a photo ID in order to cast a ballot in future elections.

North Dakota: Measure 2, an initiated constitutional amendment would amend the state’s constitution to clarify that only U.S. citizens are eligible to vote in federal, state and local elections.

Local Measures
California: Voters in the City of Los Angeles will decide whether or not they want to amend the city’s charter (Charter Amendment E) so that the city’s primary election date will align with the state’s primary election, held in March of even-numbered years. The amendment would also make other related and technical changes to the city election procedures.

Colorado: Voters in the City of Golden will decide whether or not they want to amend sections 3.4 and 15.14k of the Home Rule Charter (Ballot Question 2E) to allow the city council to enact an ordinance that would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in municipal elections while retaining the current requirement that council members be at least 18-years-old.

Also in Colorado, residents of Denver will decide whether or not they want to amend the city and county’s charter (Measure 2B) to change the required number of signatures for initiatives from a percentage of votes cast in the last mayoral election to a percentage of registered voters in Denver. If approved, the amendment would also lengthen the city council’s review and comment period for proposed initiatives.

Illinois: After surviving a legal challenge, voters in the City of Bloomington will vote on whether or not the city’s election commission should be abolished and the McLean County clerk’s office take over the administration of elections for the city.

New Mexico: Residents in the City of Santa Fe will decide whether or not to move the city’s elections from spring to the fall. Voter approval of the charter amendment would establish new odd-year elections and change the beginning and end dates for elected municipal officeholders.

North Dakota: Fargo’s Measure 1 would change the city’s voting system from plurality voting to approval voting allowing voters to vote for any number of candidates they choose in a local election.

Ohio: Voters in the City of Akron will vote whether or not amend their city’s charter (Issue 9) to move the city’s primary municipal elections to the first Tuesday after the first Monday in May.

Tennessee: After months of back-and-forth within the Memphis city council, the residents of Memphis will now weigh in on Referendum Ordinance 6577, which if approved will repeal the city’s use of run-off elections and establish that the candidate with the most votes, wins.

Oregon: Residents of Lane County will decide if they want to move to the STAR method of voting for non-partisan elections. STAR stands for, Score, Then Automatic Runoff. Using the STAR method, ballots would list every candidate and allow voters to score them zero to five. The two highest scoring candidates are the finalists for an automatic runoff. Your vote goes to whichever of those two received your higher score.

Vermont: Residents in Montpelier will decide if they want to join a small, but growing handful of municipalities that allow documented non-citizens to vote in local elections.

 

Tammy's Blog

My 2018 Summer Vacation

By Tammy Patrick, senior advisor
Democracy Fund

As the leaves begin to turn, the nights get cooler, and we head into the Midterms, I can’t help but look back on the summer of 2018. Even though my summer was filled with airports, hotel ballrooms, conference tables and PowerPoints instead of hammocks and sand and stacks of book that beckon to be read, it was a GREAT summer.

My summer helps me sleep better at night knowing about all the thoughtful, diligent, effort being put into ensuring our democratic process is secure without sacrificing access. When not in the office working toward the relaunch of electionline and the network platform, I was out in the election profession wild. Here are some of the highlights from “My Summer Vacation”:

Summer Playlist: Media  
I grew up during the mix-tape era, each song carefully chosen and placed in just the right order to convey the intended sentiment for the audience. The Midterm Election is upon us and for the last few months I have been working with Poynter, ElectionLand, and the Shorenstein School of Journalism at Harvard University to contemplate the messages we present to the public about our elections, their requirements, and their integrity. Assembling the Top Hits of the Summer included publication of the 8 Tips for Covering Elections, a free webinar for journalists Democracy on a Deadline, and entreating journalists to help debunk myths that persist such as that absentee (or provisional) ballots are only counted “if the election is close,” and to cover voting options early on in the election cycle rather than the last few days of early voting when we know there will be lines. I spent many hours in past summers waiting in line at Ticketmaster for sales to open (remember THAT?), but generally lines are not a good thing.

Summer “Romance”: #ElectionGeeks
Do election process models and detailed schemas of complex election functions make your heart sing? Do you carve the initials CDF (for Common Data Formats) into tree trunks? Probably not, but luckily for all of us there are enough dedicated #ElectionGeeks who suffer from this ailment that we have seen the culmination of years of work come to fruition over the summer in the publication of “America’s Election Model: The Architecture of Elections”—a126 pages of detailed mapping of our electoral process. This technical work may not be for everyone, so Democracy Fund has enlisted the aid of Oxide Design and will soon be releasing a primer on a handful of procedures, along with PowerPoint templates that election officials can use to educate the public on exactly what happens in their democracy.

One of the processes we will be highlighting is the way that voters are placed in their voting precincts and districts, something that has been in the news a bit during the summer primary season. Governing Magazine published An Opportunity to Make Every Vote Count as a clarion call for modernizing this process before the next round of redistricting. Democracy Fund Voice is currently working with grantee National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) to help forge relationships between state GIS departments and election officials so that we can more efficiently, and accurately, place and maintain voters in the appropriate political geographies.

No discussion of #ElectionGeek’ery would be complete without mentioning the partnership with academics—the political scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and computer scientists who help to inform data-driven election administration. From the State Certification Testing of Voting Systems National Conference convening hosted by Ball State and the North Carolina Board of Elections to the Election Sciences, Reform, & Administration (ESRA) conference hosted this year by the University of Wisconsin, dozens of election officials and academics met this summer to think deeply about election technologies, scatter-plots, registration data, and a myriad of other topics. The beauty of both of these meetings, in addition to their collaborative nature and relationship building, is that the majority of the content is available to everyone. I was fortunate enough to travel to Raleigh and to Madison, but the materials are viewable to all.

Road trip!: Access & Security  
Denver, Tampa, Minneapolis, Reno, Boston, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Williamsburg—this summer was like a good Johnny Cash song. And like most country songs, there is tension. In elections we have always felt the pull between access and security and how do we balance what can be seen as conflicting perspectives and motivations. But, as with most worthwhile efforts, commitment and determination can uncover solutions and a path forward.

Access can mean many things.  Have you ever had to read, and then potentially re-read, a ballot proposition or referendum? (Maybe more than a couple of times before you felt that you REALLY understood what the question was?) Now consider how that would feel if English wasn’t your first language. Hearing the challenges, and dedication, of administering language assistance to Alaskan Natives by translators, pollworkers, and the State Board of Elections was one of the highlights of 2018 when I was asked to speak at the State’s first Language Summit. It was a moving experience and we were honored to have Indra Arriaga from the Alaska Division of Elections and Walkie Charles from the University of Alaska join us in the “lower 48” for this year’s Democracy Fund Voice and Election Assistance Commission’s Language Access for Voters Summit 2018.  Informing voters and ensuring access to the franchise for all eligible citizens means breaking down the hurtles of language, the barriers of format for voters with assistive needs, the obstacles of time and distance for military and overseas voters.

Security is top of mind for election officials, for voters. It is important to know that this is not a new topic for the profession, but that the level of sophistication of our adversaries is better understood now and election officials are taking advantage of the resources provided to them. Playbooks by Belfer and Center for Internet Security are widely distributed, webinar training collaborations by Center for Technology in Civic Life and the Center for Democracy and Technology have instructed hundreds of election officials, and helpful guides like the one published by the Council of State Governments are informing many levels of state governments on the securing of the franchise. State association meetings and conferences leverage the resources to inform their members.

My last trip of the summer was to Colorado for their election cybersecurity table-top exercise (TTX), based on the Belfer model, which condensed 180 days of the election process into a two hour TTX.  It was a sight to see. The room echoed the cacophony of being in Hot Line Command Centers on Election Day with injections of cyber-attacks, system failures, fires and other natural disasters taking out polling places. Aside from the fabulous neon-green safety vest that I was asked to wear to identify my role as moderator – I posed as a chaos agent/journalist/voter/advocate/hacker – the experience was amazing. My highlight? When each of the polling locations in the room were lost I went around the room asking about the accessibility of the replacement facilities for voters with disabilities. Without skipping a beat the local officials provided me with perfect responses: they moved the site to a nearby back-up location that was already pre-surveyed to be certain it complied with the ADA, that they would position signage or a pollworker/staff at the old location directing voters to the new location, or that they had an ADA-compliant mobile unit that they were deploying and would have at the same address so no change for voters. It made me want to “Cry, Cry, Cry” with happiness.

Letters (& Postcards) Home: USPS  
You didn’t really think I would write a blog without a mention of USPS, did you? My summer kicked off at the National Postal Forum where, for the first time ever, we had a full day of election mail content. Even though we were in the midst of primary season, there were more than a dozen states represented in the room—industry representatives noticed that we were the only tract of content that was visited by every Postal Vice President as well as the Deputy Postmaster General. “Delivering Democracy” has been my mantra, for tens of millions of voters they don’t get their ballot from a pollworker, but rather, from their postal carrier. Together with Democracy Works we created electionmail.org as an issue resolution tool for election officials. This summer demonstrated that years of partnership and collaboration continues to pay off when USPS rolled out a new Service Type Identifier (STID) for ballots to enable better tracking of official ballots and improved services in those critical final days. It will be in use in November.

So, yeah.  I do sleep better at night.  It may be because of all of that I have seen, all the heady (& often uber wonky) conversations, all of the passionate tête-à-têtes that I have had with election officials soldiering on to protect our elections. Or, just maybe, it is all of those things and also that I am, quite simply, exhausted.

 

Federal-State Updates

In a hearing before a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee this week, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen Nielsen clarified remarks she made last week during a cybersecurity summit and sought to assure the panel that DHS is doing all it can to secure the upcoming election.

She did acknowledge that China is attempting to influence the election.

“China absolutely is exerting unprecedented effort to influence American opinion,” Nielsen said, adding that “we have not seen to date any Chinese attempts to compromise election infrastructure.”

 

Election News This Week

A Deschutes County, Oregon woman recently discovered the importance of a shredder. She was out of town during the January special election earlier this year and so her husband put her uncast ballot in the recycling bin. Someone fished it out, filled it out, forged her signature and cast it. Fortunately elections workers for the county caught the mismatched signature and reached out to the voter to confirm that it was not her. Deschutes County Clerk Nancy Blankenship had this advice, “If you receive your ballot and you’re not interested in participating for some reason, it would be ideal probably for you to shred that so people can’t gain access to it.”

It’s back-to-school for members of the Alabama Board of Registrars! Secretary of State John Merrill has asked all registrars to visit any institution of higher learning in their respective counties before October 22 to conduct voter registration drives. Even if the registrars have already visited the schools this year, Merrill is asking them to return one last time before the voter registration deadline.

Get’em any way you can! In the days leading up to Georgia’s voter registration deadline, the City of South Fulton offered residents who registered to vote or confirmed their voter registration status $50 discounts on outstanding citations. The discount was offered by the city prosecutor’s office. “I feel it is the responsibility of the courts to educate the citizens before it, including in the area of participating in elections. We did not force anyone to accept the reduced fee if they provided the paperwork,” Solicitor LaDawn Jones told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Further, I did not inquire about their political preference or mention any candidate or campaign.” Mayor Bill Edwards expressed concerns and said he would seek a legal review.

Well, they meant well. The Linn County, Iowa auditor’s office reports that nearly  500 voters have returned marked copies of the sample ballot they received. According to Iowa Public Radio, the office has mailed letters to those who returned the ballots, although 40 of them did not include return addresses. Still, Auditor Joel Miller told IPR, that the mailing was worth the effort. “We’ve had over 3,000 additional absentee ballot requests that we probably wouldn’t see had we not sent that mailer out,” Miller said. “So lots of people followed the instructions and a very few, less than a percent, did not follow the instructions.”

No one is certain how the rumor got started, but Monmouth County, New Jersey Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon is trying to put a stop to it. It seems a rumor is floating around Facebook that “thousands” of voters received incorrect vote-by-mail ballots for the November election and if they inadvertently cast the wrong ballot, their vote won’t count. “It’s false. It’s just false,” she told the Asbury Park Press. “Whoever posted it is causing voter crisis when it doesn’t — it’s just fake.” Hanlon said her office has received fewer than 10 calls from voters concerned about potentially getting an incorrect ballot and that it does occasionally happen since vote-by-mail ballots are hand-processed.

Ride-sharing giant Uber has joined Lyft in offering free rides to the polls on Election Day. In addition the free rides, Uber has also created a polling place button their app to help riders find where they need to go to cast a ballot. “With the 2018 elections around the corner, many organizations and companies across the country are going the extra mile to support our democratic process,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi wrote in a blog post. “Using our technology and resources, we can help make it easier for every Uber rider in the US to get to their polling place at the push of a button.”

 

Legislative Updates

Minnesota: The Tower city council has approved giving a letter of reprimand to Tower City Clerk-Treasurer Linda Keith as well as requiring her to pay any fines stemming from the mishandling of the August primary.

Mississippi: The Senate Judiciary Committee recently held a hearing on the state’s lifetime felon voting rights ban. According to WDAM, Judiciary B Chairman Hob Bryan would like the issue to get more study. He doesn’t know that a change will come in 2019 legislative session but he wants to continue the discussions.

Ohio: The Franklin County board of commissioners will vote this week on whether or not pay for public-service announcements promoting early voting. The council vote comes after the county board of elections decided not to spend money on an early voting campaign.

Virginia: Del. Margaret Ransone (R- District 99) has pre-filed HB620 that would reform the state board of elections. Under the legislation, the board would increase from three to six members that would be appointed by the governor. The appointees would also have the power to choose the state elections commissioner as well as remove them from the position.

 

Legal Updates

National News: The FBI has arrested a New York man who built a 200-lb bomb in his home and said that he planned to blow it, and himself, up on the National Mall in Washington, DC on Election Day to support his political views.

Florida: Two lawsuits have been filed in an effort to extend the voter registration deadline for those affected by Hurricane Michael.

Also in Florida, a former employee of the Martin County supervisor of elections office has filed suit alleging that Supervisor of Elections Vicki Davis violated the Florida Whistle-blower’s Act for firing him after speaking up about failing equipment, security breaches and improper use of taxpayer money, including Davis’ use of county employees to babysit her elderly mother.

Illinois: A county clerk candidate has filed a lawsuit against the DuPage Election Commission to obtain the serial numbers of optical scan voting machines the agency received as part of a settlement with a former vendor.

Indiana: According to The Indiana Lawyer, Judge Tanya Walton Pratt issued an order last week in Common Cause Indiana v. Connie Lawson, et al., 1:17-cv-03936, denying the state’s request to stay proceedings and discovery while the case is on interlocutory appeal to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Missouri: Senior Circuit Judge Richard Callahan has upheld most of the state’s voter ID law but did bar the state from requiring voters without an ID from signing a statement he deemed “misleading.” Callahan ruled that the state could not require “voters otherwise qualified to cast a regular ballot” to sign the sworn statement the way it’s currently written if they didn’t have a photo ID. He said it “impermissibly infringes on a citizen’s right to vote as guaranteed under the Missouri Constitution.” The state has said it will appeal.

New Jersey: A candidate for Senate has sued the Middlesex County Clerk for rejecting hundreds of vote-by-mail applications. According to a press release from the Hugin campaign, 20 of the state’s 21 counties accept pre-printed applications for vote-by-mail ballots that contain a pre-printed assistor signature, with Middlesex being the one hold out.

North Dakota: The United States Supreme Court has declined to intervene in the battle of North Dakota’s voter ID law, which requires voter present ID with a current street address. Justices Ginsburg and Kagan both dissented from the court’s decision not to intervene.

Ohio: Senior U.S. District Judge George Smith has ruled that notification forms Ohio sends to voters in its process to remove inactive voters from the rolls are in fact compliant with federal law.

Tennessee: A lawsuit has been filed against the Shelby County election commission arguing that the three city referendums on the ballot next month, including one on the city’s use of ranked choice voting, are written in such a manner that they may be confusing to voters. “They’re down right misleading,” plaintiff and former city council candidate Erika Sugarmon told WREG. “And we wonder why we have apathetic voters.”

U.S. Territories: The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review Segovia v. United States. The suit centered on voting rights for Americans in the U.S. territories. The case questioned why the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, which allows former state residents to continue to vote while living in some U.S. territories and foreign countries, excludes residents living on Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

 

Tech Thursday

Tech Companies: EasyVote Solutions, a startup that develops election management software and is based in North Carolina just got a $1.5 million shot in the arm from the investment firm CoFounders Capital. EasyVote says it will use the capital to expand its operations across the US in support of local and state elections. The firm, which launched in 2015, already works with elections officials in 13 states.

California: Secretary of State Alex Padilla has called for an independent audit of the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles after another 1,500 residents, including non-citizens, were improperly added to the voting rolls. Following the latest disclosure about more people being wrongly added to the voter rolls, Secretary of State Alex Padilla said a press conference that a freeze of the state’s Motor Voter program is “certainly on the table.” “We’re doing the homework as we speak of what does that mean and what it would take,” Padilla said. “These mistakes from the DMV are absolutely unacceptable.”

Iowa: Scott County residents have a new way to find out where they vote. Recently, County Auditor and Commissioner of Elections Roxanna Mortiz announced the new WhereUVote Scott County app. The app helps users find early voting times and locations, Election Day times and locations and a way to contact the auditor’s office. “With so many people of all ages now using mobile devices it just makes sense to provide a mobile friendly alternative to people,” Moritz told WQAD. “Four other counties in Iowa provide this app to their citizens. As soon as I saw it I knew we needed this app for Scott County. It’s perfect for people on the go.”

Texas: Potter County will be the first county in the state to use LanguageLine, a visual translator for more than 200 language. “Between the American Sign Language and Somalian, we realized we had a gap,” Elections Administrator Melynn Huntley told KFDA. “We are not required by law to do this. We just felt like this was something we should do because it’s the right thing to do.” When a voter who doesn’t speak English or Spanish shows up on election day, they will be prompted to select a language from a tablet device. A virtual translator will appear on the screen and the election worker will ask for voting information and instructions to be translated to the voter.

 

Opinions This Week

National Opinions: Ex-felon voting rights | Election security, II, III, IV, V | Voter suppression | Paper ballots | Voting rights | Supreme Court

Arizona: Voting machines

Arkansas: Secretary of state race

California: Young voters | Ventura County | Election volunteers;

Colorado: Secretary of state race

District of Columbia: Early voting

Florida: Vote-by-mail | Ex-felon voting rights

Georgia: Election oversight

Guam: Voting rights

Indiana: Voter purges

Kansas: Voter suppression

Louisiana: Secretary of state race, II

Maryland: Early voting

Michigan: Election security, II | Secretary of state race | Voter participation

Mississippi: Election security

Missouri: Voter ID, II | Early voting

Montana: Ballot collection

New York: Voting system, II

North Dakota: Voter ID

Ohio: Early voting| Voting rights

Oklahoma: Election security, II

Oregon: Prepaid postage

Pennsylvania: Election security

South Carolina: Election reform

Tennessee: Turnout

Texas: Election security | Straight-ticket voting

U.S. Virgin Islands: Early voting

Utah: Election security, II | Ranked choice voting

Virginia: Ex-felon voting rights

West Virginia: County clerks

Wisconsin: Student voter registration

Wyoming: Crossover voting

 

Clearie Awards Deadline Extended!

EAC extends deadline for third annual competition for best practices in election administration

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) has extended the deadline for submissions for its third annual “Clearie” awards, a national competition for best practices in election administration, until Friday, November 30, 2018. This year, the Commission will present awards in the categories of best practices related to voting accessibility, outstanding innovations in elections, and recruiting, training and retaining election workers. All entries must be received no later than Friday, November 30, 2018.

This year, the Clearie awards are dedicated the life and legacy of Wendy Noren and R. Brian Lewis. Wendy Noren served as Boone County Clerk for over three decades and was a member of the EAC’s Board of Advisors before passing away in July 2018 following a long battle with cancer. R. Brian Lewis served as Counsel to the office of the Senate Majority Leader before his passing and was an early and steadfast proponent of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and election officials. Both were luminaries in the field of election administration who will long be remembered for their work and friendship.

“Election officials are known for their commitment to the values expressed in the EAC Clearie awards: excellence, innovation, maintaining accuracy and integrity in the election process and ensuring all eligible citizens can cast a ballot,” said EAC Chairman Thomas Hicks. “The Clearies are a testament to their work and dedication and highlight best practices other election administrators can emulate.”

This year’s entries will be judged using the following criteria:

  • Efficacy
  • Innovation
  • Sustainability
  • Outreach efforts
  • Cost-effectiveness
  • Replicability

All submissions should be sent to the EAC via an email to clearinghouse@eac.gov. Nominators should use the following subject lines based on entry category: Election Worker Competition, Accessibility Competition or Outstanding Innovations Competition.

All entries must include a brief summary of the election program nominated and attach relevant documents, images and links that can be used to assess the entry. Submissions should also include contact information for the person submitting the program for consideration. Each entry must be submitted in a separate email.

For more information about this year’s competition, please contact Patrick Leahy at pleahy@eac.gov.

 

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.

Assistant Inspector General for Audit, U.S. Election Assistance Commission —The Assistant Inspector General for Audit (AIGA) directs or conducts performance audits, evaluations, inspections and reviews of EAC programs, functions, and operations. The incumbent maintains personal contact with key senior officials within and outside of EAC, such as management and officials of CIGIE, OMB, GAO, other Federal and state agencies, contractors and educational or research groups. Participates with the IG in developing the annual audit plan; determining the scope of each audit; developing and adjusting audit guides when necessary to meet special or unusual circumstances; and participating in entrance and exit conferences with auditees (city, county, state, and/or EAC officials). The AIGA supervises the work of subordinates, if any, and monitors the work of contractors. Salary: $119,5897-$141328. Deadline: November 30.  Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.

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.

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 Researcher, Public Policy Evaluation Research, Fors Marsh Group — FMG is hiring for a researcher on the Public Policy Evaluation team which serves to address public concerns and promote the quality of the community. This is done through a) articulating the public’s needs, b) conducting rigorous evaluation to assess how these needs are being met, and c) working with our clients to improve these programs and policies. This job is best suited for an individual who enjoys research, has experience leading research team, possesses excellent attention to detail, continuously strives to learn and develop, and prefers working in a cooperative environment. 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.

 

Marketplace

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Voting Booths
Each aluminum briefcase contains the following: aluminum legs, privacy shield, writing base, light assembly. All units are in great shape dimensions are 22”x 18”x 3“. MFG: ESL. Election supplies Limited, Napa California. Quantity: 400 Price per unit is $50. Contact Greg Larson 408.569.1004

 

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