Office of Secretary of State Statewide Uniform Electronic Voting Initiative

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Office of Secretary of State Statewide Uniform
Electronic Voting Initiative
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2002 Amended Budget Request
Office of Secretary of
State Cathy Cox

• Statewide Uniform Electronic Voting
• Senate Bill 213, established a new law
• Voting Equipment to be the same in every county
  by July, 2004
• 21st Century Voting Commission Created
• Consisting of state and local officials
• Develop recommendations for selecting a uniform
  system of voting
• Oversee electronic voting equipment pilot
  project using direct record electronic (DRE)
  systems

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Office of Secretary of
State Cathy Cox
Voting Commission Profile

• Strong Legislative Voice
• Five Legislators Served
• 3 from the House, 2 from the Senate
• Balanced Multi-partisan Membership
• 4 Democrats, 4 Republicans, 8 Non-Partisan, 1
  Independent and 1 Libertarian.

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Statewide Uniform Electronic Voting
Office of Secretary of
State Cathy Cox

• 21st Century Voting Commission
• Reviewed election data for Georgia other states
• Held public meetings throughout Georgia
• Observed various elections using DRE in
  California, Ohio, South Carolina Florida
• Opportunity to learn from election officials in
  other states who were upgrading their voting
  systems
• Opportunity to see how voters themselves adapted
  to the change
• Established schedule for DRE pilot project

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Statewide Uniform Electronic Voting
Office of Secretary of
State Cathy Cox

• November 2001 Pilot Project
• 13 municipal elections in every region of Georgia
• 6 different types of DRE voting equipment used
• Voter Education Public awareness raised
• Voter Education Coordinators
• Conducted outreach programs to inform voters
  ease apprehension
• Instructions mailed to registered voters
• Training Local election officials trained to
  operate the system to conduct the election

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Statewide Uniform Electronic Voting
Office of Secretary of
State Cathy Cox
Pilot Project Cities
Rome
Canton
Suwanne
Lithonia
Decatur
LaGrange
Hogansville
Statesboro
Buena Vista
West Point
Dawson
Reidsville
Thomasville
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Statewide Uniform Electronic Voting
Office of Secretary of
State Cathy Cox

• November 2001 Pilot Project
• 13 municipal elections in every region of Georgia
• 6 different types of DRE voting equipment used
• Voter Education Public awareness raised
• Voter Education Coordinators
• Conducted outreach programs to inform voters
  ease apprehension
• Instructions mailed to registered voters
• Training Local election officials trained to
  operate the system to conduct the election

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Statewide Uniform Electronic Voting
Office of Secretary of
State Cathy Cox

• November 2001 Pilot Project
• Reaction to Electronic Voting

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Office of Secretary of
State Cathy Cox
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Statewide Uniform Electronic Voting
Office of Secretary of
State Cathy Cox

• November 2001 Pilot Project
• - Gauge public response to new voting
  technology
• UGAs Survey Research Center exit poll showed
  overwhelming support for new statewide electronic
  form of voting.

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Statewide Uniform Electronic Voting
Office of Secretary of
State Cathy Cox

• November 2001 Pilot Project
• More than nine out of ten found electronic voting
  easier to use

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Statewide Uniform Electronic Voting
Office of Secretary of
State Cathy Cox

• November 2001 Pilot Project
• Elderly voters equally pleased with DRE
• Large of seniors polled found electronic voting
  easy as well.

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Statewide Uniform Electronic Voting
Office of Secretary of
State Cathy Cox

• Why DRE Instead of Optical Scan?
• DRE offers greater accessibility to the
  disabled
• - Visually impaired may vote independently
• DRE prevents overvote mitigates undervote
• - Cannot cast more votes than allowed per
  contest
• - Reminder/Summary screen allows review of votes
  cast
• Long-term administrative costs not
  significantly different for DRE v. optical scan
• DRE establishes a platform with current
  technology from which future election
  improvements can be pursued

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Examples of Optical Scan Ballots
Office of Secretary of
State Cathy Cox
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Examples of Optical Scan Ballots
Office of Secretary of
State Cathy Cox
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Statewide Uniform Electronic Voting
Office of Secretary of
State Cathy Cox

• Why DRE Instead of Optical Scan?
• DRE offers greater accessibility to the
  disabled
• - Visually impaired may vote independently
• DRE prevents overvote mitigates undervote
• - Cannot cast more votes than allowed per
  contest
• - Reminder/Summary screen allows review of votes
  cast
• Long-term administrative costs not
  significantly different for DRE v. optical scan
• DRE establishes a platform with current
  technology from which future election
  improvements can be pursued

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Options for Current Equipment
Office of Secretary of
State Cathy Cox

• Counties may sell its current voting systems to
  jurisdictions outside of Georgia.
• Resale market for many systems is strong.
• Funds raised from equipment sales is the Countys
  to keepcan be reinvested to address other local
  needs or to enhance election operations.

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Statewide Uniform Electronic Voting
Office of Secretary of
State Cathy Cox

• Commission Recommendations
• Unanimously Approved
• DRE voting equipment should be used for
  precinct-level in person voting
• Optical Scan balloting should be used for mail-in
  absentee balloting
• An integrated election management system should
  be used to design produce ballots for both
  forms of voting
• State should leverage buying power for the long
  term benefit of local governments

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Statewide Uniform Electronic Voting
Office of Secretary of
State Cathy Cox

• Uniform Voting Equipment
• Governors Recommendations 54,000,000
• Funds all needed equipment in place statewide for
  November 2002 General Election Bond Funds
• DRE voting units.
• Uniform Statewide ballot management software.
• Absentee voting units (uniform OptiScan).
• Equipment for ADA.
• Hands on technical support for 2002 General and
  2004 Primary election.
• Training of election personnel.

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Statewide Uniform Electronic Voting
Office of Secretary of
State Cathy Cox

• Voter Education Initiative
• FY2002 933,518 FY 2003 2,866,586
• Regional voter education coordinators (1
  state-wide supervisor and a regional coordinator
  in each of the 12 Service Delivery Regions) and
  support costs
• Matching grant program for county voter education
  coordinators (FY 2003)
• Voter education video How to Vote on new
  uniform system
• Production of voter education PSAs and air time
• Direct mailing to every active registered voter
• Voter education publications 

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Statewide Uniform Electronic Voting
Office of Secretary of
State Cathy Cox

• Election Official Technical Support Training
• FY2002 0 FY 2003 500,000
• Establish centralized technical support Help
  Desk through creation of Center for Election
  Systems at Kennesaw State University
• Center start-up in conjunction with uniform
  system rollout at direction of Dr. Brit Williams
• Ongoing source of support after vendor deployment
  is complete
• Creating a mock-precinct for election
  official/poll worker training on DRE systems