Page 2 of 7
II. Election News This Week
- This week, President Barack Obama announced the members of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration. "As I said in my State of the Union Address, when any American, no matter where they live or what their party, is denied that right [to vote] simply because too many obstacles stand in their way, we are betraying our ideals," Obama said in a statement. "We have an obligation to ensure that all eligible voters have the opportunity to cast their ballots without unwarranted obstructions or unnecessary delay." Anyone who has been around elections for five minutes will recognize some of the names: Former Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson, Larry Lomax, Clark County, Nev. registrar, Tammy Patrick, federal compliance officer for Maricopa County, Ariz. elections department, Christopher Thomas, Michigan’s director of elections and Ann McGeehan, former director of elections for Texas. Congratulations everyone and good luck!
- Interestingly enough, the day before the president announced the members of his commission, the Pew Research Center released an analysis of several of its polls that found there was no racial gap in reports of voting difficulties.
- A review by The Washington Times found that as many as 13,000 Maryland residents who are registered to vote in Prince George’s County remain registered to vote in the District of Columbia and some of those people, or someone using their names has been casting ballots in District elections. The D.C. Board of Elections has conducted a preliminary review and confirmed that at least three instances of voter fraud occurred.
- The Simpson Voting House in Derry Township, Pa. was open this week for the Commonwealth’s spring elections. The Voting House, which was first used as a polling place in 1891, had not been used for the past 10 years because it did not meet state and federal access guidelines. Following the relocation of the building and some upgrades, it welcomed its first voter on Tuesday.
- Personnel News: Erie County, Pa. Supervisor of Elections Sharon Drayer oversaw her last election this week after 30 years in the elections department and 20 as supervisor.
- Available Grant: The Federal Voting Assistance Program strives to be a data-driven organization. We design and redesign our program based upon what we learn from our surveys and other data. The 2011 EASE grant program was created to better understand the different challenges that military and overseas voters face at every step of the voting process. The EASE grant program funded 35 programs that included online ballot delivery, online voter registration, automated ballot duplication, online ballot requests and online ballot tracking. With the research that we receive from this program, FVAP will be able to focus efforts on the necessary portion of the voting process to ensure that military and overseas voters are more successful. As we move forward to the next grant program, FVAP will narrow the scope of its research and address two of the most critical aspects of the electoral process for military and overseas voters: ballot transit time and voter confusion. The Effective Absentee System for Elections 2 grant program will focus in two specific areas: the development of online ballot delivery tools and the establishment of single points of contact (single POC) in State election offices. It is vital that we have a significant statistical sample in order to validate the effectiveness of these programs. In order for this to occur, we want to focus on statewide solutions in areas that have a great number of voters covered by UOCAVA. Closing Date: June 24. For the complete posting and to apply, click here.