Statewide Voter Registration Database Task Force
of HAVA State Plan Committee
Minutes of Second Meeting
I. Date & time: March 7, 2003
9 AM – 12 Noon
II. Location: Room 308
Legislative Office Building
III. Attendance:
Task force participants: William Armstrong, (NH Division of Information Technology Management, NH Dept. of Admin. Services); Paul Bergeron (Nashua City Clerk); Orville Fitch (Department of Justice);Christine Hanisco (NH Disabilities Rights Council); Carol Johnson (Manchester Deputy City Clerk); Charity Ross (House Democratic Leaders Office); Dante Scala (St. Anselm College, Political Science Department); Anthony Stevens (Assistant Secretary of State); Charity Ross (House Democratic Leaders Office); Sarah Swenson (Supervisor of Checklist, Bow)
IV. Business:
The stated objective of the meeting was to refine the mission, vision, goals, and objectives developed in the February 28, 2003 session, and to begin to develop measurements.
Ensure public trust in the integrity of the election process for the inhabitants of the state of New Hampshire by implementing, in a uniform and nondiscriminatory manner, a single, official, centralized, secure, interactive computerized statewide voter registration list defined, maintained and administered at the State level, reflecting local government control of who is registered as a voter in each local jurisdiction.
B. VISION STATEMENT
1.) System will be for:
a.) People of New Hampshire
b.) Local Election Officers
c.) Political Parties
d.) Candidates
2.) Statewide voter registration database system will:
a.) Help achieve fair elections for people of New Hampshire:
i.) Equal opportunity to register and vote
ii.) Each vote gets equal weight.
iii.) Each vote gets counted
iv.) One person one vote
v.) Right to cast a secret vote
vi.) Vote can be cast in a manner that keeps the vote secret.
vii.) Reduce the possibility of voter fraud
b.) Satisfy federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) legislation and to obtain federal dollars.
c.) Use technology to make the process more accurate. (System requires mandatory fields be filled in, uses conventions to limit city/town – road/street/avenue name errors, etc.).
d.) Assist smaller jurisdictions with modernization of the election records systems.
1) Establish a statewide voter database that is easily implemented at the local level.
a) Have the database operational by January 1, 2006.
i) All jurisdictions have full access.
ii) A complete statewide database is established.
b) Have test sites (pilots) operational by September 2005.
c) Have upload process initiated by June 1, 2004.
d) Instructions and interfaces used by officials are written so as to be easily understood by a person with a ninth grade education.
i) Measurement - Establish baseline – establish the reading level of existing instructions.
2) Voter registration process should be easily understood by voters.
a) Instructions used by voters are written so as to be easily understood by a person with a ninth grade education.
i) Measurement – Begin by establishing a baseline – the reading level of existing instructions.
3) Voter registration process should be accessible to all inhabitants qualified to register and vote. Accessibility includes the ability to submit required proofs of age, citizenship, and domicile for those unable to register or vote in person.
a) 508 compliance (federal statutes on accessibility) – for the website by date the pilot project becomes operational.
b) Help desk technology –making information on registration and voting available through a technology based telecommunications system. Future implementation.
c) Maintain absentee voting process for qualified individuals with disabilities and implement any new technology based alternatives by the date the pilot project becomes operational.
d) Maintain absentee registration process that allows qualified individuals with disabilities to register to vote by mail and implement any new technology based alternatives by the date the pilot project becomes operational.
e) Ensure system complies with federal law relative to military and overseas voters by September 2005 or earlier, as required by federal law.
f) Affidavits required for absentee voting available on the website by November 2003.
g) Real time on-line voter registration at as many polling places as is practical.
i) Telephone available at every polling place available to both election officials and voters.
4) The records in the database are accurate and secure.
a) Establish levels of access to the system by January 2004.
i) Who can see what?
ii) Who can change what?
iii) Does the level of access change over time, i.e. fifteen years after purge records become public or become available for genealogical research? Where? Standards for access? Which data fields, i.e. DOB maybe, SS# no, etc.?
b) Archive/backup standards
c) Security – Who from a given jurisdiction gets to access the system? Who can look? Who can make changes? Audit trail on changes made?
d) Security:
i) Image of data made at appropriate times during the year, i.e. at the end of each Election Day. (stored on CD ROMS or equivalent)
ii) Protection from hackers- level C2 for data before any storage systems are accessible via web.
iii) Who gets to set security levels? Can towns alter or issue security or must this be done at the state level?
5) Systems are user-friendly for the technologically challenged.
a) As few interfaces as possible – try to limit to one or two main screens.
b) Separate the report functions and elements intended for the power user from the elements intended for the typical user.
c) Entry system had mandatory fields, ensure essential data is collected
d) Entry system has conventions, i.e. all valid street names are listed and users can not input invalid street names. (Make certain street name lists use are consistent with E-911 and/or postal service lists.)
e) Identify mail service addresses, trigger alert if such addresses are used as residence addresses. (I.e. applicant for voter registration using the physical address of a MailBox Etc. as their physical (residence) address.)
f) System sort capacity relative to petition drives – what information is given out to those conducting petition drives. How does the system assist local election officials who are required to verify that each petition signature is the signature of a properly registered voter.
g) Examine feasibility of changing NH law to provide that candidates for statewide office submit petitions to the Secretary of State, shifting to the Secretary of State the duty to match petitions to registered voters in the statewide system.
h) System should facilitate the collection and entry of data regarding voter party affiliation changes. (possibly a bar code system for those changing from undeclared to affiliated and then back to undeclared at a primary election.)
6) Necessary legislation is enacted to allow implementation of a statewide voter registration list.
a) 2003:
i) HB 577 – Establishes the “Election Fund” & authorizes the development of the plans.
(1) Measurement: passage.
ii) HB 625 – establishes form changes to meet 1/1/ 2004 deadline - collecting drivers license numbers and last four digits of social security numbers. Also, copies of IDs for mailed-in registrations.
(1) Measurement: passage.
b) 2004:
c) 2005:
7) Establish timelines for each phase of implementation.
8) Protect the privacy of personal information stored in the database.
a) Collect no more information than needed.
b) Adopt laws to restrict unfettered legal access to information.
c) See security and access goals.
9) Standards established apply uniformly to federal, state, and local elections, including village or water districts.
10) Effective and uniform training is provided to all local government officials and personnel who will use the statewide voter registration list.
a) Role of the City/Town Clerk versus the role of the Supervisors of the Checklist/Board of Registrars.
11) Plans and processes for uploading data from existing local databases and paper records systems should involve as little effort by local officials as possible. Local technology personnel should be actively involved starting early in the process.
a) Have all data fields identified by September 1, 2003.
b) Have local reimbursement arrangements established by early 2004.
12) The system process for local election officials updating records, such as changing addresses, should be easy and efficient.
i) Measurements:
A. Same day voter registration.
1. Time a voter takes to complete the registration process
2. Time an election official takes to get a voter into the system once the interaction with the voter is complete.
3. Measure entry errors
4. Establish baselines.
B. Access from local machine to state server:
1. Based on the technology being used locally:
a. Private networks
b. dial up access - direct
c. dial up via internet – via local internet service provider
2. Connection speed –
a. dial up connections – (balance between screen complexity and speed).
3. Identify existing baselines from vital records or maps systems.
4. Establish baselines on local systems.
C. Downloads from the system – checklist, purge letter, and ?? printing:
1. Time to print out checklists
2. Ease of formatting of checklists – level of effort required at the local level to get a printed checklist off a local printer(s)
3. Ease of printing purge letters at a local printer(s)
4. Establish baselines on local systems.
13) Provide public education on the voter registration and voting process.
14) Provide education for election officers on the requirements for proof of age, citizenship, and domicile.
15) Address language issues – communication systems being available in other languages
16) The registration process for an applicant for voter registration should be clear, easy, and efficient.
a) Establish web registration using 8 ˝’ X 11” printout that can be signed when voter appears before supervisors in person.
i) Measurements: See Goal #12 above.
17) Establish the data fields to be established in the data base. Define data base structures.
a) Establish data fields by September 2003 and communicate to each jurisdiction by October 2003.
18) Identify the reports that each user will require from the database.
a) Define the data that the system will need to report out.
i) Example: data needed for conducting purges of the database.
ii) Example: data needed to print a voter checklist for Election Day.
iii) Example: data needed to send a purge letter to an individual on the checklist.
b) Define the formats that reports will be printed in.
i) What size printers/plotters will be required?
ii) What paper stock?
iii) What font sizes will be used? (Standard statewide or local choice, if local choice what range of options will be available?)
iv) What will be printed at the state level versus at the local level?
(1) Will this vary from town to town?
(2) Flexibility for last minute printing
19) Identify any data manipulation that each user type will require.
20) Geographic Information Systems interface for voter records. (For use in redistricting, …)
21) Establish standing advisory committee.
22) Establish the communications between cities and towns to be automatically provided by the system, for example notification from the town where a person newly registers to the town where the person was previously registered. Address the limitations, if any, to be placed on access of the records of one town by another town.
23) Establish the funding plan – specify what, if any, costs local jurisdictions will be responsible for.
24) Establish communication with local jurisdictions to ensure that conflicting or unnecessary expenditures are not made.
a) Notice from Secretary of State to jurisdictions before town meeting times in March, 2003.
i) Notify jurisdictions of the election law changes being promoted to bring NH law into compliance with HAVA – specifically form changes.
ii) Public education efforts related to HAVA changes to include town/city clerks, supervisors of the checklist, and any others who will be affected by the contemplated changes.
25) Establish uniform definitions for classes of ballots: cast, counted, canceled, etc.
26) Establish a maintenance of effort for local jurisdictions
27) Detect duplicates and respond fairly and accurately.
a) Demonstrate system effectiveness
i) Measurement: Rate of detection of duplicates: Number of duplicates identified that are ultimately determined to be duplicate entries
28) Establish compliance with law by local jurisdictions.
a) Use of the System to improve compliance:
i) Measurement: Do local units of government perform purges as required?
ii) Measurement: Do local units of government enter data on individuals registered on paper in a timely manner?
iii) Measurement: Establish baseline for above.
D. System Design Issues
Software for end users to be of a character that allows:
a). End users to take a laptop to a voter registration site (i.e. nursing home, college, etc.) and are able to either batch store registrations for later communication to the statewide database server, or that allow dial in access to the server or the internet and real time entry from sites other than the primary (city/town clerk’s office) site for system access.
b.) Use of the DRE (disabled accessible voting machines) to allow the casting of absentee ballots in advance of the elections.
1. If machine output is a printed paper ballot no law changes needed.
2. If machine output is summary in form, i.e. voter would actually be casting an early vote – change to NH law would be required.
c.) Indicative structure of the system:
1. Central server in Concord – Virtual Private Network.
2. Thin Client – web browser based software at the end user computers.
E. Questions to follow-up:
a.) School District ballot voting days:
i.) Are there any school districts that conduct ballot voting on different days than the town meeting? Answer: Separate dates are possible. See RSA 671:15.
ii.) If yes, do the school districts do same day registration? Answer: Yes. See RSA 654:7-a.
b.) Water districts/Village districts – Do they, should they participate in the system? (Businesses and non-voter residences can’t vote, but may be active in these districts.)
F. Training:
a) Video instructing local election officials how to conduct a same day registration.
V. Action Items/Future Meetings:
1.) It was agreed that the second draft of mission, vision, goals, objectives, and measurements should be circulated to the State Plan Committee and Task Force Participants. Participants and other interested parties are encouraged to submit comments.
2.) Members who have been unable to participate due to scheduling difficulties will have a catch-up meeting at 10 AM, March 20, 2003 in Room 337 of the State House Annex to enable participation and input in the planning for the statewide voter registration database. Since the room is small, anyone who plans to attend should notify Anthony Stevens at 271-5335 prior to attendance.
3.) The next regular meeting of the Statewide Voter Registration Database Task Force will be held in the summer – after the 2003 state plan has been refined for submission. Focus during later sessions will be on refining existing language and developing detailed requirements. One primary area of focus will be to establish the database fields for presentation to the fall meetings of the NH Association of Town and City Clerks.