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Political junkies, check this out

| July 25, 2014 5:30 AM

The office of Kootenai County Clerk Jim Brannon, which includes all the services offered by the county's elections office, canvasses the results of every election it oversees. We found several items of interest in the report from the May 20 primary election and thought we'd share the report with you.

- Mike Patrick, editor

May 20, 2014 Primary Election Canvass Actions & Outcomes

Machine Counts Verified

Two ballot tabulating machines were tested May 19, 2014 in the presence of Commissioner Green, Clerk Brannon, Chief Deputy Clerk Raffee plus a candidate. The DS850 tabulator was tested again about 7:15PM on May 20 before any ballots were counted, and a final time about 1:45AM May 21, after all voted ballots were counted. (Idaho Code 34-2416) The reports for both machines showed 100% agreement with the test deck in all pre- and post-Election tests conducted.

Public Notification

Unofficial Absentee results were posted online at 10:04PM May 20. Final Unofficial results, including all precincts, were posted online by 1:19AM on May 21. Write-in votes and by-precinct Unofficial results were posted online mid-day on May 21, and a press release distributed.

Audits Performed by Elections Staff 5/21/14 to 5/23/14

Ballot stubs received from precinct poll workers were tallied against voter signatures in each poll book. (Idaho Code 34-1202) There was 97% agreement.

Poll book signature counts were verified against tabulation machine totals by precinct. (Idaho Code 34-1203) There was 97% agreement. Precinct 4 had two extra Non-Partisan ballot cast compared to the machine total, a poll worker error impacting only Judges’ races, and explained further on page 2. Precinct 38 had one extra blank Republican ballot cast compared to the machine total, and is explained further on page 2.

Absentee ballots tallied by the tabulation machine totaled 4,298. Early voted ballots cast and the number of absentee envelopes manually counted totaled 4,298.

Voided absentee ballots were scrutinized carefully. The report attached details each voided ballot, its reasons, and the actions taken by voter, in alphabetical order.

Procedure Change and Communications Error by Elections Management

Idaho Code 34-625 Election of Precinct Committeemen states that “each candidate shall file a declaration of candidacy with the County Clerk”. Needing contact information from candidates, the Chief Deputy Clerk and the Elections Manager organized an informational packet for candidates and requested phone numbers and email addresses. However, they overlooked giving advance notification to the political parties. When some people wanted to file numerous candidate declarations, Elections staff asked that candidates file declarations in person; yet this message wasn’t always relayed accurately. The resulting confusion may have caused some to file as write-ins. Elections management apologizes for this communications oversight, and will prevent recurrences.

Early Voting Errors Made by Temporary Elections Workers

A voter in Precinct 13 was given a Republican ballot for Precinct 3. Both precincts are in the same Legislative district. There were no close races, including for Precinct Committeeman, in either precinct.

Two voters in Precinct 46, a husband and wife, were given Republican ballots for Precinct 16. The precincts are in Legislative districts 4 and 2 respectively, yet there were no close races, including for Precinct Committeeman, in either precinct.

A voter in Precinct 48 was given a Democratic ballot for Precinct 38. Both precincts are in the same Legislative district; there were no close races, including for Precinct Committeeman, in either precinct.

Elections management will continue to train temporary workers who handle early voting on accurate procedures. It is worth noting that 4 ballot errors were made out of 934 votes cast.

Poll Worker Errors Made on Election Day

Poll workers at 10 precincts did not catch omissions of voter information on Election Day registration cards, yet issued voters ballots:

Precinct # Errors Type of Voter Registration Errors Made & Not Caught

1 1 No date of birth

8 2 No dates of birth

14 1 No legal disqualification box checked

25 1 No date of birth

26 2 No dates of birth

31 1 No driver’s license or Social Security #

50 1 No date of birth

53 1 No driver’s License or Social Security #

58 1 No date of birth

66 1 No legal disqualification box checked

Six newly registered or re-registered voters cast a ballot in the wrong precinct, yet in correct legislative districts:

Precinct # Ballots (Precinct Should Have Been)

14 1 (15)

18 2 (14)

25 1 (34)

39 1 (40)

43 1 (45)

At Precinct 4, poll workers gave six voters non-partisan ballots in addition to the party ballots. Poll workers were able to retrieve four of these non-partisan ballots before they were voted, but two ballots were cast. This error impacted the Judges races only.

In Precinct 11, poll workers gave out their first three ballots without the “Official Ballot Stamp” mark.

Poll workers at Precinct 18 gave a Democrat-affiliated voter a Republican ballot, which was cast.

At Precinct 38 the receiving clerk had a voter deposit a blank Republican ballot into the ballot box. Once the ballot was deposited the voter told the receiving clerk that he was waiting for his wife to be issued a ballot and had not voted his ballot yet. The voter was then issued another ballot. Elections staff confirmed that there was a blank Republican ballot cast.

Precinct 42 poll workers gave a Democrat-affiliated voter a Republican ballot, which was cast. In addition, a married couple came in to vote; the husband was listed in the poll book but the poll worker did not confirm his address before giving him a ballot for that precinct in Legislative District 4. His wife was not in the poll book, and mentioned to the poll worker that they had moved, so the poll worker re-registered her and correctly sent her to Precinct 22, which is in Legislative District 2. (The husband voted in the wrong precinct and legislative district.)

At Precinct 43 a voter who requested a Non-Partisan ballot was given a Republican ballot, which was cast.

Poll workers at Precinct 59 gave a Democrat-affiliated voter a Republican ballot, which was cast.

Unusual Events in this Election

A state office candidate and his spouse repeatedly contacted the Elections management team on Election Day alleging that poll workers were unable to accurately describe ballot options under Party Affiliation. The Chief Deputy Clerk visited 16 precincts, and the Elections manager contacted 15 other precincts, and verified that indeed poll workers were able to competently explain the options and properly use the tools given in training. Poll workers at Precinct 5 in Rathdrum, however, were unable to clearly explain ballot choices available to unaffiliated voters, so Elections management moved a substitute poll worker from another precinct specifically to explain voter options there.

86 ballots needed to be duplicated for this election, a number higher than normal. Two issues were the cause: first, some ballot registration marks were printed slightly askew – not enough to be noticed by the human eye during Elections staff’s quality control checks, but enough to cause rejection by the ballot tabulator. The second issue was the pencil marks in the ovals. If voters did not completely fill in the oval, or did not press their pencils very hard, the ballot needed to be duplicated in ink for the tabulator to register the mark. Elections management is weighing the cost tradeoffs of providing pens instead of pencils as marking devices in the polling places versus additional Election night labor to duplicate ballots.

Two Republican Precinct Committeeman candidates in Precinct 51 received the same number of votes; a coin toss by the Clerk will be held to decide the winner. (Idaho Code 34-1210)

Turnout

Overall turnout in this election was 21.5% of registered voters. However, turnout varied from a low of 12.03% in Precinct 11 to a high of 33.88% in Precinct 66.