Category: Policy

The Greek philosopher Aristotle said that by nature, man is a social animal. For Michael Winn, this quote has long resonated deeply with his desire to bring about positive change. While working as a sanitarian in the mid-1990s, Winn realized it was time to switch paths and pursue this passion through a career in public service. Shortly after beginning his job search, Winn was approached by an acquaintance working in the Bexar County Clerk’s Office regarding an open position as a contract specialist. Shortly thereafter, he was brought on staff. What he anticipated to be a 9:00-5:00 commitment quickly became a life-long passion. 

As a contract specialist, Winn developed a foundational understanding of election processes in his jurisdiction and an awareness of how these procedures contributed to a cohesive statewide system. Winn continued to build upon this foundation as he rose through the ranks to become the Administrator of Elections in Harris County in 2019 and the Chief Deputy of Administration for the County Clerk’s Office one year later. According to Winn, his experience as an administrator has greatly facilitated his ability to educate voters on critical aspects of elections at the municipal, county, and statewide levels. 

Given this background, Winn soon came to prioritize engagement with the community as Chief Deputy to better reach and educate his jurisdiction’s diverse voting population. Harris County, home to the city of Houston, boasts one of the most diverse populations in the nation. As of 2016, the County’s foreign-born population totaled approximately 1.2 million, with residents hailing from Mexico, El Salvador, India, and Vietnam, among others. Although Winn had previously held positions in Bexar and Travis counties, the diversity of Houston posed a new and exciting challenge. 

To address this challenge and better meet the needs of his constituents, Winn and his colleagues turned to the numerous community organizations throughout the city for support. In Houston, these organizations exist to foster a sense of belonging, maintain cultural ties and traditions, and advocate for the interests of the group(s) they represent. As such, organizational leadership is uniquely positioned to inform election administrators of their community’s needs and assist in voter education efforts. 

In Harris County, long-standing relationships have been built with organizations such as the Texas Civil Rights Project, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and those representing the interests of the Hispanic and Asian communities. Over the years, these relationships allowed Winn and his colleagues to effectively disseminate information regarding upcoming elections and polling place locations. Through feedback solicited from these organizations, the Clerk’s Office also was able to better locate polling places based on voters’ access to private and public transportation. 

Community partnerships also have played a critical role in helping Houston’s voters overcome the language barriers they may experience prior to and once having arrived at their polling place. Although election officials in Harris County have incorporated four languages – English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Chinese – into their operations, numerous other languages and dialects also are prevalent within the community. Therefore, further action was needed in order to better serve all voters. 

Recognizing this need, Winn and his colleagues in Harris County worked alongside a local vendor to expand the language services available to voters. Prior to the 2020 presidential primary, officials in the Clerk’s office were looking for ways to repurpose older iPads that had long fallen out of use. With the help of the local vendor, 29 different languages were incorporated into each tablet’s software. Volunteers in the field were then equipped with the tablets so they could better communicate timely and accurate election information to voters with limited English proficiency. When asked about this collaboration, Winn stated that “While forging connections with community groups may be a daunting task, it is critical to ensuring that this (electoral) process works for everyone.” 

By the November 2020 election, the COVID-19 pandemic had yet to subside, leaving election officials throughout the nation with mounting uncertainties. In Harris County, relationships with community leaders were once again leveraged to put procedures in place that protected the health of poll workers and voters alike.  

At the time of the election, conflicting guidance from varying state officials in Texas resulted in confusion among residents regarding mask wearing requirements at the polls. Winn and his colleagues resolved this confusion by first consulting with members of the community on what procedures they felt were necessary to ensure their safety. Through surveys, the Clerk’s Office found overwhelming support for mask mandates and social distancing requirements within election facilities. Upon finalizing procedures with this feedback in mind, relationships with trusted community leaders were then leveraged to ensure these requirements were made clear to the public.  

After the results had been declared and the election fervor subsided, the success of Harris County’s contingency planning was made clear. Despite over 1.8 million Houston residents having voted in the November election, Chief Deputy Harris is not aware of any cases of community transmission linked to the County’s polling locations. According to Winn, the success of the November election was reliant upon one key takeaway: listening to your electorate. “When you listen to the electorate that you serve and include them in critical conversations taking place, it makes for a better process,” stated Winn.  

The post Beyond the Ballot with Michael Winn appeared first on CSG OVI.

In 1978, Lynn Bailey had just graduated from high school when the Richmond County Board of Elections recruited her to work in the upcoming gubernatorial election. As with many high turnout elections, local offices were in desperate need of temporary workers to help complete their ever-growing list of administrative tasks. Although Bailey knew little about her new role, she brought with her a strong desire to learn and serve her community.  

Within a short amount of time, it became clear Richmond County’s investment in the recent graduate would pay off. Bailey rose through the ranks to become Assistant Director of the Richmond County Board of Elections in 1988. She remained in this role for five years before accepting the position of Executive Director in 1993, when longtime Director Linda Beazley resigned to serve as Richmond County administrator. According to Bailey, the formative impact of her predecessor’s dynamism and mentorship cannot be overstated. 

As Executive Director, Bailey has served on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission Standards Board for 19 years and is a long-standing member of the Overseas Voting Initiative Working Group. These roles have positioned Bailey to better meet the needs of her county’s voters, approximately 900 of whom are active-duty military and citizens living overseas. Through the County’s strong relationship with voting assistance officers at Fort Gordon, Bailey and her staff provide timely guidance to those needing assistance in determining the most efficient and secure way to cast their ballot. 

During her 40+ years of service to Richmond County voters, Bailey has administered eight presidential elections and countless races for state and local offices, with each election having distinctions. Among these elections, “2008 stands out to me as one I’ll never forget for so many reasons,” shared Bailey. The Director recalls not only the elevated enthusiasm of her county’s voters but also the positive impact of advance voting. That fall, County residents turned out in record numbers during the 45-day early voting period and remained in high spirits despite waiting outside in long lines and bad weather. For Bailey, these events effectively signaled that she and her fellow election officials had finally won their hard-fought battle for early voting in the state. 

Although adapting to changing election policies can pose significant challenges for administrators, Bailey has never shied away from an opportunity to make casting a ballot more accessible and secure. As Director, she has overseen her jurisdiction’s adoption of direct-recording electronic voting machines and more recently, ballot marking devices.  

Georgia’s gradual transition toward a state-wide voting system has provided voters with a uniform way to cast a ballot across counties, providing numerous benefits for voters in metro areas where simply moving across the street can mean residing in a different county. “For a voter to come into a polling location and be able to leave with a feeling that their ballot has been cast securely and recorded accurately, that’s what this job is all about,” said Bailey. 

The confidence of Richmond County’s voters in the integrity of their ballot has emerged through concerted efforts by the Board of Elections to establish a strong relationship with the community centered around trust and transparency. When mistakes are inevitably made, being upfront and honest is crucial. “No one has ever been in this profession too long to learn new lessons. The key is to handle these situations through straightforward conversations and a healthy dose of leaving no detail unattended,” reflected Bailey. 

Given the increased frequency and speed with which election mis- and dis-information have come to circulate on social media, the importance of transparency has reached its zenith. According to Bailey, the prevalence of misinformation, combined with the impact of rapidly changing public health protocols, constituted a perfect storm during the 2020 presidential election.  

To best weather this storm, Bailey and her colleagues put numerous contingencies in place. Jurisdictions expanded the supply of poll workers through developing a high school poll worker program. Multiple ballot drop box locations were established throughout the County and an automated absentee ballot mailing service was leveraged to alleviate burdens placed on office staff. The Board of Elections also cultivated a deeper relationship with their local post office and elevated voter education efforts. “Many of these things occurred unbeknownst to voters, but improved the overall experience for them, and we believe, instilled a certain confidence in them that we were looking out for their best interest through it all,” said Bailey. 

Unfortunately for Richmond County, the 2020 presidential election was the Director’s last. As 2021 comes to an end, Bailey will be closing the book on her tenure in office and transitioning into retirement. As Bailey was inspired by her mentor, so too are those who have had the privilege of working alongside Lynn Bailey. For the next generation of election officials, Bailey bestows this advice:  

“Let the job invigorate and inspire you. Providing the ability for voters to vote and walk away knowing that their vote has been cast securely and will be counted accurately is imperative and we must take every measure possible to ensure that. If you are transparent, people see that and respond to it. Be tough but fair.  Be genuine and give people your time and attention.” 

The post Beyond the Ballot with Lynn Bailey appeared first on CSG OVI.

“The sun never sets on voting in Okaloosa County,” shared Paul Lux as he showcased the pins representing his overseas voters that dot the world map in his office. In 1999, Lux was working as an information technology (IT) specialist for a local real estate office in Okaloosa County when he was approached by the company’s secretary regarding an open position with the Supervisor of Elections. Influenced by his educational background in government and his voting experience during his military service, Lux soon applied for the position. Shortly thereafter, he was brought on staff as an Information Systems Coordinator, a role in which he served for five years before rising through the ranks to become Supervisor of Elections in 2009.

While in office, Lux has witnessed numerous advancements in the technologies used to administer elections. During the early 2000’s, lever machines and punch card voting were still commonly used to cast and count voters’ ballots. Following the Bush v. Gore Presidential Election, punch card voting was largely abandoned due to counting issues stemming from incompletely punched chads. Direct-recording electronic (DRE) voting machines were then adopted due to their utility for voters with disabilities, provision of immediate feedback to voters, and prevention of overvotes. Some machines, however, do not produce voter-verified paper audit trails (VVPAT), and thus many jurisdictions have since transitioned back to the use of paper ballots and optical scanners.

Despite rapid advancements within the technology sector at-large, innovation within the realm of voting equipment has been slow moving. According to Lux, this can be attributed in part to the uncertainty surrounding how frequently new iterations of the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) – the standards and requirements to which all voting systems in the U.S. must adhere – would be adopted. “This (uncertainty) disincentivized technology vendors from investing in research and development given the lack of clarity surrounding the length of time for which new systems would be considered compliant with the VVSG,” Lux explained.

By 2015, Lux had become a well-known figure in the wider elections community with a demonstrated interest in tackling barriers to the development of voting technologies. As such, Lux was selected to become a member of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) Standards Board. While on the board, Supervisor Lux represented the perspective of local election officials while working closely with members of the Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC) to review 15 high level assertions for the VVSG*. Impressed with Lux’s work on the Standards Board, EAC Commissioner Don Palmer appointed Lux to the TGDC in 2019, a role in which he remains today.

Although advancements in voting technology have been slow moving, this has not deterred Supervisor Lux from securing his County’s participation in technology-centered pilot projects for uniformed and overseas citizen voters (UOCAVA). In Okaloosa County, approximately one-fifth of registered voters are uniformed services voters posted at military installations within the County, such as Eglin Air Force Base, Hurlburt Field, and Duke Field, among others.

The prevalence of this protected group in his jurisdiction, in combination with his previous military service, prompted Lux to put voting access for these citizens at the forefront of his tenure in office. While serving as the county’s IT specialist, Lux helped oversee the Voting Over the Internet (VOI) project. Through this pilot program, UOCAVA voters were permitted to return their ballots to the Supervisor of Elections via the Internet. Although the pilot was successful, events surrounding the 2000 election largely overshadowed its impact within the wider elections community.

In 2004, Lux and his colleagues at the Supervisor of Elections office secured Okaloosa’s participation in the Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment (SERVE). This program once again allowed UCOAVA voters to cast their ballot via the Internet while also allowing them to register to vote online. After security concerns prompted the cancellation of the program, Okaloosa County partnered with Scytl, a Spanish provider of electronic voting systems and election technology, to initiate the 2008 Distance Ballot Pilot project. This project allowed UOCAVA voters to utilize a kiosk to cast their ballots while abroad rather than mark and return a ballot via mail or the Internet. Four years later, Okaloosa County secured its participation in both Electronic Absentee System for Elections (EASE) grant programs administered by the Federal Voting Assistance Project.

Despite the relative success of these pilots, concerns regarding the security of electronic ballot return methods have stifled Supervisor Lux’s ability to provide his UOCAVA voters with a long-term solution for electronic ballot return. Although voters in Florida are authorized to utilize fax technology to return their ballots, Lux does not see this as a viable alternative to mailed ballots. “I’m still struggling with looking for means of electronic ballot return that are beneficial for soldiers in the field. What guys in forward deployed areas in Afghanistan don’t have access to is a fax machine” explained Lux.

Despite the barriers Lux has faced as Supervisor, he remains committed to pursuing a viable and secure means of electronic ballot return for his uniformed and overseas citizen voters. In addition to his membership on the TGDC, Lux plays an active role in The Council of State Governments Overseas Voting Initiative (OVI) where he collaborates with fellow election officials and OVI team members to assess feasible and secure methods of electronic ballot return for UOCAVA voters. According to Lux, this pursuit is what continues to drive him as an election official. “That’s the legacy I want to leave behind – that through my office, I was able to make sure that military voters got to vote,” said Lux.

*VVSG high level assertions break down agreed upon voting system requirements into clear guidelines for how voting systems should be designed and developed and how they should operate.

The post Beyond the Ballot with Paul Lux appeared first on CSG OVI.