Voting Centers and Managing Change “Rockin’ the Vote” Phoenix Style

PRESENTERS  Ed Zuercher  Assistant City Manager  Cris Meyer  City Clerk  Stephanie Ribodal Romero  Public Information Officer  Can Take Questions via Twitter

AUDIENCE QUESTION What are challenges with polling places?

WHY VOTING CENTERS?  Dramatic Shift to Early Voting  Over 90% ballots now cast by mail  Decline in voting at polls  Phoenix Challenges with Polling Places  128 locations; 640 poll workers  Voters going to wrong location  Fewer facilities available  Declining number of poll workers available  High (and increasing) cost per ballot cast  Provides for greater convenience and flexibility for voters

VOTING TRENDS

WHAT ARE VOTING CENTERS?  In Phoenix, 128 polling places were replaced with 26 voting centers  Residents can go to any of the 26 sites  Not limited to a polling place by home  Can vote over a three-day period  Saturday, Monday and Election Day Tuesday  City locations and well- known private facilities chosen based on multiple criteria

HOW VOTING CENTERS WORK  Paper voter registration records (poll lists) replaced by secure online voter information database  Prevents voters from voting more than once  Backup procedures created  Ballots printed on demand  Voted ballots secured on a daily basis and tabulated on Election Day

THE PROCESS FOR CHANGE  City Council Authorization  In July 2008 City Council authorized staff to obtain informal community feedback  In January 2009 City Council authorized staff to present Voting Center proposal to community leaders, media and residents  Community Outreach and Input  14 informal community meetings held during September and October 2008  Feedback was overwhelmingly positive!  9 formal public meetings held during March and April 2009  Comments and feedback again very positive!

THE PROCESS FOR CHANGE  City Council Approval  After all meetings were conducted, staff prepared the final plan including proposed locations  Final plan presented and approved by the Mayor and City Council in June 2009  Code Changes necessary to implement the Voting Center process approved in July 2009  Department of Justice Approval  Documentation including new procedures, community outreach and input, and maps submitted for approval in October 2009  Approval received in December 2009

AUDIENCE QUESTION How would you communicate a major change like this to the public?

PUBLIC OUTREACH Partnership with media and community  “Grass Roots” Community Involvement  Staff worked with community leaders to create diverse outreach methods focused on informing residents about the change to voting centers  Letters and flyers were mailed to neighborhood leaders asking for their help in spreading the information about voting centers  Staff worked with the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce to design a poster highlighting the changes to the voting process  These partnerships with the community helped keep down the overall outreach costs

PUBLIC OUTREACH Support from Secretary of State

PUBLIC OUTREACH Partnership with media and community  Television  Television ads and Public Service Announcements on our local government channel  Partnered with the local Univision affiliate for a 12-hour telethon dedicated to voting centers and the importance of voting

PHOTOS

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS

PUBLIC OUTREACH Partnership with media and community  Print  News releases/articles in newspapers, community newsletters, and City of Phoenix publications  Branding  Unique City Logo related to Elections  Internet  Information on City Elections website  Social media sites

IMPLEMENTATION  Technological Innovations  New “Vote Center” application designed to verify voter eligibility  All voting centers are connected to the same server via a secure internet connection (Virtual Private Network)  All voting activity is seen “real time” at every location  Ballots individually printed for each voter  Process Improvements  Comments and suggestions from the public and from the workers at the voting centers were reviewed after the August 2011 Mayor and Council Election  Several process improvements were implemented for the November 2011 Runoff Election

LESSONS LEARNED August 2011 DayVotes Cast% of Total Saturday2,20013%  36% of the people who cast ballots had not voted in a City Election in the last 5 years Monday3,50020%  35% of the people who cast ballots had not voted in a City Election in the last 5 years Tuesday11,30067%  47% of the people who cast ballots had not voted in a City Election in the last 5 years  47% of the votes cast were after 3 p.m.  30% of the votes cast were after 5 p.m.  Two voting center locations accounted for 20% of the votes cast

LESSONS LEARNED November 2011 DayVotes Cast% of Total Saturday1,99410% Monday3,07215% Tuesday15,06675%  47% of the votes were cast after 3 p.m.  28% of the votes were cast after 5 p.m.  Two voting center locations accounted for 19% of the votes cast NEW RECORD! The 169,866 total ballots cast in November 2011 broke the record for highest turnout in a City of Phoenix election

LESSONS LEARNED  Voter Preferences  During both the August and November 2011 Elections, the majority of voters went to the voting centers on Tuesday (Election Day)  More than 90% of voters who went to a voting center used the location closest to their home  Potential Future Enhancements  The use of barcode scanners to check-in voters by scanning their drivers licenses  The use of e-poll books  Adding staff, computers and printers at the busiest locations

LESSONS LEARNED  Media Outreach  Executive or spokesperson needs to be available  Bilingual staff needs to be available  Develop strong working relationships with media contacts  Be cognizant of potential issues (attending events where partisan politics was involved)

HOW OTHER CITIES / COUNTIES CAN USE VOTING CENTERS  Convenience to Voters  Voters can choose which location they want to vote at instead being assigned to a specific location so they cannot go to the wrong one  Reduces the number of provisional ballots because voters cannot go to the wrong polling place and voters who were mailed an early ballot can have that one cancelled and vote a regular voting center ballot  Cost Savings  Fewer facilities and workers are needed  Ballot printers reduce the number of preprinted ballots needed and unused blank ballot stock can be stored and used in a future election

HOW OTHER CITIES / COUNTIES CAN USE VOTING CENTERS  Branding  Developing a unique logo helps residents differentiate your services from other government or private entities  Outreach/PR  A grass roots campaign can be an effective tool for reaching out to residents at a reasonable cost  Utilize contacts and existing resources when available  Printing on Demand  Printing materials on demand is cost effective and environmentally friendly

VOTING CENTER DEMO

Questions?