DEDHAM Advantages and Challenges of Combined/Dual Elections Presented by Paul M. Munchbach, Town Clerk February 14, 2013

Advantages – Increased Voter Turnout Tuesday, April 17, 2007 – Special State Primary- Voter Turnout 18% Tuesday, December 8, Special State Primary –Voter Turnout 23% Tuesday, January 19, Dedham Dual Election– Special State Election – Voter Turnout 64.6 % - Town Election (Debt Exclusion) – Voter Turnout 62.4 % Saturday, April 10, 2010 – Town Election – Voter Turnout 21.0%

Advantages-Increased Voter Turnout Saturday, April 09, 2011-Annual Town Election – 20% Voter Turnout Saturday, April 14, 2012-Annual Town Election – 13% Voter Turnout

Advantages – Cost Savings In Dedham, the cost of running an election is about $24, (7 Precincts). By combining the elections, the Town saves an estimated $7,500. Although we will still incur the cost of ballot printing, there are savings with police duty, custodial, and election officers. The cost is more than holding one election alone, but less than two separate elections.

Advantage – Voter Convenience The normal date for the Annual Town Election is the 2 nd Saturday of April. Our present town election is scheduled for Saturday, April 13, By combining the elections, voters will only have to come to the polling place and/or come to the office to complete absentee ballot applications and voter registrations once.

Advantage- Staff Impact Preparation time for an election is the same, whether you have a 10% turnout or a 90% turnout. There is a moderate staff time savings with a combined election. Absentee ballots are applied for separately, but may be mailed out together (in separate inner envelopes, with one outgoing and one return envelope). Separate recordings and lists must be maintained in the CVR for each election. However, there are fewer walk-in contacts with customers, fewer phone calls, one special voter registration session (rather than two) and the staff gears up for one very long, very busy day rather than two very long, light to moderately busy days less than three weeks apart.

Challenges- Separate Voting Lists and Check-In/Check Out You are running two separate elections on one day, and you must use separate voting lists. Although the cut-off date for voter registration would be the same, not every voter is eligible to participate in a primary (voters enrolled in a political designation do not vote in primaries), and some voters are eligible for the primary but not for the town election (those who moved away within the past six months).

Challenges – Precinct Staffing and Training Required Mandatory Training session for all election workers about a week prior to the election, with additional time spent with the Wardens and Clerks. Each precinct would need to be staffed with 14 election workers (Warden, Clerk, and 12 Election Workers). Currently for a town election or state election we use 56 employees. For a dual election 98 trained employees would be required.

Challenges – Ballot Boxes We would need an additional ballot box for each precinct, so that the ballots could be segregated in carrying to/from polling place. Due to the high volume (and twice the number of ballots), the large ballot box connected to the voting machine (we use Accu-Vote) has to be emptied a couple of times during the day, all under the watchful eye of the Police Officer at the precinct. Accu-Vote Machines would need Seven different memory cards programmed for nine different ballots. The Automark machine would need five flash cards programmed to cover each ballot for seven precincts.

Approved changes to combine elections around the Commonwealth TownCombined Election Date Number of days earlier or later than original town election date Original date of Town Election BucklandApril 30 th 6 days earlier than originally scheduled May 6, 2013 DaltonApril 30 th 13 days earlier than originally scheduled May 13, 2013 HarvardApril 30 th 21 days later than originally scheduled April 9, 2013 HopedaleApril 30 th 14 days earlier than originally scheduled May 14, 2013 HubbardstonJune 25 th 14 days later than originally scheduled June 11, 2013 HudsonApril 30 th 14 days earlier than originally scheduled May 14, 2013 MashpeeApril 30 th 18 days earlier than originally scheduled May 18, 2013 MilfordApril 30 th 28 days later than originally scheduled April 2, 2013 PlainvilleApril 30 th 29 days later than originally scheduled April 1, 2013 ShirleyApril 30 th 14 days earlier than originally scheduled May 14, 2013 ShrewsburyApril 30 th 7 days earlier than originally scheduled May 7, 2013 TempletonApril 30 th 6 days earlier than originally scheduled May 6, 2013 TyngsboroughApril 30 th 14 days earlier than originally scheduled May 14, 2013 UptonApril 30 th 6 days earlier than originally scheduled May 6, 2013 WrenthamApril 30 th 29 days later than originally scheduled April 1, 2013