From Blaze to Praise S TAN S TANART Harris County Clerk & Chief - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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From Blaze to Praise S TAN S TANART Harris County Clerk & Chief - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Dec 08, 2022 36 likes •819 views

From Blaze to Praise S TAN S TANART Harris County Clerk & Chief Elections Official The November 2010 Election HARRIS COUNTY TEXAS 2 Harris County Texas Third largest county in the nation. 4,092,459 3 Harris countys population of

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STAN STANART

Harris County Clerk & Chief Elections Official

The November 2010 Election

From Blaze to Praise

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HARRIS COUNTY TEXAS

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Harris County Texas Third largest county in the nation.

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4,092,459

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Harris county’s population of 4,092,459 is larger than 24 states in the USA.

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Houses the election machines and equipment to conduct elections..

Harris County, Texas Election Technology Center

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August 27th, 2010 67 days before the November 2, 2010 Election

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As a result, the conduct of the Nov. 2010 election in Harris County was placed in doubt.

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THE PROMPT RESPONSE

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As the fire raged, the County Clerk assured the public that there was nothing to worry about, stating that “County’s leaders would pull together” to overcome the catastrophe.

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Before the end of the catastrophic day, via the broadcast media, the elections office made sure that the public knew that Harris County would “have a timely election.”

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Other top County officials echoed the County Clerk’s sentiments.

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HARRIS COUNTY VOWS ELECTION INTEGRITY IN POST DISASTER ELECTION PLAN

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The number of Pre-disaster Early Voting and Election Day polling locations would remain the same.

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Election Day Polling Locations Early Voting Locations

736 37

Harris County Plan for Early Voting and Election Day Polling locations before and after Disaster

2010

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Photograph of President Lyndon Johnson Signs the Voting Rights Act as Martin Luther King, Jr., with Other Civil Rights Leaders in the Capitol Rotunda, Washington, DC, 08/06/1965

The election would comply with state and federal voting laws

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Including, making sure all voting sites were HAVA compliant.

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And, all voters would be provided fair and equal access to voting process.

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ASSESSING THE LOSS

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Harris County’s inventory of election equipment totaled

  • ver 16,000 voting and support units.
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Including, 7,190 eSlate electronic voting machines

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1,650 Disabled Access Units (DAU)

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2,870 Judge Booth Controls (JBC)

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360 PCs/Laptops, 220 printers, 120 card swipes readers, 50 modems

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900 cell phones 150 hand scanners

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80 delivery carts, pallet jacks, copiers and other tools used in the conduct of an election

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The fire destroyed the county’s election center and reduced its inventory of election equipment to virtually zero.

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The estimated “total loss was valued at about $40 million.”

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THE CHALLENGE

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As chief elections officer of the county, the County Clerk faced the monumental challenge

  • f rebuilding the County's voting infrastructure.
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51 days before early voting began

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and 67 days before Election Day

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The catastrophe must be addressed before dealing with its consequences.

 Make sure key county staff is on-site to deal with the immediate consequences of the disaster  Make sure important political leaders are personally informed about incident

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Once the best course is determined recovery can begin.

 Department head must conduct prompt assessment

  • f agency’s capacity to function

 Set parameters for the post-disaster election  Meet with election personnel to outline and designate tasks  Meet with the election equipment vendor  Prepare Needs Assessment Report  Prepare and Review Post-Disaster Election Plan

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After a disaster, the workload increases.

 Submit necessary Post-Disaster Reports to Commissioners Court  Coordinate crucial activities of recovery team  Find a Temporary Workspace  Secure Borrowed Equipment  Test and Prepare Equipment  Additional Training  Distribution of Election Supplies  Election Night Activities

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THE ELECTION PLAN

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Three days after the fire, the County Clerk submitted an emergency election plan for the conduct of the Nov. 2 General Election.

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The plan called for the continued use of the eSlate electronic voting system as the principal method of voting.

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The plan also called for making paper ballots available to voters on Election Day.

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Most importantly, the plan called for the speedy acquisition, by loan or purchase, of the election equipment needed to conduct a timely election.

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The Clerk’s Plan was approved.

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WHY USE THE PRE-DISASTER VOTING EQUIPMENT?

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The eSlate is compatible with the expensive Ballot Management Technology software that survived the fire and is used in the administration of Absentee Ballots and tabulating votes.

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The eSlate voting system had been used in Houston since 2001 and Countywide since 2002.

It is familiar to voters.

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Insurance covered the costs of replacing the voting equipment.

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No time to certify a different method of voting.

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Candidates’ supported the plan

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More importantly, the use of the eSlate and paper ballot system used in absentee voting averted any legal issues which the county may have had to face by introducing unfamiliar voting equipment.

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KEYS TO POST DISASTER ELECTION PLAN

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Anticipate equipment need

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Borrow voting equipment

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Hopefully the election equipment vendor has the capacity to manufacture lots of voting machines

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Encourage Absentee and Early Voting

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Enact emergency election plan quickly to ensure compliance with the state and federal election calendar.

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Well-organized speedy teamwork

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ELEMENTS IMPORTANT TO HARRIS COUNTY’S RECOVERY

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Quickly finding and readying a temporary location from where Harris County could gear-up for the election.

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Swift execution of inter-local cooperation agreements between Harris County and various counties for loan of voting equipment.

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Prompt and secure delivery

  • f borrowed, purchased and

leased voting equipment

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Election Day Equipment ready for Delivery to Precincts!

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Election Judge JBCs, paper ballots, poll books and supplies ready for pickup!

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THE RESULTS OF HARRIS COUNTY’S PLAN TO OBTAIN VOTING EQUIPMENT

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Overall, 11 counties provided 384 JBCs, 1009 eSlates and 266 eSlate

  • DAUs. The vast majority
  • f the equipment was
  • btained about a

month after the fire.

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In addition, other non-eSlate counties provided 1,675 ballot boxes with locks and keys and 4,175 voting booths to make the implementation of the paper ballot option on Election Day possible

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Election equipment vendor Hart InterCivic worked around the clock to deliver new equipment on time for election

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Quick, efficient and smart implementation

  • f a post-

disaster emergency election plan by the Harris County Clerk’s

  • ffice ensured a

legal election in Harris County.

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The deployment of voting equipment in Harris County during the early voting period in the 2010 election was equal to the 2006 mid-term election.

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Judge Booth Controls Voting Machines Disabled Access Voting Machines Polls

83 684 68 33 100 738 86

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  • Nov. 2006 Early Voting Period
  • Nov. 2010 Early Voting Period
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The use of electronic voting machines and paper ballots and privacy booths provided Harris County voters virtually the same number of election day voting booths per a poll as in the previous mid-term election.

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Polling Locations Judge Booth Controls Voting Machines Disabled Access Voting Machines Paper Ballots Paper Ballot Privacy Booths

Total Voting Booths Available Per a Poll

  • Nov. 2006

Election Day Equipment Allocation 731 1,462 5,461 731 0 8.4

  • Nov. 2010

Election Day Equipment Allocation 736 1,472 3,791 736 610,000 933 7.4

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Harris County met the challenge of replacing the lost voting equipment.

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THE RESULTS

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In the 2010 mid-term election in Harris County, the vote was up 33 percent compared to 2006.

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601,186 798,995

2006 2010

Vote in last two mid-term elections in Harris County

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Approximately half of the 798,995 voters who participated in the 2010 midterm election in Harris County

  • pted to vote

during the early voting period.

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392,141

351,294

55,560

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Vote in Nov. 2, 2010 Election Early Vote Total Vote Absentee

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The early voting result underlines the importance of the County Clerk’s office emphasis to conduct early voting in manner which was familiar to voters.

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On Election Day, the eSlate electronic voting system was the principal method of voting in Harris

  • County. Still, paper

ballots were also deployed at every poll, but only 9,634 voters (2.8%) chose to vote via the paper option.

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THE PRAISE: PUBLIC ACCOLADES

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Local compliments for chief election officer of Harris County.

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Statewide acknowledgement of meeting the challenge of affording timely and equal access to the voting process to Harris County’s 1.9 million registered voters.

From Blaze to Praise

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A Disaster can bring about reflection.

 Staff experienced in emergency management can facilitate recovery  Precautionary work measures minimize the impact of a disaster  Budget constraints impact a County’s ability to protect voting equipment from disaster  Nothing can be done to entirely eliminate the perils posed by unpredictable factors  County Judges and Commissioners can be counted on to act in the public’s best interest  When a catastrophe strikes, Texans are always ready and willing to help.

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Conclusion

 Approximately 800,000 individuals voted in the

  • Nov. 2, 2010 election in Harris County. Half of those

persons voted during the early voting period.  The majority of the voting equipment during the conduct of early voting was borrowed.  Overall, almost 30 percent of voting machines used in Harris County during the conduct of the Nov. 2, 2010 election were provided by other counties. Thanks to sister counties and our vendor Hart InterCivic, Harris County went …

From Blaze to Praise