2012 Annual Report - Sarasota Votes

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Message from the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections

Page 2

Staff

Page 3

Office Locations

Page 4

Election Day Operations

Page 5

Elections and Voter Registration

Page 6

Military and Overseas Voters

Page 13

Redistricting and Reprecincting

Page 14

Voter Outreach

Page 15

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Message from Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent I am pleased to present this 2012 Annual Report from the Office of the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections (SOE). In these pages, you will find a comprehensive review of the elections, programs and accomplishments of the office during the 2012 calendar year. The SOE office is primarily responsible for conducting all federal, state, county, municipal and special district elections in Sarasota County in compliance with the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA), the National Voting Rights Act (NVRA), the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other federal and state statutes. The 2012 election year was one of the most challenging in many years. In addition to our normal daily tasks, we conducted three major and a handful of municipal elections. The major elections included the Presidential Preference Primary, the Primary Election, and the General Election, which featured the longest ballot in the county’s history. The elections office also led a major redistricting of political boundaries and redrawing of precinct lines, reducing the number of precincts in the county from 156 to 99. In fact, only five times in a century does redistricting correspond with a presidential election cycle. We held several town hall meetings to inform the voters about the new districts and precincts, mailed a new voter information card to every registered voter in the county, and conducted multiple voter registration drives and poll worker orientations throughout the year. My office staff and I responded to countless requests for public records and phone calls from voters and candidates about all things elections, processed hundreds of pages of candidate finance and qualifying documents, and performed extensive voter registration list maintenance activities to ensure up-to-date and accurate voter records. We mailed a total of 98,740 absentee ballots to voters on every continent, including Antarctica; processed 71,715 early voters; employed and trained a total of 2,947 poll workers, and recruited an additional 610 temporary staff to help during the 2012 election cycle. The dedicated team of SOE staff members and I remain committed to the preservation of voter confidence in the democratic process, to the conduct of accurate, transparent, accessible, and fair elections, and to providing the best possible service to all our candidates and voters, domestic and overseas. This is your elections office. We encourage you to register, to listen, to get involved, and then to vote. We appreciate the opportunity to serve you and invite you to contact us if you have questions or comments.

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STAFF AND POLL WORKERS The Sarasota County supervisor of elections employs 26 full time and two part-time staff. During a countywide election, the supervisor of elections becomes one of the larger employers in the county, taking on between 1,000 and 1,500 poll workers and other temporary staff.

Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Staff Administration

Information Technology

Kathy Dent

Supervisor of Elections

Terry Williams

Information Technology Manager

Ron Turner

Chief of Staff

Marcus Crow

Systems Administrator

Barbara Bain

Public Information Coordinator

Marty Gueli

Network Administrator

Cathy Fowler

Candidates and Finance

Antoine Henry

GIS Administrator

Jennifer Lynch

Human Resources Coordinator

Amy Lynn Potter

Administrative Assistant

Voter Services - Sarasota

Absentee Ballots Suzanne MacFarlane

Absentee Ballot Coordinator

Olga Castro

Deputy Registrar

Mary Snyder

Deputy Registrar

Tracy Smith

Voter Services Coordinator

Linette Capierseho

Deputy Registrar

Brenda Luna

Deputy Registrar

Pam Cutrone

Poll Worker Coordinator

Betty Maddox

Deputy Registrar

Eileen Everhart

Training Coordinator

Joyce Soltis

Administrative Assistant

Michelle Carroll

Deputy Registrar

Michelle Tuffland

Deputy Registrar

Voter Services - Venice

Poll Workers

Voting Equipment Facility Bobby Walker

Technical Services Administrator

Terrina Powell

Voter Services Coordinator

Patrick Van-Cooten

Technical Services Assistant

Tom Dagg

Deputy Registrar

Patricia Kline

Deputy Registrar

Melissa Nolte

Deputy Registrar

Voter Services - North Port Liz Brennan

Voter Services Coordinator

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OFFICE LOCATIONS & FACILITIES The Sarasota County supervisor of elections maintains three full-service offices and a voting equipment facility in the county. The main office of the supervisor of elections is located in the Sarasota County Terrace Building, 101 S. Washington Blvd., Sarasota, 34236. Two branch offices are located at 4000 Tamiami Trail S., Room 114, Venice, 34293, and in Biscayne Plaza, 13640 Tamiami Trail, North Port, 34287. In addition, the supervisor maintains a 10,000 square foot voting equipment facility in the county’s intergovernmental operations center at 1001 Sarasota Center Blvd, Sarasota 34240.

Biscayne Plaza 13640 Tamiami Trail North Port, FL 34287

The Terrace Building 101 S. Washington Blvd. Sarasota, FL 34236

Robert L. Anderson Administration Center 4000 Tamiami Trail S. Rm 114 Venice, FL 34293

Voting Equipment Facility 1001 Sarasota Center Blvd. Sarasota, FL 34240

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ELECTION DAY OPERATIONS Polling Places The supervisor of elections (SOE) office is responsible for the selection, equipping and operation of polling places in the county. Each polling place must be of sufficient size to accommodate its voters, have adequate parking, and must be handicap accessible in accordance with federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines. For the January 31, 2012 Republican Presidential Preference Primary (PPP), Sarasota County had a total of 156 precincts and 127 separate polling locations serving 122,338 eligible voters. Following the 2010 federal census and the subsequent redistricting and reprecincting, the number of precincts declined to 98. During the August 14, 2012 Primary Election, the SOE contracted with 85 separate facilities to serve as polling locations for 270,353 registered voters. Prior to the General Election, a new precinct was added, bringing the number of precincts to 99. Eighty-six polling locations were open on Election Day, November 6, 2012, to accommodate 277,361 registered voters residing in the 99 precincts.

Poll Workers The SOE recruits, appoints, trains, and supervises all poll workers in all elections it conducts. Recruitment of student and bilingual poll workers is an important part of the staffing process. Poll worker training is conducted prior to every election, according to Florida statute, and features hands-on and online training. For the three major elections held in 2012, a total of 2,947 poll workers were recruited and trained, including 856 who served in the January PPP, 881 in the August Primary, and 1,210 in the November General Election. These included 42 student poll workers in the PPP, 27 students in the Primary and 114 students in the General Election.

Paper Ballots Processed During the 2012 election cycle, the SOE office processed 308,873 paper ballots, including 98,740 legal absentee ballots and 747 legal provisional ballots.

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ELECTIONS AND VOTER REGISTRATION Elections The Sarasota County supervisor of elections (SOE) conducted three countywide and three municipal elections in 2012. The countywide elections included the Republican Presidential Preference Primary (PPP) on January 31, the Primary Election on August 14, and the General Election on November 6. Municipal elections included the Town of Longboat Key General on March 20, and City of North Port General and City of Sarasota Referenda elections on November 6. The SOE qualified and processed paperwork for a total of 60 candidates seeking 32 county or special district seats in the 2012 General Election. In addition, SOE staff assisted municipal clerks to qualify local candidates, received and reviewed campaign finance reports and financial disclosure statements, and verified and certified more than 10,000 voter signatures for candidates who qualified by the petition process and on citizen initiative petitions.

Voting Equipment Sarasota County uses an automatic precinct tabulator voting system, which accepts paper ballots, and ballot marking devices for persons who are visually impaired or disabled. SOE voting equipment facility (VEF) staff service and safeguard all of the county’s voting equipment and test each piece of equipment before every election. The county maintains 199 optical scan precinct tabulators, 247 ballot boxes, and 215 AutoMARK ballot making devices for use in the precincts on election day and during early voting. VEF staff is also responsible for delivering and setting up the voting equipment and precinct supplies and for retrieving, accounting for, and storing equipment from each precinct and early voting site after every election.

Ballot Preparation and Tabulation SOE information technology (IT) staff layout and create every election ballot, in accordance with Florida election law and Division of Elections uniform ballot rule. The November 2012 General Election ballot was a 2-page, 17-inch ballot with races and questions on both sides of both pages. It was the longest in Sarasota County history and included 11 Constitutional Amendments totaling more than 2,600 words, one county charter amendment, and 15 municipal referenda. IT staff also maintains the Global Election Management System (GEMS) and central count scanning equipment, which is used to tabulate official election results.

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Post-Election Certification Voting System Audit Immediately following the certification of each election, the county canvassing board or the local board responsible for certifying the election is required to conduct a manual audit of the voting system to ensure that the system deployed in the election tabulated all votes properly. In 2012, audits were conducted for the January 31 Presidential Preference Primary, the March 20 Town of Longboat Key General Election, and the August 14 Primary Election. An audit was not conducted for the November 5 General Election because, pursuant to 101.591(6) of the Florida Statutes, the canvassing board is not required to conduct a manual audit of the voting system if a manual recount is undertaken pursuant to 102.166 F.S. Because the vote difference in one of the Sarasota County Charter Amendment contests on the November ballot was less than one-quarter of one percent, the canvassing board was required to conduct a manual recount of votes cast in that contest. The three audits conducted in 2012 found the voting system tabulated 100% accurately in all cases. Audit results are reported to the Division of Elections in Tallahassee and are posted on the SOE website at www.SarasotaVotes.com.

Voter Turnout Voter turnout in a presidential election year is generally higher than in other years. The 2012 General Election saw a 74.45% turnout, compared to 56.10% of voters who turned out in the November 2010 gubernatorial election. In 2008, the voter turnout in the General Election was 80.07%. The charts below show voter turnout by age, by gender, and by top 10 precincts in the November 6, 2012 General Election. 19-25 y/o

Percentage of Voter Turnout by Age

4%

November 6, 2012 General Election

18 y/o

26-35 y/o

1%

7% 18 year olds 19-25 year olds 66 and above

36-55 y/o

42%

25% 56-65 y/o

21%

26-35 year olds 36-55 year olds 56-65 year olds 66 and above

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Voter Turnout (cont’d)

Unknown

4,934

Voter Turnout by Gender November 6, 2012 General Election

Males

91,198

Males

Females

Females

112,088

Unknown

TOP 10 PRECINCTS BY VOTER TURNOUT November 6, 2012 General Election

PCT #

REGISTERED VOTERS

BALLOTS CAST

% TURNOUT

541

581

527

90.71 %

301

673

609

90.49 %

333

645

578

89.61 %

525

2354

2092

88.87 %

435

1106

974

88.07 %

121

3224

2809

87.13 %

213

1143

987

86.35 %

321

2216

1911

86.24 %

427

94

81

86.17 %

431

2973

2528

85.03 %

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Historical Voter Turnout 2002-2012 Primary and General Elections Voter Turnout YEAR

PRIMARY ELECTIONS

GENERAL ELECTIONS

Reg Voters

Ballots Cast

% Turnout

Reg Voters

Ballots Cast

% Turnout

2012

270,353

44,535

16.47%

277,381

208,623

75.21%

2010

262,093

63,630

24.28%

264,382

148,307

56.10%

2008

252,249

48,263

19.29%

260,618

208,683

80.07%

2006

248,649

61,695

24.81%

250,500

142,532

56.90%

2004

229,795

59,956

26.09%

240,592

196,291

81.59%

2002

228,416

68,041

29.79%

231,072

140,798

60.93%

Presidential Election Average Turnout (Average of Voter Turnout in 2004, 2008, and 2012 General Elections)

78.96% Sarasota County 73.63% State

18.42 % above national average

60.54% National

Gubernatorial Election Average Turnout (Average of Voter Turnout in 2002, 2006, and 2010 General Elections)

57.97% Sarasota County 50.26% State

16.80 % above national average

41.17% National

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Three Ways to Vote Sarasota County offers voters three ways to vote in every election – by mail (absentee), early voting, and at the precinct on election day. While voting at the polls is still very popular among voters, early voting and mail voting are gaining in popularity. In the November 6 General Election, 79,141 voters went to the polls, 74,015 voted by mail and 55,467 voted early. By Election Day, more than 62% of eligible voters had already cast their ballots.

3 Ways to Vote November 6, 2012 General Election

Vote by Mail

35%

Early Voting

27%

74,015 Polls 55,467

Early Voting Vote by Mail

38%

Polls

0

79,141

20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000

On August 14, 15,267 voters went to the polls to cast their primary ballots, 4,108 voted early, and 9,360 voted by mail. Nearly 47% of all primary voters had voted prior to election day. The SOE office mailed absentee ballots to voters on every continent, including Antarctica, during the 2012 election cycle.

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Voter Registration SOE voter services staff are responsible for administering all voter registration activities in Sarasota County in accordance with Florida election laws. These include processing registration applications, issuing voter information cards, maintaining voter registration statistics, maintaining and updating an index of street addresses in the county and performing periodic list maintenance to ensure accurate and current records. As of December 31, 2012, a total of 279,966 Sarasota County citizens were registered to vote, compared to 264,438 in 2008. Registered voters in the county included 88,739 Democrats, 122,363 Republicans, and 68,864 who were affiliated with minor political parties or had no party affiliation. The following tables show the number of registered voters by political party, gender, age group, and source as of December 31, 2012. VOTER REGISTRATION BY POLITICAL PARTY as of December 31, 2012

POLITICAL PARTY

REGISTERED VOTERS

PERCENT

Republican

122,363

43.70%

Democrat

88,739

31.70%

No Party Affiliation/Minor

68,864

24.60%

Total Voters

279,966

100.00%

VOTER REGISTRATION BY GENDER as of December 31, 2012

GENDER

REGISTERED VOTERS

PERCENT

Female

148,429

53.02%

Male

126,358

45.13%

Unknown

5,179

1.85%

Total Voters

279,966

100.00%

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Voter Registration (cont’d) VOTER REGISTRATION BY AGE GROUP as of December 31, 2012

AGE RANGE

VOTERS

PERCENT

0-17

39

0.01%

18-20

7079

2.53%

21-29

25,458

9.09%

30-55

91,338

32.63%

56-64

46,675

16.67%

65+

109,377

39.07%

Total Voters

279,966

100.00%

VOTER REGISTRATION BY SOURCE as of December 31, 2012

SOURCE

VOTERS

PERCENT

DHSMV

8,810

46%

Mail

3,415

18%

Public Assistance

186

1%

Disability/C.I.L.

3

0%

Recruiters

0

0%

Public Libraries

103

1%

3 Party Voter Reg Orgs

1,589

8%

Elections Office

5,037

26%

Total Voter Applications

19,143

100.00%

RD

12 32 %

MILITARY AND OVERSEAS VOTERS Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) ensures eligible citizens can apply to register to vote and vote by absentee ballot. Elections officials are required to send absentee ballots to absent military and overseas voters at least 45 days prior to a federal election. Citizens covered under UOCAVA include:  Absent uniformed services and U.S. Merchant Marine members  Eligible family members of the above  U.S. citizens residing outside the United States During the 2012 election cycle, the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections sent a total of 3,603 ballots to overseas and military voters on all seven continents around the world. The farthest ballot sent was to a voter in Antarctica, which is 8,106 miles from Sarasota County.

Our Mission: Your Vote The Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections is part of a consortium of 13 Florida county elections offices who have come together to provide a stateof-the-art ballot access system to some of our hardest to reach voters. Through a partnership with Democracy Live and Microsoft and a grant provided by the Federal Voting Assistance Program, the system serves nearly every major military installation in Florida. While traditional mail ballots rely on the postal system, new LiveBallot technology, developed by Democracy Live, gives overseas military and civilian voters immediate access to a ballot that they can mark online or on paper and return via mail or fax. Active uniformed services voters living stateside may also access their ballots via the new technology but may only return their marked ballots via mail. The system allows voters to use unique identifying information to access their ballots. The voter-specific ballot is available 24/7 and is transmitted securely, no matter where in the world the voter is. The technology reduces the time it takes to get a ballot to an overseas voter and allows the voter ample time to vote and return the ballot to the supervisor of elections.

www.ourmissionyourvote.us

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REDISTRICTING AND REPRECINCTING The 2010 decennial census put Florida’s population at 18,900,773, nearly three million more than in 2000. As a result, the state gained two new U.S. Congressional seats, bringing the total to 27. The Florida legislature redrew our congressional and legislative voting district boundaries in 2011 to account for the increase and shifts in population. Changes in local district lines necessitated changes in precinct boundaries that determine where a person votes and what ballot he or she will receive. This process, known as reprecincting, presented opportunities for the supervisor of elections (SOE) office to streamline the electoral process here in Sarasota County. We were able to consolidate and reduce the number of voting precincts in the county from 156 to 99, which in turn will allow us to reduce the amount of voting equipment, training and election officials needed for a countywide election. The reprecincting project in Sarasota County took the better part of a year and was completed in May 2012 with the mailing of new voter information cards to all 284,979 registered voters. The new district and precinct boundaries were in effect for the August and November 2012 elections. As a result of redistricting, all Sarasota County voters now reside wholly in Congressional District 16 and State Senate District 28. The county encompasses five State House Districts – 70, 71, 72, 73, and 74. Reprecincting involved countless SOE staff and hundreds of staff hours but was well worth the effort in terms of the substantial cost savings and increased efficiency and quality of service we will be able to provide the voters of Sarasota County.

99 Precincts 86 Polling Locations

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VOTER OUTREACH Reaching out to all Sarasota County voters is a very important mission of the supervisor of elections office. We conduct a comprehensive nonpartisan voter education program which includes, for example, the following elements:

www.sarasotavotes.com



Disseminate information about the voting equipment and election procedures



Conduct voter education programs annually in all public high schools and colleges



Provide speakers to various groups, schools, organization and clubs upon request



Publish voter guides and informational brochures

 

Produce public service announcements Distribute news releases to local news organizations



Maintain a website at www.sarasotavotes.com to provide candidates, voters, and general public with important information and news



Conduct voter registration drives at various community events and provide material that will help citizens understand the voting process.

In 2012, we held several town hall meetings in the county to inform voters about redistricting and launched a video campaign to remind them about changes in precincts and polling locations and about the convenience of voting by mail. Finally, we added social media to our outreach program so that we are now able to communicate regularly and directly with voters via Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Public Service Video

Elections Office Tube Dude 15

Kathy Dent Supervisor of Elections Sarasota County, Florida www.SarasotaVotes.com (941) 861-8600 16