accordance with Florida election law and Division of Elections uniform ballot rule. ..... colleges. ⢠Provide speakers
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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
