LJWorld.com

November 8, 2006

This chat has already taken place. Read the transcript below.

Moderator:

This is 6 News Reporter Laura McHugh. I'll moderating today's chat. I left Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew at the Courthouse around 11 p.m. Tuesday night. Jamie, what time did things wrap up?

Jamie Shew:

We finalized the unofficial numbers about 11:45 p.m. last night. As I always point out those are unofficial tallies, we will spend the days from now until the canvass auditing, processing provisional ballots and processing the large amount of write in votes.

average:

I'm curious what goes into choosing polling places? Why, for instance, the 34th precinct votes at Babcock Place (in the 33rd precinct), while the 37th votes at Haskell (in the 34th)? Any chance of multi-precinct voting locations in the future, to reduce the number of locations that need oversight?

Jamie Shew:

The polling sites were mostly set prior to my administration. If there is a problem or if a site asks to no longer be a polling site, then we have made a those changes when needed. We try to not make changes often as it provides for confusion on election day. I would like to review those sites where there are multiple precincts in order to reduce confusion. We are also always reviewing where our polling sites are in relation to population growth. Multi-precinct sites are something that has been tried in other counties to reduce oversight and also costs, these have been met with limited sucess and with some problems. I recently read a study where they applied cost/benifit analysis on voting participation and polling sites. I do not want to do any reductions that would limit accessibility to the polls, yet want to make sure that we are still being the most efficient. If anyone has any concerns with polling sites, please contact me.

justthefacts:

As more and more counties move to electronic voting machines, how are the ballots retained after an election, for the time period required by statute? Are there any documents or written policies speaking to that issue that could be provided to persons seeking to obtain such information?

Jamie Shew:

I can only speak to how we retain the election data with a paper based system, since we are not an electronic voting machine county then I can not address how they retain data. All election materials are retained for 22 months after an election as prescribed by statute. This includes all electronic and hard copy materials produced during the election. I can provide the state law that directs me to retain those documents. We are quite deligent in preserving documents, this includes all zero totals reports, all tallies, all paper documents, all training materials, all ballots (voted, spoiled, unvoted), all provisional envelopes, all advance envelopes. etc. The law is quite specific and we follow those guidelines. I would be glad to share that law with you. After the 22 month deadline all documents are securely destroyed.

enochville:

Can you give us more information about who might have posted stickers on the doors of homes on Greever and Tennessee streets that misled the residents to the incorrect polling locations?

Jamie Shew:

I do not have any information on that situation. We received some reports yesterday and we have forwarded them to the Secretary of State's office where they investigate all of these type of instances. Other than that, I have no other knowledge of what occurred.

RalphGage:

Why does Douglas County consistently rank among the last counties to report vote totals? How is it that larger counties with much higher numbers of voters have been able to count and report more efficiently?

Jamie Shew:

That is excellent question, we continue to work on our reporting process and it continues to improve. It is VERY important to me that we do not sacrifice accuracy for being fast. Therefore, I have multiple audit proceedures in place that check data both at the polling place and the courthouse before it is released. I know that some counties release data without auditing that data, therefore they are faster then most, but I am not willing to make being fast a priority over being right. One thing that we are looking into doing is counting advance during election day. Many of the larger counties start counting advance prior to 7 p.m. and do not release the results until the close of election day. This has never been done in Douglas County, but I am looking at it. As advance increases, tabulating them becomes a larger task. I am pleased with the progress we have made and will continue to work on making the process more efficient while preserving accuracy.

CeeCee:

There were no sleeves for the ballots at the place I voted. Are the sleeves no longer used?

Jamie Shew:

We are still using sleeves in the precincts and should you should of had them at your polling place. If you contact our office, we can find out why there were no sleeves. We moved away from using the large plastic sleeves and they are a cardboard privacy sleeve. But we are still providing them. Some precincts could not find their sleeves in the morning, but we were able to locate them soon after the polls opened. If it is a situation where we need to get more sleeves at a polling place, we can do that also.

Larzia:

How was Douglas County turnout compared to previous mid-term elections and presidential elections?

Jamie Shew:

The 2002 mid-term had about a 57 % turnout so we were lower than 4 years ago. The average for a mid-term since 1984 has ranged between 38% up to the mid 60%. Our turnout was different throughout the county. In the precincts around KU the turnout was between 8-15% while precincts in western Lawrence and Douglas County were in the 60% range. So it seems to have been about average. As County Clerk, I always hope for a great turnout as people should be participating in our democratic process.

oscarfactor:

I vote at Immanuel Church - when will we be getting touchscreen voting equipment?

Jamie Shew:

Thank youf for that question. Over a year ago when we researched how to comply with HAVA, I held town hall meetings and other instances where the public could look at our options. I then took those responses along with my own research and made a recommendation to the County Commissioners that we maintain a paper based tabulation system. Not only does our system provide an audit trail and make sure that paper ballots remain the basis of our elections, it is also more cost effective in the long run for the citizens of our county. I believe that news stories from around the country yesterday where counties that were relying on touchscreen found problems that resulted in long lines and loss of voters validates our decision to stay paper based. Sorry for the long answer to your question, but the short answer is that we will not be getting touchscreen equipment in Douglas County.

nekansan:

With some of the recent focus (such as the Hacking Democracy documentary) on the security and reliability issue with electronic voting machines and tabulation, will touch screen machines be widely deployed or will the county focus on solutions that provide some form of paper ballot for backup and verification?

Jamie Shew:

Douglas County does not nor will it have touchscreen voting. The foundation of our system is still the paper ballot. Everyone still votes on the paper ballot. The accessible machines are even paper based. We still have multiple security and audit procedures that are used to secure any access points to our system. But by using a paper ballot we always have the ability to audit our elections process. It is very important for me to point out the have maintained a paper based system in Douglas County.

Moderator:

Well, we're out of time and questions. Jamie, thanks for joining us for this chat, especially after a long Election Night Tuesday.

Jamie Shew:

Thank for all of the great questions. We have worked hard to improve elections in Douglas County and will continue provide fair and secure elections in Douglas County. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments on how we can continue to make Douglas County a great place to vote.