GeekNet Goodies (cont.): Maricopa's Provisional Ballot Processing Program

[Image courtesy of wikipedia]

As I mentioned yesterday, last week’s GeekNet gathering in Minneapolis featured several fascinating presentations on the future of election administration. While some of these (like Dana Chisnell’s web personas talk) focused on what could be, Maricopa County’s Tammy Patrick highlighted a project that’s already in existence. [UPDATE: I forgot to link to the presentation – here it is!]

Provisional ballots are usually a boon for the affected voter but are also usually difficult for election officials. In some jurisdictions, local conditions, procedures, etc. combine to spike the number of provisionals, creating an administrative challenge as offices seek to verify the eligibility of voters and count valid ballots before the certification deadline.

In Maricopa County, a number of factors combine to drive up the number of provisional ballots – but none more than the dramatic growth of the Permanent Early Voting List (PEVL). That list has tripled in recent years, which – in a county the size of Maricopa – yields a proportionally higher number of voters who received an early ballot but for whatever reason appear at the polls instead on Election Day. These voters must cast provisional ballots, increasing the County’s processing workload after Election Day. [Arizona also has ID/proof of citizenship requirements that yield provisionals, but these do not produce the numbers associated with PEVL or simple address changes.]

Previously, processing these provisional ballots meant sorting envelopes and moving ballots around the office as voters’ eligibility was verified.That created workflow issues and required strict chain of custody control.

This year, however, Maricopa has begun scanning provisional ballot envelopes and allowing workers to see the scanned information as part of their eligibility checks rather that require them to bring that information physically to their workstations. This process allows the County to shorten the chain of custody and speeds processing of the ballots as a result.

The new system had its first run in the recent presidential preference primary – and Tammy is confident it will save the County significant time and money after this fall’s general election.

Maricopa’s approach to provisionals is a classic example of a larger county using proportionally larger resources (the election office has a dedicated source of funding that must be used on technology) to attack the problems of scale associated with its elections. This high-tech solution likely isn’t necessary everywhere, but Maricopa continues to be a leader among big counties in identifying ways to make even their large-scale operations more efficient.