Changes in Duval County, Florida to Reduce Misuse of Provisional Ballots
Newsletter Volume 4 Issue 2
August 27, 2009
Some Duval County yoters who appear at a polling place, primed to participate in democracy by voting for their candidates of choice, unexpectedly learn that poll workers cannot find their names in the voter’s list. Poll workers lack access to the state voter registration database and are busy trying to move voters quickly through the voting process. Consequently, sometimes the easiest way around the inability to confirm a voter’s registration or identify the voter’s precinct is to hand the voter a provisional ballot, which is less likely to be counted.
Often, the unintended result of giving a voter a provisional ballot is that the ballot is rejected, if improperly cast or incomplete. Voters who have voted by regular ballot in previous elections are often alarmed at being asked to vote with a provisional ballot. Under Florida law, provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct will be rejected.
Voters in such cases may be disenfranchised when poll workers do not follow procedures for identifying the voter’s correct precinct.
“No one should be placated with a provisional ballot that won’t count just to ease voter frustration,” said Advancement Project Florida Voter Protection Advocate Carolyn Thompson.
Thompson has been working with voter advocate groups and election officials in Duval County for the past year to reduce disenfranchisement caused by the misuse of provisional ballots.
Advancement Project’s public records requests and analysis of provisional ballot envelopes and rejected provisional ballots in the 2006 and 2008 general elections helped tell the story of what was happening with provisional ballots from both the voter’s perspective and the standpoint of poll workers.
For one, poll workers, possibly because of inadequate training and a lack of knowledge of the law, were not ensuring that voters signed and completed their provisional ballot envelopes, said Thompson. Poll workers are required to explain, on incomplete ballot envelopes, the reason why the voter left a polling site without completing the envelope. “That just was not happening,” she said.
If confronted with a voter who insists he or she is registered but whose name does not appear on the precinct register, poll workers are supposed to call the supervisor of election’s office to confirm the voter’s registration and identify the voter’s correct polling location. Often, however, poll workers, who are extremely busy on Election Day, do not follow this procedure.
Based on this analysis, Advancement Project met with Duval County Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland June 30 to request, among other things that he improve poll worker training to ensure the proper processing of: voters who appear in the wrong precinct; voters who have recently moved and appear in their correct precinct; and provisional ballots. Advancement Project also offered to review the county’s poll worker training materials to suggest improvements to reduce poll worker error.
In addition to improving poll worker training to ensure that voters cast ballots in the correct precinct, Advancement Project asked that Supervisor Holland support legislative reform to require the partial counting of provisional ballots that are cast in the wrong precinct in races for which the voter is eligible to vote.
In response to Advancement Project’s requests, Supervisor Holland announced he was initiating a number of reforms to reduce the use and rejection of provisional ballots. The changes would make it much less likely for voters to cast ballots in the wrong precinct and easier to identify a voter’s correct polling place, decreasing the likelihood that the voter will be given a provisional ballot.
For example, in precincts where council districts and electoral races are the same, those precincts will be combined in one location. Previously, if a voter entered a multi-precinct location, where council district or races are the same, but the voter joined the line for the wrong precinct and was not redirected to the right line or refused to join the correct line, the voter could receive a provisional ballot which would not count. According to Tracie Collier, director of education and communications for the Supervisor of Elections, those problems happened frequently in 2006 and 2008. Under the new changes, such voters will be able to vote by regular ballot.
The changes will eliminate confusion and may reduce the number of provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct. In addition, if a voter’s name does not appear on the precinct register, or if a voter’s listed address is different than his or her current address, the help desk--staffed by a precinct manager, assistant manager and a computer technician--will call the supervisor’s office and workers operating the phone bank will identify the voter’s correct polling location. If the voter is assigned to a different precinct and different council district than the one they attempt to vote in, staff at the help desk will give the voter a precinct pass, which indicates the voter is registered. A poll worker at the help desk would also provide the voter with a voter registration application and directions to the correct precinct. After the voter appears at his or her new precinct, the voter will be added to the precinct roster and permitted to vote by regular ballot.
To be better prepared for Election Day, the county will increase the number of poll workers, voting machines and pre-printed ballots.
Persuading Supervisor Holland to make substantial changes required significant relationship building, said Thompson. “It took several meetings and gaining the respect of the supervisor. Once he found out that we were interested in dialogue and that we were working with allies that represent large segments of the community that he cared about, we made headway.”
Collier praised Advancement Project’s work in helping voters and the collaboration with the supervisor of elections.
"We appreciate the partnership with Advancement Project, working together has broadened our perspective, and given us the perspective of what the voters think,” she said. “We appreciate ideas that will allow us to serve voters better. We look forward to working with you on our Poll Worker Training Manual.”
In addition to the changes in Duval County, Hillsborough County is starting a poll worker training academy because of Advancement Project’s advocacy.
“We have communicated effectively with officials in Hillsborough that the role poll workers play in our democracy is pivotal,” said Thompson. “And that we must all help them use the most effective training possible to make sure voting rights are protected.”
