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HomeMy WebLinkAboutVII (E) Canvassing Board/Ballot Review Criteria for March 14, 2000 Election Agenda 1-18-2000 Item VII E FOLEY & LARDNER MEMORANDUM CU T-MATT-ER NUNIKR 020377-0107 TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Commissioners of the City of Ocoee FROM: Paul E. Rosenthal, E,sq., City Attorneyy� DATE: January 12, 2000 RE: Canvassing Board March 14 General Election The March 14 General Municipal Election will be held concurrently with the statewide presidential primary. As a result, the Supervisor of Elections will be administering the General Election, including the mailing, receipt and opening of absentee ballots. The City Commission recently approved an agreement with the Supery isor of Elections allocating responsibilities for the General Election, and, if needed, a municipal runoff election. All requests for absentee ballots will be referred to the Supervisor of Elections who has accepted responsibility for the distribution of such ballots.. It is necessary for the City and Supervisor of Elections to agree upon arrangements for canvassing absentee ballot results for the general election. Attached hereto is a copy of correspondence from the Supervisor of Elections dated November 16, 1999 which addresses this issue in further detail and proposes certain solutions, and asks certain questions. The Ocoee City Charter requires that the City Canvassing Board meet at 12.00 Noon following the day of the election and that the City Canvassing Board canvass the returns and declare the results at that meeting. In the past, the City Clerk has delivered to the City Canvassing Board the results from the polling places along with unopened absentee ballots which have been prescreened by the Supervisor of Elections. This procedure will not be possible for the general election since City absentee ballots will be in the same envelope as the County absentee ballot and will be returned in one envelope. The County Canvassing Board will review the absentee ballot envelopes on the Monday prior to the general election, make a decision as to the acceptability of those ballots, and proceed to open the ballots. If the City Canvassing Board were to utilize different criteria from the County Canvassing Board or reach a different conclusion regarding the acceptability of a ballot, this would lead to a potentially complicated situation. In order to avoid conflicts, it is our recommendation that the City of Ocoee and its Canvassing Board defer to the County criteria and the decision of the County Canvassing Board with respect to the acceptability of ballots and allow the County Canvassing Board to open and count the City absentee ballots and report the results thereof to the City. 0IL 006.167302.7 si d The Supervisor of Elections raises several questions which are set forth below along with our proposed answers: QUESTION 1: Are there any other criteria not mentioned above that your city canvassing board has used for reviewing ballots that might result in a rejected ballot? PROPOSED ANSWER: The City Canvassing Board does not have any additional criteria to supplement the criteria identified by the Supervisor of Elections in his November 16, 1999 letter. QUESTION 2: Would a city representative as designated by the city canvassing board wish to make a spot check through the accepted ballots prior to their being opened on Monday, March 13, to verify that they meet your canvassing board criteria for acceptability? PROPOSED ANSWER: The City Canvassing Board does not desire to spot check the accepted ballots prior to their opening and will defer to the determination of the Supervisor of Elections and the County Canvassing Board. QUESTION 3: After the accepted ballots have been opened, would you want the city absentee ballots to be processed along with the county ballots? Would you want a member of the city canvassing board present? PROPOSED ANSWER: The City requests that the County process the City absentee ballots along with the County absentee ballots. The City would request that a representative of the Ocoee City Clerk's office be present at the time the City absentee ballots are processed by the Supervisor of Elections. QUESTION 4: If tbtey are to be counted in the presence of the city canvassing board, but not simultaneously with the county ballots, would you wish them to be placed back into the opened absentee return envelope? PROPOSED ANSWER: The City will not Iequire that the City absentee ballots be counted in the presence of the City Canvassing Board, but would like the opportunity to have a representative of the City Clerk's office present at the time of counting. Accordingly, it is not necessary for the City absentee ballots to be placed back in the opened absentee return envelope. QUESTION 5: Could at least one member of your canvassing board be present on election day when the county canvassing board meets to review those ballots which have been held for canvassing board review according to the criteria specified above? As an alternative to election day, could your canvassing board find some time on Monday, March 13, to meet in my office and review questionable absentee ballots and to "bless" those which are acceptable by our standards? PROPOSED ANSWER_ The City would like � to have a representative of the City Clerk's office and at Ieast one member of •„{e City Canvassing Board present on election day whenever the County Canvassing Board meets to review ballots held for review according to the criteria set forth in the November 16, 1999 letter from the Supervisor of Elections. It is not necessary for the City Canvassing Board to separately meet 006.167302.1 2- A/C 7 ClWa CA/ T GAO /171A:AY �1�A1llMW T fl KTW 2 fl11:l.1AYs TC=�T !T!w-�T-wevn with the Supervisor of Elections to review questionable absentee ballots or "bless" acceptable ones. The City Canvassing Board will defer to the decision of the Supervisor of Elections and the County Canvassing Board on whether or not to accept an absentee ballot. The City requests that the absentee ballot results be jointly delivered to the City Clerk's representative and the City Canvassing Board member present at the County Canvassing Board meeting. Under the procedures set forth above, at least one member of the City Canvassing Board and a representative of the City Clerk's office will be present when the County Canvassing Board reviews ballots held for canvassing and certifies the absentee ballot results. RECOMMENDATION: It respectfully is recommended that the City Commission acting as the City Commission and the Canvassing Board members acting on behalf of the Canvassing Board (1) approve the proposed answers to the Supervisor of Elections as set forth in.this memorandum, (2) adopt the Orange County Canvassing Board review criteria with respect to absentee ballots as set forth in correspondence from the Supervisor of Elections to the City Clerk dated November 16, 1999 and establish those criteria as the City criteria, and (3) designate a member of the City Canvassing Board to attend, along with a representative of the City Clerk's office, the election day meeting of the County Canvassing Board and report back to the City Canvassing Board the municipal absentee ballot results•as reported by the Supervisor of EIections. Attachment(s) 006.167302.1 -3- i./i. ^JfJ..S CAL./ T �i.0 J0E.:/'TT 11"JA/T 1flJ Y /T f.1V 4'J T 111 I.1AVJ 7n-7T Ai's �• f.u� 0stIvES•SUp41//5' BILL COWLES } � � 15 O OUR MISSION IS TO: Supervisor of Elections o rT4 ..'ir r Ensure the integrity of the electoral process. ti rn Enhance public confidence. Orange County, Florida o � . . Encourage citizen participation. . ti� o aNQU 17 An 11 50 O:3Dt1 November 16, 1999 Jean Grafton City Clerk, City of Ocoee 150 Lakeshore Drive Ocoee FL 34761 Dear Jean: One of the compelling reasons for the 1992 decision not to have city elections held concurrently with county elections was the loss of over 600 ballots which could not be canvassed by the county canvassing board. The city and county ballots had been mailed in separate envelopes with separate return envelopes. In order to save postage, however, many voters placed both ballots in one return envelope, in some cases mailing both ballots in the county envelope and in some cases mailing them both in the city envelope. For this reason, in the upcoming March election, we will be mailing out city absentee ballots in the SAME envelope as our county ballot. The voter will then place both voted ballots in the one return envelope addressed to the Supervisor of Elections. We have applied this procedure in the past, and it has not been a problem for those cities that agreed to this method; their canvassing board having agreed in advance to abide by the same review criteria as the county canvassing board for these ballots. In the past, ballots have been accepted by the county canvassing board if: The voter has signed the absentee certificate AND The signature is verified against the signature on record AND There is a witness to the signature AND The witness has provided a sufficient address so that the witness could be.found, if necessary. The county canvassing board reviews all ballot envelopes where: There is NO signature by the voter OR There is NO witness to the signature OR There is insufficient or NO address given by the witness OR The voter's signature cannot be verified. It has been our experience that most of the ballot envelopes held for review by the canvassing board are rejected. 119 West Kaley Street, Orlando ■ Reply to: Post Office Box 562001, Orlando, Florida 32856 Phone (407)836-2070 - Fax(407)317-7633 - TDD(407) 422-4833 ■ Internet: www.ocfelections.com Jean Grafton, City Clerk, City of Ocoee November 16, 1999 Page Two Ballot envelopes which fall into the "accepted" criteria are opened on the day before the election so that they can be processed during the day of the election. Prior to opening the "accepted" ballots, a time is set aside and advertised allowing any member of the public to come in to inspect the ballots. It is my strongest desire to follow the above procedure for all cities on March 14, 2000. I believe it will result in the fewest number of rejected ballots and will make it easier on the voting public by allowing them to save postage by using just one envelope for both ballots. In order to satisfy the requirements of ALL cities we need to know the following:- 1) Are there any other criteria not mentioned above that your city canvassing board has used for reviewing ballots that might result in a rejected ballot? 2) Would a city representative as designated by the city canvassing board wish to make a spot check through the accepted ballots prior to their being opened on Monday, March 13, to verify that they meet your canvassing board criteria for acceptability? 3) After the accepted ballots have been opened, would you want the city absentee ballots to be processed along with the county ballots? Would you want a member of the city canvassing board present? 4) If they are to be counted in the presence of the city canvassing board, but not simultaneously with the county ballots, would you wish them to be placed back into the opened absentee return envelope? 5) Could at least one member of your canvassing board be present on election day when the county canvassing board meets to review those ballots which have been held for canvassing board review according to the criteria specified above? As an alternative to election day, could your canvassing board find some time on Monday, March 13, to meet in my office and review questionable absentee ballots and to "bless" those which are acceptable by our standards? By working together and discussing these matters ahead of time, we will be able to make the March election as smooth as possible for the voting public. I look forward to hearing from you on these matters. S' cerely, La ill Cowles Supervisor of Elections BC/med