STAFF REPORT To:

Bedford Town Council

From:

Lori Radke, Town Clerk

Date:

March 28, 2017

Re:

ELECTRONIC POLL BOOK TRIAL UPDATE

TOWN MANAGER’S COMMENTS – RECOMMENDATION I want to thank Lori for being a strong leader in bringing this technology to Bedford and the State and for all her time and efforts in conducting this trial. I also want to thank KnowInk and LHS, Associates for their time and support of the trial. I believe the trial clearly showed that NH is ready to move forward utilizing the electronic poll books. R. Sawyer BACKGROUND On January 18, 2017 I came before the Town Council seeking approval to conduct an Electronic Poll Book trial at the local election to be held on Tuesday, March 14, 2017. At this time, I would share with the Town Council the results of that trial. DISCUSSION During our discussion in January, I listed several objectives needed in order to meet the goal of conducting the Electronic Poll Book trial. Below are the objectives and the measures taken to accomplish each objective. 1. Secure a company to assist in the trial - I selected KnowInk, St. Louis, MO and LHS, Associates, Salem, NH 2. Seek approval from all stakeholders -I received approval from the Town Council, Secretary of State and support from our local elected officials. 3. Meet and work with LHS and KnowInk, to ensure the voter data base was securely downloaded on the poll pads - The database was securely downloaded using the export file I would normally use if someone wanted to purchase a voter list. In order to get the full effect of using this technology we wanted the ability to scan driver’s licenses. While attempting this, we did run into one obstacle. New Hampshire has a law requiring approval from the Commissioner of Safety to scan driver’s licenses: as per Rules SAF-C 5606-SCANNING, RECORDING, RETAINING OR STORING PERSONAL INFORMATION. Following several meetings with Assistant Commissioner Baily and members of the Secretary of State’s office, I was granted approval to target first and last names so that we could move forward with scanning driver’s licenses. The law did not provide the ability to target dates of birth. 4. Ensure the community was informed about the trial - On February 9th there was an article in the Union Leader describing the trial and what to expect. I had information about the trial on the BCTV bulletin board and I produced a 2 minute infomercial that was also broadcasted on

BCTV. In addition, information about the trial was in both local papers and on our Facebook page. I also had a large poster at the informing the public about the trial. 5. Train the ballot clerks - On March 2, KnowInk and LHS conducted two two-hour training sessions for the ballot clerks. One session was held in the morning the other session was held in the evening - both sessions were well attend. 6. Ensure there was adequate on-site assistance on the day of the election - KnowInk had two of their technicians on hand to head off any issues. Also in attendance was the President of LHS and Brenda Merritt, KnowInk New England Representative. I am glad they were there because we ran into one issue with the driver’s licenses which was quickly resolved. The NH drives licenses had two bar codes making it difficult to scan properly. They were able to add a quick fix and the majority of the driver’s licenses were easily scanned. 7. Compare the results - At 7:02 pm on the night of the election we were able to determine how many voters voted that day and how many same day registrations occurred. This process usually takes days if not weeks to establish. We also compared the check in book numbers with the poll pads and the results were within one voter difference. This information was determined on Monday following the election. FINDINGS - Did the trial worked as planned?-I would say yes. It was difficult to determine the time it took for voters to check-in as we had to use both the check in books and poll pads. According to the ballot clerks, voters were checked in faster using the poll pads than using the check-in books. If the driver’s licenses did not scan correctly time was added to manually input the first and last name on the poll pads. But, still, significantly faster than looking them up in the check-in books. I am planning to send out a short questionnaire to the ballot clerks asking their thoughts and experiences. The fact that we were able to determine how many voters checked in within minutes following the polls are closed was amazing and worth the time and energy it took to conduct the trial. On April 4th the House Election Law committee will hear SB 113—legislation that will allow towns and cities to use this technology a t their elections. I will have the results from that hearing for the April 19th Town Council meeting. COST AND FUNDING No additional cost were incurred. RECOMMENDATION No action is needed

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STAFF REPORT, Town of Bedford, NH

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