30th Annual National Conference

San Francisco, CA

2014 Professional Practices Program

Ballot Drop Boxes More than a big metal can

Pierce County, State of Washington Submitted by:

Julie Anderson

Pierce County Auditor

2401 South 35th Street, Room 200

Tacoma WA 98409-7483

253-798-3188 (desk) or 253-318-0493 (cell)

Change, Demand, Response Washington State’s conversion to vote-by-mail means that ballot boxes are now a vital part of elections. And, state law requires a postal mark on Election Day, rather than being received by Election Day. Many voters find this requirement confusing and have more confidence in a ballot drop box. Others simply like that it’s postage-free. Pierce County has 29 ballot drop boxes (30 by fall 2014). With 440,000 registered voters, half of Pierce’s ballots are received via drop box. Each box receives an average of 6,000 ballots during an election. Best Practice #1: Fabrication and Locking Mechanism Pierce County partnered with a local firm, LaserFab, for custom design and fabrication. Attachment A.

• Separate walk-up and drive-up deposit points, to keep voters out of traffic. • Deposit slot height suited for cars and wheelchairs. One-handed operation, for voters of all ability. • Slot size accommodates large envelopes, but is slim-enough to prevent tampering. • Slanted interior design forces ballots towards doors and reduces strain for ballot drop box teams. • Weighing 600 lbs, boxes are constructed from 1/4" and 3/8” folded steel. Lock body is never exposed

outside the box (protects against tampering). • No grip points for forced entry. • Flush locks and doors resist impact and tampering. • Door opens out at an angle so as to fall open if not locked, preventing unsecured, unattended boxes. • Surface mount or cast mount legs allow us to respond to the site location. • Drip edge protects top of door seam (prevents ballots from getting wet when the door is opened). • Large side plates protect openings from rain during high winds.

Best Practice #2: Location, location, location Public facilities are ideal for ballot drop box placement. They are familiar to the public, have extra security and good lighting, are ADA accessible, and tend to be cooperative partners. Pierce County’s sites include: major transit centers, police stations, “Park & Ride” lots, city halls, libraries, and fire stations. We use a Geographic Information System (GIS) to determine locations. We enter all current and prospective locations into the GIS and apply a “Location Allocation” geoprocessing tool. Using a road network and geocoded voter residential addresses, the tool determines the best location to serve the most voters, with a maximum voter drive time of ten minutes. See Attachment B. Best Practice #3: Public Easements and Permits We work closely with the County’s Facilities Department (property management division) to secure easement agreements with our partners. Each site has a 10-year lease, with renewal clauses. They have the expertise to secure permits, check for underground utilities, and manage contractors. Best practice #4: Voter Outreach We use our website, local voters' pamphlet, and ballot inserts to inform voters of box locations. Our web page displays a Google map of box locations, with all map features enabled. Voters can view photographs of each box, get turn-by-turn driving directions, and see deadline reminders. This map site has had 414,000 hits. Ballot drop box locations are also featured in our Pierce County MyVote “app” for mobile devices (Apple and android). The app pinpoints the closest ballot drop box, regardless of the voter’s location. See Attachment C.

Pierce County’s Ballot Drop Boxes

Best Practice #5: Daily Pick-ups We open our boxes 19-days before each election and they remain open 24-hours a day until 8:00 p.m. on Election Day. [NOTE: Washington State’s election period is 18-days.] We keep a close tally of ballots deposited, to track volumes and determine the frequency of pick-ups. Each box can hold 1,500 ballots, so it isn’t necessary (or efficient) to empty a box every day. On the other hand, we know which boxes might need to be emptied twice a day. This reveals trends that help us plan ballot processing workloads [NOTE: In Washington State, we prepare ballots for tabulation as soon as they are received.] All drop box activity is performed by election workers, in teams of two. Each team is assigned a route that includes five to seven boxes, with no route over four hours in duration. Each team is sent with a set of supplies (seals, oaths, Spot Trackers, transport tubs, contact numbers, checklist). See Attachment D. Best Practice #6: GPS Tracking GPS “Spot Trackers” monitor the pickup and return of ballots at all times throughout the 18-day election period. Using satellite antennas and a global network, the unit movements are displayed on the supervisor’s computer screen. Pierce County knows at all times where the ballot drop box team is located and their direction of travel. This ensures the assigned route is followed without deviation and that the team is on-time, helping document ballot chain-of-custody. Spot Trackers also help ensure the safety for our election workers traveling to remote locations in the dark of night. Best Practice #7: Election Night Closing All 29 ballot drop boxes are locked at precisely 8:00 p.m. on Election Day. Fifty-eight workers (teams of two) are required for election night closure. Prior to dispatch, we ensure that each team has a charged cell phone. Workers are dispatched at 6:30 p.m. with all of their supplies (see #5). We dispatch the teams who have the furthest distance to travel first. Once a team arrives at their box, they send confirmation via Spot Tracker so we know they are in place and ready to close promptly at 8:00 p.m. If we don’t hear from them by 7:20 p.m., we call their cell phone. This gives us time to dispatch another team, who are waiting in the wings. Best Practice #8: Staff Training Workers attend a 90-minute mandatory training session each year. We cover new procedures, new locations, and lessons learned from the previous election. We include a training video of proper opening, closing, and ballot accountability. Best Practice #9: Working with Political Party Observers We train our political party observers on ballot drop box procedures, too. They are provided with the assigned routes and procedure checklist. Observers may follow the workers and watch the collection process. See Attachment D. Best Practice #10: Fire Suppression Pierce County installs low-cost fire suppression canisters inside each ballot drop box. Before installation, we asked West Pierce Fire & Rescue to test our ballot drop boxes, with and without the fire suppression, using a variety of combustion and fire starters. Tests ranged from a cigarette tossed inside to lighter fluid ignited by matches. The boxes were found to be very fire resistant, due to tight, heavy construction that limited air circulation. Fire burned out before they did any great damage. We have even better results with FireStop. The canisters released fire retardant in 20 seconds. During these tests no ballots were destroyed. Best Practice #11: Quote Contest A large white box can be a blank canvas for taggers and graffiti artists. Pierce County uses graphic decals featuring quotes that inspire civic participation to discourage this. We held contests at high schools and city jurisdictions closest to each drop box. Students were invited to submit their ideas. The winners saw their quote revealed, and news releases honored them in local papers and raised voter awareness of the box locations. See Attachment A.

We use magnetic signage for temporary messages.

Our popular quote program raised awareness and discouraged graffiti.

To install, we can cast legs in concrete, or mount legs with super-big bolts.

There are many of tamper-proof design elements. We love our locks and our doors:1. Tamper resistant.2. Keeps the drips off ballots during retreval.

Each FireStop canister costs $50 and is effective for up to five years. The canisters are held in place by a magnet. We place two canisters per box just inside the ballot slots.

ATTACHMENT A

South Hill LibraryVoter Count: 27,451

Rite Aid - Graham

Orting City Park SEVoter Count: 7,341

Roy Y Park and RideVoter Count: 21,934

Roy SheriffVoter Count: 3,251

Parkland/Spanaway LibraryVoter Count: 16,759

Lakewood City HallVoter Count: 12,173

Lakewood (SR 512) Park and RideVoter Count: 22,069

Graham Firestation 21-91Voter Count: 24,696

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39TH AV SW

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160TH ST E

288TH ST E

336TH ST S

288TH ST S

260TH ST E

SR704-CROSS BASE HWY S

RICE KANDLE RD E

RICE KANDLE RD S

GRAVELLY LAKE DR SW

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LegendLA_Main_MaxCov_FS91_DissoName

Graham Firestation 21-91

Orting City Park SE

Rite Aid - Graham

Roy Sheriff

Barney's Corner

Bonney Lake (South) Park and Ride

Lakewood (SR 512) Park and Ride

Lakewood City Hall

Parkland/Spanaway Library

Roy Y Park and Ride

South Hill Library

Potential Drop Box LocationsGraham Firestation 21-91

Orting City Park SE

Rite Aid - Graham

Roy Sheriff

Current Drop Box LocationsBarney's Corner

Bonney Lake (South) Park and Ride

Lakewood (SR 512) Park and Ride

Lakewood City Hall

Parkland/Spanaway Library

Roy Y Park and Ride

South Hill Library

RoadsInterstate Highway

Limited Access State Highway

Other State Highway

Highway Ramp

Major Road

Residential Road

Cities in Pierce County

Pierce County Boundary

2013 Active Voters

10 Minute Location AllocationAround Potential Drop Box Locations

The map features are approximate and are intended only to provide an indication of said feature. Additional areas that have not been mapped may be present. This is not a survey. Orthophotos and other data may not align. The County assumes no liability for variations ascertained by actual survey. ALL DATA IS EXPRESSLY PROVIDED ‘AS IS’ AND ‘WITH ALL FAULTS’. The County makes no warranty of fitness for a particular purpose.

0 0.7 1.4 2.1 2.80.35Miles

12/19/2013 Document Name: DropBox_LA_FS91

ATTACHMENT C

Our website displays drop box locations. Pop-ups provide details, including deadlines, and the option to see a photo of the box on site . . .

Our mobile app is available for Apple or Android devices.

ATTACHMENT D

Each unit costs $150 and uses GPS satellites to track the movements, pinpoint locations, and send messages.