4. "Help America Vote Act" - Laserfiche WebLink

CASS GOVERNMENT Auditor Michael Montplaisir, CPA 701-241-5601 Treasurer Charlotte Sandvik 701-241-5611 Director of Equalization Frank Klein 701-241.5616 June 26, 2003 Board of County Commissioners Cass County Government 2 ! 1 9th Street South Fargo ND 58103 RECEIVED JUN 2 6 200] CASS COUNTY COMMISSION Re: Help America Vote Act (HAVA) Dear Commissioners: For the past few months, I have been working with some committees on the implementation of HAVA (Help America Vote Act) and the recently approved North Dakota statutes. The attached HAVA Plan is the result of the work these committees have done. The comment stage for the plan runs from today through July 25th. At the end of the comment period, the State Planning Committee, which I chair, will make any necessary changes to the plan. The plan will then be reviewed by the Governor and the Secretary of State, submitted to the Federal Election Administration Commission, and published in the Federal Register. What Cass County stands to gain from this plan is payment for election equipment. The state has already received $5 million and once this plan is published in the Federal Register, the state will receive another $4.1 million - and all of these funds must be used for elections in North Dakota. The county would be obligated to pay 2½ % of the cost of new equipment, which is 97½ % less than we have had to pay in the past. The plan calls for a targeted number of precincts in each county - Cass County's target would be 61, or 5 less than the current number. We could still have as many precincts as we deemed necessary, however, we would pay for all the equipment costs for the precincts over the target number. In addition to equipment costs, the county will be expected to pay all the other costs incurred during elections, including but not limited to, publishing, ballots and printing, programming, election boards, maintenance agreements, and other election supplies. Equipment to be used in each precinct under this plan would be a ballot scanner for the optical scan ballots and direct recording equipment for people with disabilities. The cost of this equipment is estimated at $10,000 per precinct. Cass County would also need additional equipment to run an absentee precinct. Under the plan, all counties in North Dakota would use the same equipment vendor. Cass County currently uses 66 precincts throughout the county. We need to look at the possibility of reducing the number of precincts, not only to save on equipment costs, but also to reduce the cost of holding elections. Each additional precinct adds to election staffing, printing, and programming costs. These ongoing costs are estimated at about $750 per precinct, per election - with $500 of the costs being staffing. Box 2806 211 Ninth Street South Fargo, North Dakota 58103 FAX 701.241.5728