Online Electronic Voter Registration (OVR) Presented by Don Palmer, Virginia Secretary, State Board of Elections

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1 Online Electronic Voter Registration (OVR) Presented by Don Palmer, Virginia Secretary, State Board of Elections

2 The Basics of OVR Increases access and convenience for voters to register and update their address or other information. Increases efficiencies and savings for state and local election officials. Reduce voter and data worker input errors and increases the accuracy and integrity of the voter rolls Higher confidence of identity, residency due to multiple identifiers, in person authentication at DMV Service is available to state residents who have state driver license or state identification (ID) card The signature on licenses or ID cards can be appended to the registration information is submitted electronically Online registrants are authenticated through the DMV database

3 The Basics of OVR Not a partisan voting issue, an election administration issue we cannot let it become one. Major Presidential Commission on Election Administration (PCEA) recommendation bipartisan support of focusing on the fundamentals of the registration process Red and Blue states Arizona, Louisiana, Utah, Virginia, Kansas, Georgia, South Carolina, Nebraska, Indiana, Missouri Washington, Oregon, Delaware, Connecticut, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland West Virginia, Colorado, Nevada, New York

4 The Basics of OVR Recommendation: U.S. Registration System Needs to Be Upgraded that includes Online Electronic Voter Registration Recommendation: Data-sharing across State Lines. Pew Report: Voter Registration System is Inaccurate, Costly, and Inefficient 24 million registrations no longer valid or significantly inaccurate (1 in 8 or 13% nationwide) and millions of other duplicates, errors, and other irregularities on the rolls. Highly mobile society: 1 in 8 moved during 2008 and 2010 election years. Presidential Commission concluded that sloppy, inaccurate, or out of date registrations contributed to long lines at the polls. NY Times Headline: Voter Rolls in Disarray OVR is a major part of the solution

5 Cost and Administrative Benefits of OVR E-Government and Green Government Cost Savings of almost $1.00 per electronic registration:.83 cents per paper registration and processing.03 cents per OVR registration County and Statewide Voter Registration Lists Cleaner Guides the voter to reduce or eliminate errors Personal Information will need to exactly match DMV records OVR registrations will not have inaccurate or missing names or birthdates.

6 Cost Benefits of OVR Fewer full time and part time staff for input of registration data generally and in peak times before elections. Less overtime costs. In Maricopa County, AZ, over 240,000 OVR registrations in 2006 mid-term elections, eliminating 8 full time data-entry staff. Allows election officials to review and confirm registrations in more seamless timely manner, allowing more time to complete other pre-election tasks Reduces the cost in number of paper registrations printed and distributed at state and local level. Less delays in the mail transmission of applications, instead instantaneous submission and date-stamped online.

7 Party Breakdown of OVR Utilization CASE Study Colorado - No discernable difference - OVR tracks paper registrations in spikes - Average mean age of OVR use has increased to 41

8 Colorado Voter Registration Statistics Colorado Registrations by Party as of ,095,465 30% 1,110,975 30% 1,300,912 36% Republicans Democrats Unaffiliated Other 133,000 4%

9 Colorado Voter Registration Statistics Online Registration Statistics by Party ,547 29% 377,157 29% 506,824 40% Republican Democratic Unaffiliated Other 32,211 2%

10 Colorado Voter Registration Statistics Colorado Registrations as of Online Voter Registration Statistics ,095,465 30% 377,157 29% 1,110,975 30% 1,300,912 36% 133,000 4% Republicans Democrats Unaffiliated Other 365,547 29% 506,824 40% 32,211 2% Republica n Democrati c Unaffiliate d

11 Colorado Voter Registration Statistics Overall Registration by Sex Online Voter Registration by Sex 1,722,625 49% 1,828,224 51% Female Male 633,292 49% 646,569 51% Female Male

12 Virginia: Online Voter Registration (OVR) New Registrations and Updates to Registrations Three requirements to register online: Full social security number (Virginia) Some states request last four SSN DMV customer number Date of birth Matching Process with the DMV web service instantaneous If match, signature file is passed to Election Office

13 OVR Virginia Match with DMV Database: Once data match is approved, applicant is able to continue the process with online submission If data does not match the DMV record or DMV record with no signature, the applicant may continue with paper process. Print Option: Voter prints.pdf of application and returns by mail Data captured from paper application and pre-populates the county database hopper with information from the applicant to ease and speed processing once application is received in election office

14 OVR Virginia Verification: Both DMV verified applications and online paper applications are passed from website to Virginia statewide database and pushed down to each city or county database for review, approval or denial. Key Security Component: Applicant is verified but not automatically registered, each applicant must be reviewed by local general registrar. Key Efficiency: The election official review process is easier, avoiding data entry work and handling of paper.

15 OVR Virginia DMV Service built simultaneously with SBE website Project involved small vendor that built publicly visible website Developer and analyst at DMV to write the DMV web service Developer, analyst and programmer at SBE to build the back-end functionality Programmer and Data programmer at statewide database vendor office to build mechanism to access and approve/deny/rmi online applications within current processes.

16 OVR Virginia Project kicked off May 1, 2013 Went live July 22, Not a new technology, tested and implemented in approximately 20 states Since July 2013, 40,456 online applications 30,152 (75%) were DMV verified/online signature 10,304 (25%) had to go the paper route Overall, 45% of applications go through DMV Approximately 10% In Virginia are online registrations Cost approximately $100,000 of HAVA funding

17 OVR Virginia Take aways Collaboration of State Election Office with DMV, Supervisors of Elections and FSASE leadership is Key. Community should work together to encourage FL Legislature to pass for election administration reasons. Address Security Issues No automatic registration Supervisors make final decision. Electronic Registration capturing signature from in-person DMV experience and document requirements. Require User to type in number that appears on screen Arizona: 10 years of use, no notable security or fraud discovered. 19 states Virginia had luxury of other states lessons learned States have employed standard web security measures, such as SSL encryption and dedicated lines between agencies.

18 OVR Lessons Learned Critical to establish good relationship with the DMV Past HAVA matching and NVRA interaction should develop the foundation for successful OVR implementation Partnership with County Election Officials Supervisors will be key to legislative passage for passage and smooth implementation. Counties will detect problems with data or process. In Virginia, LEOs tested the OVR system, found issues to be resolved before going live. In Arizona, LEOs found that DL signatures were not always readable and identified necessary change at DMVs.

19 Voter opinions on OVR 70% of Voters see OVR as future method of updating registrations. 70% of Voters see OVR as more convenient than using paper forms (98% of voters that actually used OVR say it was easier than paper). 62% of voters see OVR as cutting down printing costs and helping to increase the efficiencies of government 89% of OVR users reported the process as confident their personal information is secure. With reduced budgets and e-government seen as positive, OVR is the logical next step

20 Dealing with Security and Privacy of Data concerns associated with OVR Compare OVR to paper process and third party registration group drives copy personal information for GOTV and datamining. Maximize security with existing state protocols. Inform the users of OVR of those security features. Improving security of registration for voters: Paper registration to third party groups (strangers with personal data) and mail service or direct access to election officials with immediate transmission to election officials.

21 OVR Virginia Virginia placed OVR with Citizens Portal that started out as our UOCAVA portal with FWAB and FPCA What the Voter Sees? - Some States place OVR on DMV website - Some states place OVR on Election (SOS) website.

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30 Final page for DMV-matched OVR applications

31 Final page for OVR applications not matched to DMV

32 OVR Virginia What the local election sees Integrate OVR into the overall voter registration and election approval approval process at the local level.

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36 Questions and Comments?? Its not a partisan issue, it s an election administration issue