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Monday, September 20, 2010

Vendor letter on Legal Issues with NC Court of Appeals Instant Runoff Voting

We may have a voter guide, and we may have an Instant Runoff Voting task force, but sorry, no cigar! We still do not have IRV tallying procedures for touchscreen counties as of Sept 17, 2010. Additionally, in an August 31 letter, the voting vendor warns that our voting system cannot legally tally instant runoff voting, and the vendor will not accept responsibility for an IRV related election fiasco.

I contacted a member of the task force set up to devise procedures, he advised me on Sept 13 via email that:

"there are still several options on the table and I do not know at this point what method we will end up with. I think we need to spend some time testing and evaluating the options before a decision is made. Might as well do it right the first time."

Meanwhile, the voting vendor warns about the legality of using our voting machines for this process. Here's excerpt from Print Elect & ES&S letter to the NC State Board of Elections dated Aug 31 2010:

"IRV is not an approved function at the federal or state level of current ES&S software, firmware or hardware. Subsequently, we will work at the direction of the SBE and counties to assist but cannot be held responsible for issues as a result of IRV....
...
IRV Tabulation
*Printelect and ES&S will only take responsibility for and support tabulating the IRV contests individually. Methods for deciding a runoff winner by others will not be supported by Printelect or ES&S. This risk will be the sole responsibility of NCSBOE and the counties.

*IRV voting tabulation methods are not an EAC or state certified portion of our voting system and have not undergone the testing that would normally be required to receive these certifications."
read the full letter here
http://www.ncvoter.net/downloads/PrintElectLetterAugust31_2010_not_legal


But pro IRV advocate Bob Phillips of Common Cause NC expresses confidence:


"It's going to be a reliable, accurate count," ... "I'm very comfortable with what I'm hearing so far." ~ Study calls NC best among 10 at protecting voters" By GARY D. ROBERTSON.

Why does the voting vendor worry when Common Cause NC does not? Because the vote vendor is legally held to high standards set in 2005 to prevent repeats of headlines like this:

"A Florida-style nightmare has unfolded in North Carolina in the days since Election Day, with thousands of votes missing and the outcome of two statewide races still up in the air."AP Newswire, Nov 13

Here are North Carolina's standards for voting systems:
§ 163-165.7. Voting systems: powers and duties of State Board of Elections.

(a) Only voting systems that have been certified by the State Board of Elections in accordance with the procedures and subject to the standards set forth in this section and that have not been subsequently decertified shall be permitted for use in elections in this State.

...The State Board may certify additional voting systems only if they meet the requirements of the request for proposal process set forth in this section...

(1) That the vendor post a bond or letter of credit to cover damages resulting from defects in the voting system. Damages shall include, among other items, any costs of
conducting a new election attributable to those defects.

(2) That the voting system comply with all federal requirements for voting systems.

§ 163-165.9A. Voting systems: requirements for voting systems vendors; penalties.




Sunday, September 19, 2010

2 Simple Rules for Voters in Instant Runoff Voting for NC Court of Appeals









TWO SIMPLE RULES FOR IRV VOTING:
1. Voters must not rank the same candidate twice, and
2. Use strategy, make or follow endorsements, rank potential winners only, vote for at least 2!

Read further to learn how to avoid having your vote be a total shot in the dark.

1. MARKING YOUR BALLOT

Do not rank the same candidate more than once!
You can rank up to 3 DIFFERENT candidates out of the 13
Ranking a candidate more than once means your 2nd and 3rd choices will not count! The voting machine is not set up for IRV so it will not warn you if you make a mistake in ranking.

2. STRATEGY

Statewide endorsements and or sample ballots are a must.
This election will either be a crap shoot or it will be decided by the most effective endorsements. The endorsements should keep in mind that if there is a runoff, only the 2 candidates with the most votes will advance. Vote for 2 choices at least. If you fail to rank either of the 2 candidates, you wil not have a say in the "runoff".

Who should you rank 1st, 2nd or 3rd? With IRV, a candidate may win by getting the most 2nd choice votes. Keep that in mind as you head to the polls.

Stay with the pack to win. Basically there must be a statewide strategy where everyone stays in line behind one particular candidate and then rank an additional candidate who also is qualified or has a reasonable chance of getting votes.

EXPERTS ADVICE ON HOW TO RANK EFFECTIVELY:

a) Voters should vote for party favorite and or their own personal favorite.
Dale Sheldon-Hess, an expert on various election methods advises:
The voters, if they have a preferred party, should name their party's candidate first; or, if they're ABSOLUTELY certain there's no chance of them winning, name their personal-favorite candidate first, and the party favorite second.

b) Rank only candidates you think will get enough votes to make the runoff:
Professor Steven J Brams, a Professor of Politics and Election Method expert advises:
The only sensible strategy is not to rank high candidates one knows and prefers but only candidates one prefers who might make the runoff. If one votes for others, the probability that your vote will be transferred to your preferred of the two front runners is slim.

Steven J. Brams Phone: (212) 998-8510
Dept. of Politics FAX: (212) 995-4184
19 West 4th St., 2nd Floor E-mail: steven.brams@nyu.edu
New York University
New York, NY 10012

Voter education, endorsements, videos, and handing out palm cards at the polling places would be helpful.

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Monday, September 6, 2010

NC Court of Appeals, Instant Runoff Voting and Legal Challenges

Thanks to instant runoff voting, the November 2010 election for North Carolina Appeals has all the potential for a Florida style meltdown. See 13 candidates file for open NC appeals court job AP News August 31, 2010. Instant runoff voting, aka IRV will be used statewide to fill NC Appeals Judge Wynn's seat and our voting machines can't tally it. Other contests will use regular election methods. That makes it extra confusing. The possible confusion may impact other contests as voters and poll workers deal with a mixture of voting methods all in one election.

North Carolina will be the beta test for this first statewide instant runoff voting election conducted in the United States. “Instant runoff” elections represent a dramatically different system of how votes are cast, counted and valued. To avoid legal challenges and protect the confidence in elections, the election process must be as transparent as possible. The good news is that the candidates will be lawyers and judges. Wouldn't it be ironic if this election was tallied by a jury-rigged system? No matter how you cut it, a statewide IRV election will clash with many existing election laws.

Instant runoff voting will be used statewide to fill the NC Court of Appeals seat vacated after Judge Wynn retired. Additionally, North Carolina voters in at least three counties (Buncombe, Cumberland and Rowan) also will use Instant Runoff Voting to decide the winners in three Superior Court races this fall. Under state law (NCGS 163-329), vacancies on the Superior Court, Court of Appeals and Supreme Court which occur after the primary but more than 60 days before Election Day are filled through an election that allows voters to rank their choices. Here's
the legal code.

The SBoE has a difficult task. It must conduct instant runoff elections for the statewide contest for NC Court of Appeals without compatible voting machines, without a thorough fiscal analysis, and without state funding for implementation and voter education. Voter education is essential, since with 13 candidates, voters 2nd or 3rd choices probably will decide the outcome of the election. Unfortunately, many voters will be unprepared to rank choices, as the state will be spending a paltry $500,000 on voter education for 6.1 million voters. Lack of tallying software means counting could take days or weeks. IRV is not additive so votes can not be tallied at the polling places on election night.


"There are no provisions on ES&S equipment to tabulate IRV." ~ Keith Long , Voting System Project Manager for the NorthCarolina State Board of Elections Jan 7, 2008
http://www.ncvoter.net/downloads/Keith_Long_Machines_Not_IRV_Compatible.pdf

Statewide IRV is dangerous. North Carolina’s only experience in counting IRV votes is in Cary, NC in the October 2007 pilot, and officials were unable to tally just 3,000 IRV votes correctly. Cary has since rejected IRV. Hendersonville has "piloted" IRV in 2007 and 2009, but never has tallied the IRV votes. The NC SBoE admitted that IRV is too risky when mixed with statewide elections:

"Current state law says we must comply with federal regulations…

We can use November 2007 as a pilot and not use IRV in May 2008 because it poses too much of a risk.”
http://www.ncvoter.net/downloads/NCSBOE_3_6_07_IRV_Limitations_No_2008.doc

Violating existing election law and standards for voting systems to try to “automate” instant runoff voting with un-certified work-arounds will result in headlines such as we saw in 2004:

"A Florida-style nightmare has unfolded in North Carolina in the days since Election Day, with thousands of votes missing and the outcome of two statewide races still up in the air."

Legal challenges: No matter how this election is administered, election laws will be broken. It is unavoidable, because IRV clashes with many election laws and standards.
http://www.ncvoter.net/downloads/NC_Comments_on_IRV_and_2010_Judicial_Elections.pdf

NC Verified's full comments to the North Carolina State Board of Elections on procedures and risks for upcoming instant runoff voting elections

Outline of comments:


1. There is no software to tabulate IRV that meets the standards of our state law. In guidelines for IRV pilots set by the State Board of Elections in January 15, 2009, the State Board of Elections proposed to use an uncertified method of vote tabulation with DRE machines that allows for an “electronic sort” using uncertified software that requires five pages of over 100 single spaced instructions. Experts warn that this spreadsheet tallying method is error prone, lacks an audit trail, and is not good enough for elections. See Standards for IRV Pilots -Approved by the North Carolina State Board of Elections on January 15, 2009

http://www.ncvoter.net/downloads/NCSBoE_IRV_Approved_1-15-2009

To comply with existing state law, IRV must be counted manually until IRV software and its accompanying algorithm is federally approved. This is workable with optical scan ballots, but in order to count the touch-screen paper trails, the vendor should be made to modify the software to print a ballot summary. Touch-screens currently print all selections made by voters, but not a final summary. While a simple contest can be recounted on the touch-screen paper trail, an IRV contest would be more laborious. For a simpler process, touch-screen counties could borrow or purchase optical scan machines for IRV elections.

2. IRV ballots cast on election day must be counted where they are cast just as “regular” ballots are counted as per § 163-182.2. Initial counting of official ballots. In Cary, NC - the 2nd and 3rd choice votes cast for the "instant runoff" were not counted on election night. Instead, they were carried away from where they were cast and then counted at a later date. This differs from the treatment of absentee ballots and early voted ballots might be tabulated at the central office, these are “retrievable ballots”, not cast on election day. All votes cast at the polls on election day, including IRV ballots, are to be counted at the polls on election night once the polls close. The solution is to count all votes, 1st, 2nd and 3rd on site using the “Australian” method.

3. State law requires election night reporting for voters' second and third choices. See Law requires reporting of votes on election night. IRV ballots are not retrievable and cannot be reported at another date.

4. All votes must be counted. In free, fair and open elections, all votes are recorded and counted. This means counting all votes, whether 1st, 2nd or 3rd choices. To do otherwise violates a core principle of democracy and tells voters that their choices and votes do not matter. Candidates, voters and officials want to know the breakdown of the votes. Votes must be counted for transparency sake. In the 2007 Pilot program, only partial data was reported for the District B contest where voters’ second and third choices were ultimately counted. In Cary’s other IRV contests for City Council, only some, not all of 2nd or 3rd place data was recorded or reported. In Hendersonville, the IRV votes were never counted or reported.

5. Provisional ballots must be counted before advancing to the 2nd round. In the 2007 IRV pilot, Provisional ballots were not counted until after the 2nd and 3rd choices were counted, and supposedly "added" back in. Since IRV is not "additive", it is not clear how these votes could possibly be added back in without doing a complete recount.

6. Absentee ballots must be counted before advancing to the 2nd or 3rd round. In Cary, NC in 2007, it is not clear when the absentee ballots were counted, so the question is - were they counted with the first, second and third rounds? They must be counted with the first round of voting before going to the next.

7. Canvassing of all first round votes, absentee and provisional ballots must be done before counting a second round of ballots. This has to be done to get an accurate vote count.

8. Audit protocols will have to be developed in coordination with the state appointed statistician and according to current state laws. Each round of voting must be proven correct if the subsequent round is to trusted. Audits and recounts must be publicly announced and observed, and notice must be given in time for the public to attend.

9. Voter education is expensive, must be repeated, and is not necessarily effective. The results of Cary NC’s 2008 bi-annual citizen survey indicate that 22.0% did not understand IRV at all.

10. Overvote protection lacking. North Carolina state law and the Federal Law, Help America Vote Act requires that voters be notified of over votes. NC’s voting machines are unable to notify the voters if they have “overvoted” in the IRV contests - if voters rank the same candidate more than once. The Help America Vote act defines overvotes: “In every election, some voters make more choices than are permitted in a contest, which creates what are called overvotes.”
http://www.eac.gov/program-areas/research-resources-and-reports/copy_of_docs/eds-2006/overvotes-and-undervotes.pdf/attachment_download/file

With IRV, voters are not permitted to vote for the same candidate more than once in a given contest. To do so, renders their 2nd and 3rd choices invalid.

11 “Instant runoff voting” should be renamed “Ranked Choice Voting”. Instant runoff incorrectly infers that the method provides the same results as a runoff election and does so instantly. It can take days or weeks to get the results of an IRV election.

12. IRV does not guarantee a majority winner. The “instant runoff” contest in Cary, District B City Council in October 2007 was decided with less than a majority of votes.

13. IRV is a difficult way to provide the same results as plurality elections. The fact is that most often, “Instant runoff voting” historically provides the same result as a plurality election, only with more effort.

14. Instant runoff voting is non-monotonic. In other words, you can hurt your preferred candidate by voting for him or her.

15. Exit polls, should be conducted by election officials or impartial groups -not advocates, in order to preserve the appearance of objectivity in the results. Exit polls should be carefully crafted to avoid being push polls. Pierce Co Washington mailed surveys to 91,000 voters, to be completed in the privacy of their homes.
This letter, along with my comments and recommendations set forth in the documents referenced above, and expanded upon in following pages, is my testimony.

The full report at this link:
http://www.ncvoter.net/downloads/NC_Comments_on_IRV_and_2010_Judicial_Elections.pdf

IRV is not as "easy as 1-2-3" as other jurisdictions have learned.
Forget majority outcomes: if a candidate does not win a majority in the first round, with IRV it is a near impossibility that a candidate can obtain a majority with 2nd and 3rd round votes. This happened in Burlington Vermont in their 2009 mayoral contest. With chance to rank only 3, and since ranking isn't mandatory, and since there are 13 candidates, the math is against getting a majority win.


Regards;

Joyce McCloy, Director
NC Coalition for Verified Voting
212 Evergreen Drive, Winston Salem, NC 27106

About us: The North Carolina Coalition for Verified Voting is a grassroots non-partisan organization fighting for clean and verified elections. We study and research the issue of voting to ensure the dignity and integrity of the intention of each voting citizen. The NC Voter Verified Coalition has consistently fought for increasing access, participation and ensuring the voter franchise. Contact Joyce McCloy, Director, N.C. Coalition for Verifiable Voting - phone 336-794-1240 website
www.ncvoter.net

Related:

Potential mess looms in judicial election
September 9, 2010 ...And state legislators should consider whether this form of voting solves the problem it was meant to fix.

Order in the court election!
September 5, 2010. BY ROBERT ORR. Raleigh News & Observer
RALEIGH -- Thirteen is associated with bad luck, and for North Carolina voters, 13 candidates' filing for the state Court of Appeals vacancy recently created by Judge Jim Wynn's move to the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals is not merely bad luck - it's downright ridiculous.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/09/05/662859/order-in-the-court-election.html

Editorial: Judicial election will allow state to test instant runoff
September 4, 2010. Star News Online

Editorial: On the wrong track
September 3, 2010. Greensboro News-Record
http://www.news-record.com/content/2010/09/03/article/editorial_on_the_wrong_track

Test vote
September 3, 2010. Raleigh News & Observer
Democracy, said the ever-quotable, often-cynical H.L. Mencken, "is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." North Carolina voters are about to embark on a journey to democracy's farther reaches. Here's hoping the excursion - the first use of statewide instant runoff voting - turns out well.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/09/03/661319/test-vote.html

13 Candidates for Wynn Seat
September 1, 2010. North Carolina Appellate Blog. Bob Numbers.
...If no candidate receives the necessary number of first place votes, the two candidates with the greatest number of first place votes advance to the "instant runoff." In the instant runoff round, each ballot counts as a vote for whichever of the two final candidates is ranked highest by the voter. The candidate with the most votes in the second round wins the election...
http://womblencappellate.blogspot.com/2010/09/13-candidates-for-wynn-seat.html

Lucky 13
August 31, 2010. Greensboro News and Record. Doug Clark, Editor
http://www.news-record.com/blog/54431/entry/97944




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Friday, September 3, 2010

Lucky 13, NC Court of Appeals and instant runoff voting

Triskaidekaphobia, North Carolina and a statewide instant runoff voting election. Funny how things work out when a few special interests get their way. Come November we'll all be acutely aware that elections have consequences and so does using IRV..

Greensboro News and Record Editor Doug Clark writes about the impact of instant runoff voting on contest for Court of Appeals and the consequences. Emphasis in bold is mine:

Lucky 13
That's the number of candidates in the running for the N.C. Court of Appeals seatthat will be filled in a special election in November.

Only one will turn out to be the lucky winner.

And most likely it will come down to a matter of luck. Voters won't be able to chooseintelligently among so many candidates, especially when this race will be overshadowed by political contests.

Even more so because the state will employ a goofy instant runoff system for this one election. I'll be writing more about that. Just believe it's going to be convoluted and confusing.

I think it's fair to say there's a wide variance in experience and qualifications among these candidates. Will most voters see that? I hope so, but I'm not optimistic.

It's interesting to note that far fewer candidates chose to run in the regular elections for appellate court seats. In fact, one sitting judge is unopposed.

Why so many in this one? Because getting elected will be like rolling a winning number in a dice game. You don't have to be good, only lucky, to land an eight-year term in a big job.

Here's the field:


BLOSS, JOHN F, GREENSBORO

CASTEEN, JOHN WESLEY JR, WILMINGTON

DILLON, ROBERT CHRISTOPHER, RALEIGH

FARLOW, JEWEL ANN, GREENSBORO

GARNER, DANIEL E., WAKE FOREST

HAMMER, STANLEY F., GREENSBORO

KLASS, MARK E., LEXINGTON

MCCULLOUGH, JOHN DOUGLAS, ATLANTIC BEACH

MIDDLETON, ANNE, RALEIGH

PAYNE, HARRY E JR., RALEIGH

SULLIVAN, JOHN C., RALEIGH

THIGPEN, CRESSIE, RALEIGH

VESPER, PAMELA M., RALEIGH

http://www.news-record.com/blog/54431/entry/97944

IRV Mechanics v law update: So far, we hear that the NC State Board of Elections will NOT allow the use of the infamous "excel spreadsheet workaround'. It is now deemed an illegal work around, so maybe we can get Hendersonville to stop using it. Also it appears SBOE will follow our recommendations to canvas all votes before tallying second round. There are still laws that will be broken, esp about what a paper ballot is for DRE counties, but even if this goes to court, I believe everyone will throw up their hands and say "there's no way to do this that doesn't conflict somehow....". At least the worst, the "workaround" is off the table.

About us: The North Carolina Coalition for Verified Voting is a grassroots non-partisan organization fighting for clean and verified elections. We study and research the issue of voting to ensure the dignity and integrity of the intention of each voting citizen. The NC Voter Verified Coalition has consistently fought for increasing access, participation and ensuring the voter franchise. Contact Joyce McCloy, Director, N.C. Coalition for Verifiable Voting - phone 336-794-1240 website www.ncvoter.net


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