Compliance with election reforms on track

AUGUSTA – Maine is still not in full compliance with the Help America Vote Act but is well on its way, according to a state official.

“We’re a little behind schedule but not a lot,” Secretary of State Matt Dunlap said recently.

HAVA, signed into law in 2002, was designed to improve elections throughout the country by requiring changes in every part of the voting process, from voting machines to provisional ballots, voter registration and poll-worker training.

The federal law was enacted partly in response to the 2000 Florida election debacle, which included disputed punch cards and lengthy recounts.

Under the law, states were required to set up statewide computer systems, among other changes, by January 2006. Federal funds were allotted for the reform project.

Maine began working on voter changes in 2003, but work was impeded when problems occurred with a software contractor hired by the state to design the computerized program.

The state finally parted with the company last year because it essentially failed to meet the state’s schedules and high quality standards, according to Dunlap.

Because the state had not fully complied with the regulations by the deadline, the U.S. Justice Department last summer filed a lawsuit against the state and Dunlap.

Cynthia Magnuson, spokeswoman for the U.S. Justice Department, said this week that Maine was one of six states in which lawsuits were filed for not having fully complied with HAVA requirements. Consent decrees have since been negotiated in each of the states, she said.

“The nature of the lawsuit is not a bad thing,” Dunlap said. “This is a federal law that they have no choice but to enforce.”

Because of the lawsuit and the consent decree, the state and federal governments are working more closely, Dunlap said.

He said federal officials have had an opportunity to become familiar with Maine’s voting process, which is municipal-based and not county-based as in most states.

Dunlap said his department has completed many of the requirements in the law, including implementation in November of a vote-by-phone system for people of all disabilities.

“We had more people use the system in Maine than every other state that had the item,” Dunlap said.

During its inaugural, 1,093 voters used the telephone system to vote compared to 407 in Connecticut, 359 in New Hampshire and 49 in Vermont, he said.

This telephone system allows people to vote by punching in codes that are fed into a machine. The machine then produces a paper ballot that the voter inserts into the ballot box.

The state also has implemented an administrative complaint procedure, new voter registration applications and new voting system standards with a uniform definition of what constitutes a vote, according to the official.

It will only be a matter of time when the computerized voter list is completed, according to Dunlap.

“Working from 503 towns [634 precincts], we have nearly 300 either in the ElectioNet software or in the correction stage prior to going live – in other words, everything has been done, the data is converted for use in the new system, and we are working with the individual towns to get any data errors corrected so that it is as clean as possible when they go live,” Dunlap said.

That live action is anticipated by the end of March when all voter precincts are online and in the computerized system.

Once the centralized voter database is complete, town clerks will be able to access voter registrations in their communities by district, by precinct, by street.

If someone moves, the resident will only need to file a change of address. This will eliminate the possibility of anyone voting in more than one town.

“It’s not finished, but it will be done,” Dunlap said of the new system.