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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0810.009 2010-2012 s aAc MI6 PI Wu , County of Hawaii ecittrO Sic, Elections Division e mo COUNTY CLERK COUNTY OF HAWAI�j Time S. g4E�VED Date m _$y To: Scott Nago,Chief Election Officer From Elton Nakagawa cc: County of Hawaii County Clerk Jamae Kawauchi, County of Hawaii Corporation Counsel Katherine A. Garson, County of Hawaii Council Chairman Dominic Yagong, County of Hawaii Councilmember Dennis "Fresh"Onishi, County of Hawaii Councilmember Donald Ikeda, County of Hawaii Councilmember J Yoshimoto, County of Hawaii Councilmember Fred Blas, County of Hawaii Councilmember Brittany Smart, County of Hawaii Councilmember Brenda Ford, County of Hawaii Councilmember K. Angel Pilago, County of Hawaii Councilmember Pete Hoffman Data August 20,2012 Re: Pre-Primary Election Report Hand delivered to above highlighted recipients. All materials herein are considered"Confidential". Comm. N• A 10 • 1 Ref.To: 1L .>>u�. Ref. Date AUG 2 0 2012 COUNTY CLERK August 20,2012 COUNTY OF HAWAII RECEIVED Time ge Sam By P% Date R. !a Dear Chief Election Officer Scott Nago, I am writing to you in hopes that both the County of Hawaii and State of Hawaii will work together to clear up any misconceptions and/or misinformation that may be going back and forth through the public and media. To help both the State and County expedite this process and move toward finding solutions, I have compiled a report from my knowledge of events prior to Election Day. I am in no means trying to overstep my authority in the County of Hawaii Elections Division office. I am just a civil servant of the County of Hawaii who feels that it is my duty to the people of this county to be open and transparent about why problems occurred on Election Day. According to HRS Chapter 92-F"Uniform Information Practices Act"Section 92F-2', I am sending this report to protect the interest of the public and to act in "Good Faith"to preserve the integrity of the County of Hawaii Elections Division,the people that work for the County of Hawaii,the State of Hawaii Elections Office,and the State of Hawaii Elections process. According to Section 13-21, "Cooperation with Other Agencies",of the 2010 Hawaii County Charter, I wish to cooperate with the State of Hawaii in resolving questions that need to be answered in a "courteous,fair,and impartial manner"(Section 14-4 part c of the 2010 Hawaii County Charter)"i. I was recently hired back to my position at Elections Clerk I on July 31, 2012. As soon as I got back into the office I tried my best to work with everyone and use the knowledge that was gathered from past elections through my experience'and training'. I worked over 80 hours of overtime during the past 2 weeks to help the office get caught up and ready for the Primary Election because I wanted to make sure that this Primary Election would be successful. Due to unforeseen circumstances involving permanent and temporary staff,workers in the office and I had to take on tasks that were not formally taught to us but needed to be completed in order for the Primary Election to function. This report is based solely on my past knowledge,observations, and fact finding and is by no means a report to blame anyone or to discredit any of the findings that the state or county have previously reported. I simply want to state the events that I know prior to Election Day so we can prevent a repeat of any errors that have occurred,and to address and resolve problems that may occur before the General Election. 'AskEd Control Center Machine Incident Operator(2008),Absentee Walk in Hilo(2008),Absentee Walk in Kona(2010),Election Day DC co- coordinator in Kona(2010),and Election Day troubleshooting in Kona(2010). 2 Trainers Training(2008),AskEd Control Center Training(2008),Chair/VAO/PO training(2008),all of the Chair/VAO/PO training in Kona(2010), PO training(2012),AskEd Control Center training(2012). Packing of Precinct Cans The"precinct cans", ballots,and other precinct supplies which contain election day materials vital to the opening of polling places,are normally packed in advance and delivered in advance to their respective holding areas in rural and West Hawaii locations. The DC(Delivery and Collection)teams assigned to that area pick up and deliver the precinct cans, ballots,and other supplies to the polling places listed on their"RTLS" (Route Time and Load Schedule)on Election Day. The precinct cans that were packed and delivered in advance to the holding sites in Waimea, Kona,and Milolii were packed without the pre- printed correction order list needed to update the poll books prior to opening. The pre-printed correction order lists are used by the precinct officials on Election Day to make corrections to the pollbooks so that voters vote at their correct polling place,and voters don't have the opportunity to vote twice. The undelivered lists were found in Hilo the night before Election Day while the Hilo area precinct cans were being sorted and stacked with other precinct materials. It was determined later that Control Center would need to call in the correction orders to the precincts that did not receive the pre- printed correction order list prior to opening on Election Day to have the poll books in order. The name tags for poll watchers were also not completed prior to the packing of precinct cans for Waimea, Kona, Milolii,and were not sent out prior to Election Day. Delivery of Precinct Materials Two days prior to the Primary Election, a decision was made to change where the Election Day precinct materials for Kohala High&Elementary,Waikoloa Elementary,and Milolii Halau would be stored. To my knowledge, in the past, because those sites were so far away from the designated holding areas, there were no DC morning deliveries to them. Those sites had storage areas and/or Facility Officials were entrusted with the Election Day precinct materials to be delivered and set up on Election Day. A decision was made to have the precinct materials for Kohala High &Elementary,Waikoloa Elementary, and Milolii Halau delivered and held at respective police stations in Kohala,Waimea,and Ka'u. To my understanding,Kohala Police Station and Ka'u Police Station received the Election Day precinct materials for their respective precincts, but unbeknownst,the Waikoloa Elementary Election Day precinct materials had been mistakenly delivered to the West Hawaii Civic Center. Phones The State of Hawaii Office of Elections issues cell phones for chairpersons,troubleshooters,and control center to use on Election Day and they are assigned and distributed by the County Elections Office. The precincts that have good cellular reception are assigned a cell phone to communicate with Control Center. The precincts that don't have good reception are setup with "land lines"or regular phones to use. In the past,during Chairperson/VAO(Voter Assistance Official)training,we would advise the Chairperson or VAO to pick up their cell phones from the Elections Office and test them prior to Election Day to ensure that Control Center has the correct phone number assigned to them and that their cell phones were working properly. We would also ask the Chairperson,VAO,or Facility Official to test the land lines at their precincts if they weren't assigned a cell phone because that would most likely be the only way Control Center could contact them and vice versa. In the past, if a Chairperson or VAO wasn't able to pick up their cell phone by Election Day, it was usually sent with a troubleshooter to be delivered prior to polls opening on Election Day to establish communication with the precinct. To my knowledge, some of the precinct cans that were delivered to the holding area in West Hawaii prior to Election Day already had cell phones in them and the County of Hawaii Elections Division was not definitely sure which numbers were assigned to each precinct. Further testing of phones revealed that some of the precinct land lines were inoperative the night before Election Day. As of 6am on Election Day, prior to polls opening,the cell phones assigned to Control Center personnel which are used to contact precinct officials had not been distributed and it was still unclear on whether all the precincts had the correct phones and numbers to contact Control Center. Office Originally, I had been assigned to troubleshoot 2 routes in Kona for the Primary Election because the West Hawaii troubleshooters were short staffed. My duties as troubleshooter included setting up the precinct materials for the DC teams at the West Hawaii Civic Center prior to Election Day. Due to unforeseen circumstances,the supervisor for voter registration and the acting Elections Program Administrator were out on sick leave until after the Primary Election. After finding this out, I was re- assigned to take on the duties of the voter registration supervisor's position in Control Center on Election Day because it was deemed necessary for Control Center operations. The Deputy County Clerk was assigned to handle my duties in Kona due to my reassignment. Conclusion In conclusion I have found that human error caused correction orders not to be delivered with the precinct cans prior to Election Day, human error caused precinct materials to be delivered to the wrong place prior to Election Day,human error caused the phones to be mixed up prior to Election Day, and unforeseen staff issues prior to Election Day played a part in why there were so many mishaps in one day. To my knowledge these are the facts that I know of and can be verified by multiple staff members within the County of Hawaii Elections Division office. Respectfully Submitted August 20, 2012, Elton S. Nakagawa Elections Clerk I County of Hawaii Elections Division Cc: County of Hawaii County Clerk Jamae Kawauchi,County of Hawaii Corporation Counsel Katherine A. Garson,County of Hawaii Council Chairman Dominic Yagong,County of Hawaii Councilmember Dennis "Fresh"Onishi,County of Hawaii Councilmember Donald Ikeda,County of Hawaii Councilmember J Yoshimoto,County of Hawaii Councilmember Fred Blas,County of Hawaii Councilmember Brittany Smart,County of Hawaii Councilmember Brenda Ford,County of Hawaii Councilmember K.Angel Pilago, County of Hawaii Councilmember Pete Hoffman 'HRS[§92F-2] Purposes; rules of construction. In a democracy,the people are vested with the ultimate decision-making power. Government agencies exist to aid the people in the formation and conduct of public policy. Opening up the government processes to public scrutiny and participation is the only viable and reasonable method of protecting the public's interest.Therefore the legislature declares that it is the policy of this State that the formation and conduct of public policy—the discussions,deliberations,decisions,and action of government agencies—shall be conducted as openly as possible. The policy of conducting government business as openly as possible must be tempered by a recognition of the right of the people to privacy,as embodied in section 6 and section 7 of Article I of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii. This chapter shall be applied and construed to promote its underlying purposes and policies, which are to: (1) Promote the public interest in disclosure; (2) Provide for accurate, relevant,timely, and complete government records; (3) Enhance governmental accountability through a general policy of access to government records; (4) Make government accountable to individuals in the collection, use,and dissemination of information relating to them; and (5) Balance the individual privacy interest and the public access interest,allowing access unless it would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. [L 1988,c 262, pt of§1] 2010 County of Hawaii Charter Section 13-21.Cooperation with Other Agencies. In the performance of its functions,each agency of the county shall cooperate with private agencies and with agencies of the governments of the United States, the State and other states and with any of their political subdivisions having similar functions. 1°2010 County of Hawaii Charter Section 14-4.Conduct of Employees. Officers and employees of the county while discharging their duties and dealing with the public shall adhere to the following precepts: (a)All public property and equipment are to be treated as a public trust and are not to be used in a proprietary manner or for personal purposes without proper consent. (b) No person in a supervisory capacity shall engage in personal or business relationships with subordinates which might intimidate said subordinates in the discharge of their official duties. (c)All persons shall be treated in a courteous,fair and impartial manner. (2010, Prop. 7, sec. 63.)