Florida for Election Transparency

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Locality: LEE

File Name: Lee Survey 20220404




ObserversTimothy Peterson, Michael Thompson
Date of interview04/04/2022
Time and date of initial call and email:03/14/2022
Time and date of response:03/14/2022
Did the registrar refuse to meet you:No
If yes, please provide the reason given for not meeting:
Survey Answers
1. What is your biggest concern about the upcoming election?Redistricting and hoping nothing goes wrong
2. Any other major concerns?Poll worker availability and paper availability. Budget is just under 10 million
3. Do you feel like you have the resources, equipment, personnel, and training needed to run an effective election in November?Yes
3a. Any additional information?New Branch office in Lehigh, an early voting site too
3b. If no, what is missing?
4. When was the last time the voter file in your county was scrubbed or cleaned?Every 4 months with Eric and daily
5. When was the last time you had access to the National Change of Address List or any other change of address list?April last year
5a. Any other information?
6a. Are you confident that the voter file is accurate and up to date?Yes
6b. If no, what is/are your main concern(s) about the list?
7a. Have you had private third-party individuals or groups conducting voter registration qtivities in this county?Yes
7b. If yes, can you tell me which groups conducted these activitiesProbably 5 to a dozen
7c. If yes, are you confident these registration activities take place without bribery, intimidation or coercion, and that only qualified voters are registered through these third-parties?No
7d. Any other information?
8. Can you explain how your office manages voting in nursing homes?They send officials from SoE's office to nursing home with ballots and VR applications.
9a. How is the voting system used in your county certified?Certified by state of Florida
9b. Who certified it last and when?Before the 2020 election
10. Who updates and calibrates the voting machines?ES+S
11. Can you explain how they update and calibrate the voting machines?Software update. Staff is present
12a. Are you present when the machines are updated and calibrated, or is that process supervised by someone else? If some else, what is their position?..select..
12b. Another person supervises this process (insert title and position)Other staff
13. Do you invite party representatives to witness the update and calibration?No
14a.Are voting machines ever connected to the internetNo
14b. If yes, when and why are they connected?Except when election night when they close the polls and submit counts from precincts to main election office
14c. If they are not connected to the internet, how, when and by whom are they updated?
15a. Concerns were raised across the country about the accuracy and integrity of voting machines in the 2020 elections, and there are now calls to get rid of the machines, and use a manual process like that used in France. Do you think it is a good idea to go back to a manual voting process?No
15b. If no, why?Mistakes are made when doing things by hand.
16. Can you tell us what it costs per voter to implement an election in this country?$700k - $800l per election includes primary and general = $1.5M Ballpark. 500K +/- registered voter = $3 / per registered voter
17a. How many (%) extra ballots are available in each precinct?4 or 5 hundred per precinct
17b. Can you describe the process used to track and account for these excess ballots?Number of ballots minus number of voters
18a. We know that in some areas, machines had difficulty reading many mail-in ballots, and those had to be sent for manual adjudication. Can you describe briefly how ballots are adjudicated here?Damaged and problematic ballots go to duplication team (6005 in 2020)
18b. About what percentage of absentee ballots required adjudication in this county/city during the 2020 election?3%?
19. Have the machines you use for counting ever reported fractional results?No
19b. Any additional information?
20a. As an election professional, do you think the changes made in the election process in Florida in response to COVID have weakened election integrity, strengthened election integrity, or made no change in election integrity?Made no change
20b. Any additional information?
21a. Did you receive any funding or in-kind contributions for training, staff, voter education or equipment, or any other purpose from outside the state of Florida?No
21b. If yes, what was the funding or contribution used for?It was offered
21c. Will not receiving such funding in the future affect your ability to implement a fully free and fair election?..select..
21d. If yes, in what way?
22. Have your local party chairs been notified that they are entitled to send observers to your office each day it is open and receiving in-person absentee ballots?..select..
22a. Any additional information?It is on them to know the law, but we do advertize times
23a. Did you have both Republican and Democrat pollwatchers at every polling location in 2020?Yes
23b. If no, please estimate the perentage of polling locations covered by each party:
24a. Do you have a publication that you provide to your election officials regarding rights and responsibilities of pollwatchers?Yes
Any additional information?They can only talk to the clerk
24b. If no, would you be willing to distribute such a publication that we would prepare based on Florida law?..select..
25a. If the Legislature through the Department of State allowed independent non-partisan observers, would you welcome that?Yes
25b. Any additional information?He would not disallow it as is
26. Post survey question � Please characterize your interaction with the Supervisor of Elections asHelpful Polite




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