Budget Hearings Reveal Concerns About “Rigged” Elections

Cook County Board Finance Committee - Departmental Budget Hearings
Day #5 of Budget Hearings - October 21, 2016

Office of County Clerk - presented by David Orr, Cook County Clerk
Proposed Budget: $31 million down from about $34 million
Proposed FTEs: Currently 275 down from 310 4 years ago.
Key Information Presented:

• Decrease in personnel was through strategic planning and not layoffs
• Ballots requested by mail for this election is 3 times over 2008
• Early voting sites have grown from 43 to 52 as there has been a huge increase in early voting
• Election day registration will continue for this election
• The Clerk’s office is offering a new “Running for office” starter kit
• New voting equipment will need to purchased in 2017
• In order to improve communication, a new website is planned for 2017

Questions/Comments from Commissioners:

• Mainly revolved around the integrity and security of the voting system, hacking of voting lists, and concern about “rigged” elections.
• The commissioners were assured that protections against fraud were in place and the Clerk’s office is working with the FBI and Dept of Homeland Security, backed up with a lot of testing and risk assessment. The voting machines have a paper backup for additional security and an audit trail to prevent fraud.
• There was some discussion regarding the voting rolls being cleaner than they have been in years and the value of passing the Automatic Voter Registration bill. In the meantime, the voter registration data base is constantly being updated and cleaned up. With 1.5 million voters and an estimate of 10% of folks moving, it is important to keep cleaning records. The key to clean voter lists is people voting from where they live.
• The key to safety at the polls is well-trained judges and every step of the process having both parties represented. The arming of judges was downplayed.
• David Orr responded positively to the question regarding merging the offices of Recorder of Deeds and Clerk’s Office. He stated that he thinks a minimum of $2 million can be saved by the time the merger happens in 2020. He also stated that he believes there would be no layoffs if strategic planning is used and reassignment of talent occurs during and after retirements.

Chicago Board of Elections
Key Information Presented:

• Presenters stated that the electoral franchise is sound.
• There has been a last minute rush to register to vote and the expectation is for an additional 100,000 registrants. There is a push to offer early voting in order to decrease long lines.
• The most often asked question is where do I vote, and there are problems with people arriving at the wrong voting place.
• Expect no net increase in expenses and holding the line on costs through technology. 
• The need for upgrade on voting equipment was brought up. I did not hear the budget number.

Questions/Comments from Commissioners:

• Included protections from “rigged” elections. The response was the voting equipment is solid, the web server is solid, and there is a paper trail.
• The biggest problem is list maintenance and having access to death records. The problem is greater when a Cook County resident moves out of Cook County and into another county.
• As of Thursday, Oct. 20, there were 20,000 early voters and 55,000 requests to vote by mail. 

Commissioners present were Garcia, Suffredin, Morrison, Schneider, and Sims

Bureau of Technology  - presented by Simona Rollinson, Director
Presentation lasted 15 minutes and the prepared slides did not work.
Proposed Budget:
FY17 - $31.5M
FY16 - $32.1M
Decrease of about $600,000
Proposed FTEs:
FY17 - 151
FY16 - 150
Increase of 1 FTE
Key Information Presented:

• The budget for 2017 is moving away from capital costs to operating costs.
• FTEs of 16 will remain almost the same in 2017. 
• Accomplishment for 2016 was a new service oriented web site.
• 2017 goals are to target under-utilized software on county computers, and move to just-in-time service. 

There were no questions asked by the commissioners. 
Commissioners present included Garcia, Morrison, Sims, Schneider, Moody, Tobolski.

Observer - Laura Davis