HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolutions - 2018.10.10 - 23827cr
Commis oner Tom Berman
District
MISCELLANEOUS RESOLUTION #18352
BY: Commissioners Tom Berman, District *5; Nancy Quarles, District *17; Adam Kochenderfer, District
*15; Marcia Gershenson, District *13
IN RE: BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS — REQUEST THE SECRETARY OF STATE PROVIDE ACCESS
TO ABSENTEE VOTER DATA IN THE QUALIFIED VOTER FILE TO OAKLAND COUNTY ELECTIONS
DIVISION
To the Oakland County Board of Commissioners
Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen:
WHEREAS the Oakland County Board of Commissioners created a bi-partisan committee to study the
ability of the elections infrastructure system within Oakland County to manage the historically high levels of
voter turnout experienced during the August 7, 2018 Primary Election; and
WHEREAS the Ad Hoc Committee on Election Infrastructure sought and received input from election
administrators, voters and other interested parties to gain a comprehensive understanding of the issues
and consider recommendations for improvements to the Oakland County election system; and
WHEREAS the August 7th, 2018 Primary Election highlighted the increasingly difficult challenge election
administrators face when planning and forecasting voter turnout in a rapidly evolving, volatile political
environment; and
WHEREAS the Committee found that an inefficiency exists with data sharing between governmental offices,
this gap in communication is a limiting factor for county election officials when developing their planning
and forecasting processes for upcoming elections; and
WHEREAS it is common practice among election administrators to monitor early absentee voter
applications as an indication of shifting voter turnout to adjust ballot orders and other pre-election plans;
and
WHEREAS as currently designed, the state's Qualified Voter File does not grant access to absentee voter
data directly to the individuals that are responsible under the law to place ballot orders; and
WHEREAS for County election administrators, this gap in data availability is a limiting factor on their ability
to plan and react quickly to changing trends within their counties; and
WHEREAS Oakland County is requesting that the Secretary of State expand access to absentee voter data
for our Elections Division, thus granting the ability to improve forecasting and planning procedures for future
elections; and
WHEREAS the Ad Hoc Committee has proposed that the Elections Division utilize this data to build to
develop an absentee voter tracker program integrated with historical voter data with the goal of automating
the process of monitoring Oakland County's 616 precincts.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Oakland County Board of Commissioners requests that
the Michigan Secretary of State expand the access to absentee voter data within the Qualified Voter File
to the County Elections Division for the purposes of improving local election planning capabilities.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Oakland County Clerk/Register of Deeds is requested to forward
copies of this adopted resolution to the Michigan Secretary of State, the Oakland County Director of
Elections and the President of the Oakland County Clerks Association.
Chairperson, we move the adoption of the foregoing Resolution.
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Resolution #18352 October 10, 2018
The Chairperson referred the resolution to the General Government Committee. There were no objections.