Published: October 16, 2009 09:46 am      

Clinton County to use Precinct Atlas program

CLINTON — Clinton County will be using the new Precinct Atlas program in six precincts during the Nov. 3 election.

The Precinct Atlas program is an electronic poll book which will help precinct election officials process voters more effectively and consistently. The program was developed by Cerro Gordo County and was first used in the Mason City Community School District for a special election in February 2009.

This electronic poll book consists of a laptop with the Precinct Atlas software and a connected label printer. Before each election, the statewide voter registration and election management system loads the voter registration information into the program. The electronic poll book allows precinct election officials to follow on-screen, step-by-step prompts for processing voters.

Clinton County Auditor, Eric Van Lanker said this program is exceptionally helpful because it was created by an auditor who could anticipate what problems and situations can occur during the election process. This week Van Lanker and Deputy for Elections, Natalie Ehm, conducted training for election officials for the six county precincts which will use this system in the upcoming election. Earlier this week, the training was held in DeWitt for their two precincts. Training was set for Thursday and today in the Charles A. Sheridan building, near the county’s Administration Building. Thursday’s training included election officials from Goose Lake in the morning and from Ward Four, precinct one of Clinton in the afternoon. Officials from precincts one and two in Camanche received training today.

During the training, Van Lanker and Ehm took the individuals through the process of setting up the system, turning it on and using it to process voters. The training began with a scenario of a person who had everything in order and had nothing to change. Van Lanker said this would typically be most of the voters an official would see. He and Ehm showed the officials how to bring up a person’s name and information, how to verify the voter’s address and birthday, and how to print the necessary label and move them to the next step of the process.

Van Lanker said this new program will not make the election paperless or decrease the number of election officials. However, he said this will allow the officials to be more confident in the process and ensure everything is more uniform. He said the labels printed by the system to be placed on the declaration of eligibility will make records more legible. He said, for instance, previously when a person had to change their address, a form would be filled out by hand. Now individual labels are printed for the necessary information and placed on the registration form. Van Lanker said this can save time and makes reading the forms easier.

This program also offers officials instruction on how to handle various situations, such as; changes in address, election day registration or a person who is at the incorrect polling location. During Thursday morning’s training, election officials role-played how to handle a person who had previously filed for an absentee ballot but wanted to surrender the ballot and vote at the location, as well as an individual who did not have their absentee ballot with them. The program also instructs an official on what to do if a person is flagged as potentially being unable to vote, as in the case of a felony conviction. Van Lanker said this is important because election officials only do this job twice a year and even the most experienced ones may have difficulties remembering how to handle a situation which rarely arises.

“Every situation that could happen at your polling location is considered in this system,” said Van Lanker, adding, “I look forward to seeing a situation that they have not thought of that would come up.” He said he does not think there is one.

This program can also be easily updated to include any new situations as they come up. Van Lanker said the Secretary of State’s Office would e-mail the counties to inform them of updates. He would then go to the Web site and download the update. Van Lanker said Secretary of State Michael A. Mauro has been a major advocate of the Precinct Atlas program. He said he feels without Mauro’s help, the program would not be as wide spread as it is. The Secretary of State’s Office headed up a program to allow a large purchase to make the program cheaper for the counties. The office is also the central point of coordination for the project.

“I applaud county auditors on their decision to implement this cost-effective technology in next month’s city elections,” stated Mauro in a press release. “Dozens of counties have tried and tested this program in their precincts and are finding it to be a worthy addition to election administration that reinforces the integrity of the process.

According to the press release, 44 Iowa counties or more than 350 precincts have reported they plan to use the program during the Nov. 3 election. More than 20 counties used the program during the Sept. 8 school elections.

Van Lanker said he feels the program will be helpful in the election process. He said the training has gone well and the election officials seem to be responding positively to the program.

“It’s not as scary as you think, once you get started,” said Janice Bormann, of Goose Lake. Bormann said she has been an official for at least 10 years.

“I think it’s bringing elections into the computer age,” said Trula McDonald, of Goose Lake.