Success! The Ninth Annual GeoElections User’s Conference

The major topic that dominated the conference was the schedule of activities that will impact the elections office related to redistricting. Catherine Clark McCully, Chief of US Census Redistricting Data Office spoke about the scheduled release of the 2010 TIGER/Line Shape Files and fielded questions related to Census operations and redistricting. Scott Miller, GIS/Tabulation Supervisor for the Clay County, FL Office of the Supervisor of Elections, provided a time line of elections activities commencing with the 2012 Presidential election listing the events and tasks tracking backwards to November 2011.

The McCully and Miller presentations were bookends, bracketing the time from December 2010 to November 2012. Additionally, an excerpt from John Guthrie’s Bill Analysis and Fiscal Impact Statement for FL Senate Bill 2284 enumerated the schedule of FL legislative redistricting based upon the regular session convening 01-10-2012 and concluding 03-09-2012. The excerpt follows:

• The joint resolution is passed during the 60-day Regular Session.
• The Attorney General petitions the Florida Supreme Court for a declaratory judgment on or before Friday, March 16, 2012 (i.e., fewer than the 15 days after March 9, 2012).
• The Florida Supreme Court approves the joint resolution within the 30 days provided for in the State Constitution (i.e., by Monday, April 16, 2012).
• The joint resolution is submitted to the U.S. Attorney General on Monday, April 16, 2012, and the U.S. Attorney General does not request additional information or interpose an objection during the 60 days provided for in 28 C.F.R. s. 51.9 (concluding on June 15, 2012).

The general consensus of the attendees agreed a GeoElections® project should be created at the earliest, enhanced, and synchronized with the respective VR database and put into use allowing the user to retire their 2000 project. They should work with the product of the legislative redistricting effort once released for public review in March 2012, develop alternative plans, and be prepared to implement upon approval from DOJ.

Each attendee left the conference with a calendar that laid out actions with milestones for achieving a smooth integration of GeoElections® and their VR, carrying their office through the redistricting season.

Demonstrating one of the milestones by which to measure the production worthiness of the 2010 project, Darlene Walker, Deputy Supervisor for the Flagler County, FL Office of the Supervisor of Elections, walked the attendees through the steps necessary to use WebElections®, the election results reporting utility included in GeoElections®. Ms. Walker stated, “If you aren’t using WebElections®, you’re missing out.”

The attendees were clearly rewarded by the knowledge gained on the issues of redistricting.

Ballot Maps

Expands the Features

In GeoElections®

ICW continues to enhance GeoElections® with the addition of Ballot Maps and increased functionality of WebElections®.

Ballot Maps provides the user the ability to build a map of geopolitical areas defined by the unique combination of races, issues, referendum, etc. that are found in common and define each of these areas. This works in a fashion similar to vend diagrams. Each of which represent a unique ballot style.

For states required to label their ballots with precinct numbers, a map of precincts can be used to further define the areas of unique ballot style.

In either case, the user has the option to tabulate the number of voters that fall within each area.

While elections officials may have applications upon which to base ballot orders, GeoElections® provides a quick means to and build a map for each ballot style. ICW

Ken Tozier is recognized in a recently published article that appeared in Vertical Systems Reseller, September, 2010 titled “Lessons Learned From the Trenches” which focuses upon a theme stated in the article. “Helping customers do more with less is just one of the missions for solution providers selling into government in 2010.” A section of the article sub-titled “Streamline Training” offered the following:

2. Streamline Training

When budgets are cut, "one of the largest areas that has taken a hit is in training," says Ken Tozier, CEO of International Computer Works, a Pitney Bowes Business Insight (PBBI) solution provider in Temple Terrace, Fla. So customers need things like easy-to-learn software, self-tutorials, Web training. "We do regional training for multiple jurisdictions so customers can share the cost of in-person workshops,” he says.

The GeoElections Ninth Annual User Conference is just one example of a philosophy in action focused to provide the maximum empowerment at the least cost. As we move into the redistricting cycle that will begin with new data in 2011 and conclude for most mid-2012, training with client data is going to be important to the success of both our clients and International Computer Works, Inc. Ballot

ICW Team Wins Mayor’s Cup Again

Saturday, October, 9, 2010 Jon and Rob Tozier raced 5.5 miles on the Hillsborough River to bring a 1st place victory trophy to the ICW trophy show case. ICW has proudly supported this event for 7 years finishing in 1st place 5 times, 2nd and 3rd once each.

In a blaze of speed, Jon and Rob skimmed across the finish line as the photo illustrates a blurred image of the background. Press on young men, press on.

WebElections® Enhanced Functionality and End User Feature Requests

WebElections® was demonstrated at the GeoElections User conference by Darlene Walker, followed by a collaborative discussion focusing upon additional feature enhancements engaging attendees from numerous counties. Some of the suggestions included adding downloadable tabulation files in numerous formats, a means to publish and upload a file to the Secretary of State’s Office and providing more administrative control over the sequence of pages. Look for a positive response in the next release of WebElections®.