Summary of Proceedings

Joint Corporations, Elections and

Political Subdivisions Committee

Oil and Gas Commission                                                                                                    June 21, 2001

Casper, Wyoming

PRESENT:      Senator Kinnison, Cochairman;

                        Representative Hines, Cochairman

                        Senators Case, Goodenough, Hanes and Harris.

                        Representatives Diercks, Edwards, Huckfeldt, Illoway, Petersen and Ross.

                        Legislative Service Office: Dan Pauli, Carol Norris, Glenn Lang.

                        Others: See Appendix (A) 1.

                        Legislative Apearance Record See A 2

ABSENT:        Representatives McGraw and McOmie

AGENDA:       See A 3.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The meeting was called to order at 8:00 a.m.

Minutes

The minutes of the meeting on May 14 were approved without amendment.

Subcommittee reports

Elections: The subcommittee is to meet on June 28; an agenda and packet have been distributed. A report will be submitted in Sept.

Telecommunications: The subcommittee is to meet on July 20 in Cheyenne.

Redistricting website: Sen. Harris reported the website is up and running. Updates will be made to the site as needed.

Sec. of State – Deputy Sec. of State, Pat Arp

A report was given on the recent meeting in Montana of the International Association of Clerks, Recorders and Election Officials. There are three basic types of voting tabulation machines in use: punch card, optical scanners and direct reading/touch screen machines (DRE). In Wyoming, five types of voting methods are used: 1. Paper ballots; 2. Lever machines; 3. Optical scanners; 4. Punch card machines; and 5. Modified DRE machines that are not state of the art. In some states, including California and Illinois, lawsuits have been filed based upon the diversity of voting machines used in the particular state. In Wyoming’s 23 counties, there are about 470 precincts and about 400 polling places.

Cost factors involved in upgrading voting machines include: 1. Type of equipment purchased; and 2. Short term capital outlay for the equipment and long term capital outlay for printing of ballots. For example, the initial cost of optical scanners is not as high as for other types of equipment. DRE machines may be more expensive initially for the equipment as one must be placed in each polling booth, but once installed, there is no further need to purchase ballots.

The plan is to work with the elections subcommittee and make some decisions about demonstrations by a vendor. Wyoming cannot wait too long because of the potential for litigation relating to training of election officials and poll workers with respect to voter tabulation equipment. Such litigation has been initiated in other states such as Florida. Thus, type of equipment is not necessarily the main issue.

Sen. Kinnison raised the following issues: 1. What would be the total cost of the upgrade? 2. Who would pay the cost of the upgrade? and 3. Recommendations? Sen. Goodenough inquired whether each county clerk would be deciding independently on the purchase of equipment? The indication was that each clerk would be purchasing equipment independently, but that it must be certified and tested to meet national standards. Sen. Kinnison made the following additional inquiries: 1. Whether counties had budgeted for the purchase of equipment? 2. How long would it take to get new equipment in place? and 3. What, if any, federal legislation is there on the subject or is any anticipated? Answers to these questions will be forthcoming from the clerks.

Presentation on Census 2000 and redistricting software - Carol Norris, LSO

Ms. Norris gave a Powerpoint presentation on the above. See A 4.

Committee members made inquiries, and answers were given as follows:

·         County lines are invisible boundaries, how are these accounted for? They are accounted for by zip code and mailing address.

·         Should VTD and election precinct lines be identical? Mary Ann Collins, Natrona County Clerk, requested that differences between the two sets of lines be minimized. She noted that precinct lines and district lines other than legislative district lines, such as special district lines, differ as well.

·         A constituent lives in a house that is bisected by the Wyoming/Nebraska state line. They vote in Wyoming but have a Nebraska mailing address. Pat Arp noted that there are very few of these situations and county clerks make determinations as to residence regarding the county.

Ms. Norris gave a presentation of the redistricting software capabilities. She noted that areas of a proposed plan could be e-mailed to legislators for review. Topographical maps could be used in identifying areas.

Scott Ratliff introduced John Wada of the Shoshoni Business Council. Using the redistricting software, the committee then engaged Mr. Ratliff and Sen. Case in proposing scenarios for redrawing senate district lines within Fremont Co. and the Wind River Reservation. The American Indian population in various areas of Fremont County and the reservation were noted.

Committee Planning

In the next four to six weeks, Co-chairs Kinnison and Hines stated they would develop draft plans for review by the committee in August. In developing these draft plans, they would be calling upon legislators for assistance in particular areas of the state. Comments would be taken from committee members for about a week after the August meeting. The comments would be incorporated into the draft plans after the close of that period. The draft plans then would be presented to the public in hearings around the state. Some of the hearings may be held via videoconference.

In response to an inquiry from Rep. Ross, Rep. Hines indicated his proposed plan would focus on senate districts, since it would propose house districts nested within senate districts. Rep. Ross stated he would supply some guidelines to the co-chairs.

It was noted that a limited number of additional redistricting software licenses would be purchased.

Other comments

Sarah Gorin of the Equality State Policy Center (ESPC) noted that they had additional data on incumbents and women candidates under pre- and post- 1992 districts. They will provide committee members with this further information. ESPC supports single member districts for a variety of reasons.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at approximately 11:30 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sen. Tom Kinnison

Cochairman

All appendices referenced are on file at the Legislative Service Office.