Election Department in home stretch for Nov. 4

Nearly $92,000 worth of accessibility improvements completed at 23 precincts. Check.

Eight surveillance cameras installed at the main courthouse to improve security. Check.

Ballots ordered and manually counted for numerical sequence. Check.

Set-up and close-down checklists ready for precinct workers. Check.

FLATHEAD County Clerk and Recorder Paula Robinson and Election Manager Monica Eisenzimer are working off a huge checklist in preparation for the Nov. 4 general election. And so far, so good, they said, as the home stretch begins.

"Our goal is to make participation in the election process open to everyone," Robinson told a group of election workers, politicians and county workers gathered Thursday for an election preview.

Knowing the 2008 presidential election is likely to yield a record voter turnout, Robinson began planning early.

"It's kind of like planning a huge dinner for 55,000 people," she said following last year's election. "We try to prepare for every potential disaster."

The logistics alone are a challenge. There currently are 56,890 registered voters in a county that spans 5,098 square miles. The longest distance between polling places east to west is 63 miles.

Robinson put together an election task force, fashioned after a similar group in Missoula, that has offered several suggestions for keeping things running smoothly on Election Day.

For example, 10 poll runners for the first time this year will pick up absentee ballots periodically throughout the day at the precincts and bring them back to the courthouse to be counted. Absentee ballots are opened manually, and with a record 15,000 absentee votes anticipated, this should prevent a bottleneck after the polls close, Robinson said.

She expects to release the absentee-ballot count to the public by 8:30 p.m. on Election Day.

Election results - generally tallied five precincts at a time - will be posted on the county Web site (http://flathead.mt.gov/election) throughout the evening. That's another first for the county.

ACCESSIBILITY has been at the top of the preparation agenda, Robinson said. Money from 28 grants helped the county comply with the goals of the Help America Vote Act of 2002.

To date, $91,678 has been spent to make improvements at four county buildings, nine schools, three volunteer fire departments, four churches, one city building, one quick-response-unit building and one community building, all of which serve as polling sites.

The upgrades included paving parking lots, installing automatic door openers and building access ramps.

In a separate project, the county spent $25,000 to install security cameras throughout the main courthouse. The cameras will be on around the clock, although during voting hours the camera in the Election Department area will be turned off.

"I don't want any elector to question" whether the cameras can detect sensitive information, she said.

After the election, a couple of the cameras will be moved to the commissioners' building for use in the meeting room and hallway.

A SIX-MEMBER resolution board will be on hand Election Day to make decisions on improperly marked ballots. Members include Pam Holmquist, Verdell Jackson, Jane Bennett, Connie Leistiko, Milt Carlson, Steve Elm and alternate Bob O'Neil.

"The resolution board is the best thing that we've done," Robinson said. "It takes the decisions out of the election department. To me it's irreplaceable."

There are a number of reasons ballots get bumped to the resolution board. Some voters mark X in the box instead of completely filling it in. Absentee voters sometimes spill coffee or food on their ballots, or scribble in the margins.

"We see some odd things come through; you can only imagine," she said.

The primary election in June - a test run for the general election - went off without a hitch. That election cost Flathead County $167,811; ballots alone were $38,792. The general election should cost less, Robinson said, because the county loaded up on supplies in June.

Elections get more complicated every year, she added. Both the federal and state governments have put new regulations in place to ensure elections run fairly and smoothly.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com