June 1, 2011
Dr. Brenda Snipes
Broward County Supervisor of
Elections
115 S. Andrews Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
Dear Dr. Snipes:
This is to document our
meeting of May 12, 2011
which Mayor Gunzburger
hosted at which our staff
was in attendance. I'd like
to thank you for that
meeting, for your commitment
to study the concerns
discussed, and look forward
to our follow up meeting in
July as you agreed. I wish
to thank you for your
leadership in our community
and the good service your
office provides to our
residents. The purpose of
our meeting was to review
the two specific concerns
outlined below
First, the City of Pembroke
Pines transmitted to your
office a resolution of the
City Commission asking that
elections costs be paid for
with county tax dollars. My
city believes that, under
our form of government in
Broward County, elections
are countywide functions
that should be paid for with
countywide taxes. Your
office is currently charged
with administering all
elections including those of
cities. State law permits
the cost of all city
elections to be billed
countywide or separately.
We believe it better policy
to have those costs paid
through the county tax bill,
and we have communicated
that preference to you. I
also shared my observation
that there does not seem to
be a consistent way to
analyze costs charged to
cities. For
example, consider the table
below:
|
City |
Registered Voters |
#
of Precincts |
# of Voting
Locations |
Most Recent SOE
Cost
Estimates for
Citywide Elections
|
|
P Pines |
est. 97,000 |
68 |
31 |
$250,000 |
|
Miramar |
est.
65,000 |
32 |
22 |
$132,000 |
|
Plantation |
est. 55,000 |
39 |
23 |
$120,000 |
| |
|
|
|
|
Note: Information provided
by City Clerks of the
respective cities listed.
Pembroke Pines has 1/3 more
registered voters than
Miramar but more than twice
the number of precincts.
Both cities have one voting
location for every 3,000
registered voters but in
Plantation they have one for
every 2,400 registered
voters. Pembroke Pines has
nearly twice the number of
registered voters as
Plantation yet Plantation
has only 30% fewer voting
locations than Pembroke
Pines. Officials of all
three cities say a
significant number of those
voting locations
significantly and
consistently under-perform
in terms of total votes cast
there. There is no
correlation that I could
draw between these numbers
and election cost
estimates. However, an
opportunity exists to
combine voting locations at
reduced cost.
Page Two
Dr. Brenda Snipes
June 1, 2011
When a voting location
generates very few votes
during most election cycles,
it is hard to cost
justify keeping them open
when the alternative,
consolidating them with a
neighboring, more productive
sites, is available with
little to no inconvenience
to voters or impact to
higher turnout elections.
This would reduce the cost
of elections. At the
present level of costs
charged, cities are almost
forced to analyze whether
they should conduct city
elections themselves, as the
law permits, at reduced
cost. This should be
avoided. But even if the
cost were not reduced to
cities, then the dollars
should be put to more
productive use in terms of
building up Broward’s
notoriously low voter
turnout. That is our second
point.
Your office could use a
portion of the
savings generated by closing
unproductive voting
locations to send an
absentee ballot request form
with information to every
registered voter. There
might be enough savings to
pay for return postage on
all absentee ballots
requested. The result would
be many more Broward voters
actually casting a vote than
is currently the case. Your
office has done great things
to further encourage
bringing out the vote. It
would be unfair of anyone to
suggest otherwise and you in
particular should be proud
of your efforts to help more
voters cast a vote in
Broward County. Yet despite
these valuable efforts,
voter turnout in Broward
remains disappointingly low
especially for municipal
elections. We note a trend
in most cities, including
mine, among voters to cast
their vote by absentee
ballot. This should be
further encouraged through
direct outreach to their
homes. That effort is an
appropriate task for your
office to perform, and it
can be paid for with the
savings generated from the
closure and consolidation of
so many unproductive voting
locations countywide. I am
thankful for your commitment
to study that prospect in
time for our follow-up
meeting in early July.
Since our meeting, residents
have encouraged me strongly
to continue this discussion,
and I know a number of them
have indicated the same to
your office. Obviously, at
this difficult financial
time but also at all times
we should work together to
maximize the number of votes
cast at every election. You
made a number of helpful
suggestions about ways that
Pembroke Pines and all
cities could augment your
voter outreach efforts by
more widely telling
residents how they can get
absentee ballots sent to
them. My City Commission
was open to implementing
those ideas but less
hopeful, as is
understandable, that our
efforts could ever be as
successful as yours in
generating more voters.
Thank you again for our
discussion. I will be
contacting your office soon
to schedule our follow-up
meeting in early July.
Sincerely,
Angelo Castillo,
Commissioner
c: Mayor Sue Gunzburger
Broward County
Commission
Pembroke Pines City
Commission
Sam Goren, City Attorney
Mitch Ceasar, Broward Democratic Party
Richard DiNapoli, Broward GOP
Rico Petrocelli, Broward
GOP
