Iowa State University Extension educators recently completed training programs for precinct election officials in 64 counties, training more than 2,700 precinct election officials around the state over the past two years. The six-hour certification training delivered jointly by the county auditor and ISU Extension staff, are part of a three-year, statewide training effort to enhance the skills, knowledge and confidence of front-line polling place officials.
The 64 counties have provided certification training to some or all precinct election officials. Participation in the voluntary certification program is initiated by the county auditor, who is the county commissioner of elections. The training is funded primarily by federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) grant money along with some county funds.
“Iowa is one of very few states in the country offering this intensive training statewide for precinct election officials,” said Pat Gill, Woodbury County auditor and chair of the State Election Administrators Training board, a board of county and state officials. “We want to ensure the public has complete faith in the integrity of elections held in Iowa. Each county election commissioner and his or her staff do training with their precinct election officials before each election, but no one has the time or resources to conduct a training as comprehensive as this certification training,” said Gill.
Participants in the precinct election official training complete three two-hour sessions and then take an examination at the end, leading to certification. Election officials learn how to better serve voters, how to open and close the polls, how to handle special situations such as provisional and spoiled ballots, how to use new voting equipment, and how to assist those voters with disabilities and special needs.
“The partnership between the Iowa State Association of County Auditors (ISACA), the Iowa Secretary of State’s office, and Iowa State University Extension to develop and deliver this new certification training demonstrates the commitment our county and state election officials have to ensuring Iowa elections continue to reflect the ‘good government’ values of Iowans,” said Ken Kline, Cerro Gordo County auditor and the incoming 2008 president of ISACA.
“A number of auditors have told me their precinct officials, as a result of this training, are now more knowledgeable and confident in carrying out elections in their polling places that are fully compliant with Iowa and federal law,” said Gill.
“The original plan was to have at least one certified election official in each of Iowa’s nearly 1,800 precincts before the 2008 general election," said Kline. “But after the program started in 2006, many auditors saw the value of this in-depth training and have trained more than one official in each precinct. The small, highly-interactive training sessions have been very effective in engaging the precinct officials in the learning process.”
“The success of the program is reflected in overwhelmingly positive comments from both precinct election officials and from county auditors who say they feel elections are running smoother and more effectively since having some or all of their precinct election officials complete the certification training. From evaluations of the program statewide, more than 95 percent of those taking the training rated the program very good or excellent, and more than 97 percent said they would recommend the training to others,” said Kline.
The third and final year of the training certification will continue next year with 50 more trainings (to train 1,200 more officials) available to interested counties before the 2008 general election.
“If 1,200 more officials are trained and certified in 2008, we will have had over 4,000 election officials go through the certification training across the state, which I think shows a strong commitment to ensuring public trust in honest elections in our state,” added Kline.
To learn more about this program visit www.ucs.iastate.edu/mnet/peotraining/home.html or contact Alan Vandehaar, ISU Extension community development specialist, at (515) 231-6513.
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Election precinct official training has been conducted in the following counties in 2006 or 2007.
Allamakee
Appanoose
Audubon
Black Hawk
Boone
Bremer
Buena Vista
Butler
Calhoun
Carroll
Cass
Cedar
Cerro Gordo
Cherokee
Chickasaw
Clay
Clinton
Dallas
Davis
Decatur
Des Moines
Dubuque
Emmet
Floyd
Fremont
Greene
Grundy
Guthrie
Hamilton
Hancock
Hardin
Howard
Humboldt
Ida
Iowa
Johnson
Kossuth
Lee
Linn
Lyon
Marion
Marshall
Mills
Monona
Montgomery
Muscatine
O'Brien
Osceola
Page
Palo Alto
Plymouth
Pocahontas
Pottawattamie
Poweshiek
Sac
Shelby
Sioux
Story
Tama
Union
Wapello
Wayne
Webster
Woodbury