Webinar for Local WIC AgenciesNVRA and Voter Registration

December 8, 2015

Presented by:• California Department of Public Health/WIC Division• The Office of the Secretary of State• ACLU of California Voting Rights Project

First things first….

Thank you for your hard work bringing new people into our democracy.

Your commitment to registering new voters is making California’s political system more representative and more inclusive.

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We encourage you to see voter registration as one more way to empower your participants, their families, and their communities.

We understand some WIC clients are already registered to vote, not interested in registering, or are not eligible to register.

Nonetheless, several WIC agencies have put improvements in place and now register dozens of participants to vote every month.

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Today’s Agenda & Survey Basics

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Webinar Agenda:

• Best Practices and Innovative Ideas from Local Agencies

• Opportunities for Improvement

• NVRA Tracking: Why It Matters & How It Works

• Training and Other Topics

• Questions and Comments

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NVRA Survey Basics:

• Survey was completed by WIC local agencies during late July/early August of 2015.

• 82 of 84 WIC Local Agencies completed the survey.

• 89 local agency employees completed the survey.

• The majority of survey respondents were WIC NVRA Coordinators and WIC Directors.

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Best Practices / Innovative Ideasfrom Local WIC Agencies

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Some agencies have one-on-one conversations that encourage participants to register.

• “We remind them that even if they are unhappy with the system or the politics, that voting is their way to change things.” (Local agency in Alameda County)

• “Encourage them that it will only take a moment . . . Remind them that they do not have to pay postage or any kind of handling.” (Local agency in Sonoma County)

• “We explain that the process is relatively quick.” (Local agency in Nevada County)

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Some publicize the voter registration opportunity:

“We post informational materials about the availability of voter registration materials throughout all of our WIC sites. We have prominent displays with Voter Registration cards available at all of our WIC sites.” (Local agency in Los Angeles County)

“We have a poster and info posted in all WIC clinics that says you can register to vote here.” (Local agency in Santa Barbara County)

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Some agencies use strong oversight procedures:

“Our managers spot check the filing cabinets to ensure that Voter Preference Forms are given out to all participants on a daily basis . . . Managers conduct a random review of the VPFs to ensure that forms are filled out completely.” (Local agency in Los Angeles County)

“I go to all 15 WIC Sites to do what I call Voter Preference Audits and what I do is make sure that the Voter Preference forms are in separate monthly file folders, in numerical order.” (Local agency in Fresno County)

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Opportunities for Improvement

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1. Offer voter registration upon notification of change of address. This includes when participants transfer into your agency.

Agencies consistently stated in survey results that they offer voter registration upon enrollment and re-certification. Providing voter registration upon notification of change of address was mentioned much less frequently.

Providing voter registration upon every notification of change of address is required by law.

But this isn’t just a matter of legal compliance. To avoid problems when casting a ballot on Election Day, a participant must re-register following every move.

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2. Train staff on filling out the voter registration card.3. Train staff to tell participants that staff can help

participants fill out the voter registration card, and be done in minutes.

4. Make sure staff have VRCs in all required languages. • 28% of respondents said participants decline to

register because they believe the registration process is too difficult or time-consuming.

• 10% of respondents said participants do not register because of difficulty filling out or reading the voter registration card.

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5. Make sure staff understand and explain voter eligibility basics to participants. • 40% of respondents said that participants decline to

register because they believe they are not eligible.• Participants are eligible to vote if they are a United

States citizen and will be 18 by election day. They can read eligibility info on the VRC.

6. Instruct staff to tell participants that jury duty should not deter them from registering to vote. • 9% of respondents said participants do not register to

vote because they do not want to get jury duty.• People are already in the jury pool if they are on file

with DMV.

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7. Incorporate a brief conversation about voting into the client meeting.

• A number of agencies reported that the most successful approach to getting people to register is “asking,” “having discussions,” or “offering voter registration one-on-one.”

• Instead of just putting VPFs and VRCs in the enrollment and re-certification packets and hoping participants use them, use person-to-person contact to ask and encourage participants to register.

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8. Encourage participants to register.

• A few survey responses said “We do not encourage or discourage clients from registering.” You cannot discourage participants from registering but you may encourage them.

• You can explain to hesitant participants that voting is their voice or that voting determines who makes decisions about schools, public safety, jobs, and public benefits programs.

• WIC staff can explain why they vote. But make sure not to talk about your political party.

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9. When someone indicates on the VPF that he or she wishes to register to vote, urge him or her to fill the voter registration card out right then and there.• Emphasize that with staff assistance, the process is

quick.

10. When someone declines on the VPF, let him or her take the voter registration card home. • If it is used at a later time or used by someone else,

your office is credited with that voter registration.

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11. Publicize voter registration.• Some agencies stated in the survey they put posters

and voter registration cards in the lobby. This is a good way to expose participants to voter registration before they see a staff member.

12. Take advantage of training assistance from your county elections office. • 24% of respondents stated that they were unaware

they can get help on NVRA training from their county elections office.

• County elections offices are required by law to help you conduct NVRA trainings, if you ask.

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NVRA Tracking: Why It Matters & How It Works

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Tracking: Why this matters

• If the tracking system is not working correctly, you may not get credit for the registrations you generate.

• By doing some up-front work with your county elections office to eliminating tracking problems, your voter registration efforts are rewarded.

• And by tracking effectively by site, you can determine which agency sites are succeeding and deserve recognition. You can also identify which need support.

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Tracking: Survey suggests explanation would help

• Significant numbers of agencies reported an unfamiliarity with the NVRA tracking system.

• Furthermore, 37% of respondents reported that their agency sites are not being tracked individually in the NVRA tracking system, as required by state law.

• We’ll now spend a few minutes covering how the tracking system works and how you can make sure you get credit for the voter registrations you generate.

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Here’s how NVRA tracking works:

1. Your agency orders voter registration cards from the county elections office. You explain which agency you represent.

2. County elections office provides voter registration cards with red serial numbers on them. County elections tracks which serial numbers are sent to each agency.

3. When a completed voter registration is mailed back to county elections, they check their database of serial numbers to determine which agency it came from.

4. The county elections office gives the appropriate agency credit in the county’s monthly report.

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Important note about tracking by site:

If your agency has multiple sites each site needs to be tracked separately in the NVRA tracking. To make sure this happens:

1. Have each site order voter registration cards from the county elections office separately, OR

2. Order VRCs centrally, distribute them to sites, and then tell the county elections office which serial numbers were sent to each site.

Note: Satellite sites open a few days a month do not need to be tracked separately.

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NVRA Tracking:

• Check if your sites are tracked individually and see how many participants you register to vote each month at the Secretary of State’s website: http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voter-registration/nvra/reports/sb35-nvra-monthly-reports/

• For those having challenges with the tracking system: Many of your peers reported that once they found the NVRA coordinator at their county elections office and initiated a relationship, it helped solve their tracking problems.

• If you are using old VRCs that the county elections office does not have in its records, provide the office with your VRC serial numbers or simply get new VRCs.

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Training and Other Topics

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Filling Out a Voter Registration Card

Some survey respondents said staff need more training on how to fill out a voter registration card. Please use:

http://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/nvra/training/pdf/staff-basics.pdf

The first page summarizes the NVRA responsibilities of frontline staff. The second page provides tips on filling out the voter registration card.

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Other helpful NVRA training resources from the Secretary of State can be found here:

http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voter-registration/nvra/training/

ACLU’s all-in-one NVRA Toolkit has legal requirements, best practices, a checklist to follow when filling out a VRC, and a FAQ:

https://www.aclusandiego.org/nvra-toolkit/

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Automatic Voter Registration at DMV?

The New Motor Voter Act that was just signed into law will eventually provide DMV consumers a more convenient voter registration opportunity at DMV.

The New Motor Voter Act changes nothing about WIC’s voter registration responsibilities. (And moreover, many WIC participants will never visit the DMV.)

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Availability of NVRA Survey Results:

• The results of the Local Agency NVRA survey and this PowerPoint Presentation were shared with local agencies in a PWPC letter that was emailed on

11-24-15.

• This PowerPoint presentation will be posted on CDPH/WIC’s website.

• To obtain the Local Agency NVRA Survey Results spreadsheet, contact Paul Smith at paul.smith@cdph.ca.gov or 916-928-8671.

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Questions and Comments?

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Thank you.

If you need help understanding your voter registration responsibilities, contact:

Paul Smith, CDPH/WIC DivisionPaul.Smith@cdph.ca.gov916-928-8671

Steven Carda, NVRA Coordinator, Secretary of StateSteven.Carda@sos.ca.gov 916-657-2305

Jonathan Stein, Attorney, ACLU of Calif. Voting Rights Projectjstein@acluca.org408-533-3643

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