SACA is proud to present our speakers for the February 2016 General Membership Meeting
Katie Howard Martha Rodriquez
of Cochise County Elections and Special Districts Department, will be giving an interactive presentation on
New Voting Equipment for the 2016 Election Cycle
Program description:
Vote Centers – What is a Vote Center? Where are they? Why are they good for the voters?
2016 Elections – When are the elections and Who can vote in each election?
Election Mythbusters!
Cookie Voting: Demonstration & Hands-On Experience with Cochise County’s new voting equipment
REGISTER HERE
Katie Howard currently serves as Director of the Elections & Special Districts Department. She was hired in that capacity on November 23, 2014, following a difficult mid-term election cycle. The Board of Supervisors and County Administration have charged her with implementing a new election system to replace aging and malfunctioning equipment and implementing new software that will allow staff to program ballots in-house for future elections. The system has been installed and hardware and software training has been completed. Staff is now focusing on an extended Voter Outreach Program prior to the Presidential Preference Election in March 2016 and through the November General Election.
Prior to working in Elections, Katie served as Clerk to the Board (of Supervisors) for Cochise County for over 7 years and the Elections Director reported to her in that capacity until 2011. She became familiar with Elections’ operations during that period and became Election Certified in 2007. Before that, Katie worked for two different software companies over the course of another 7 years, as Business Lead and consultant to pension systems which were installing new pension software. She is readily familiar with the software development cycle, standards used in the software industry and how to successfully implement new systems.
Before working for the software firms, Katie spent nearly 20 years administering four public pension funds in four different California counties. Working for the pension systems, Katie was responsible for managing contracts; managing consulting relationships with actuaries, health plan providers, investment management firms, investment consulting firms, and for negotiating health plan benefits for retirees. In Alameda County, the largest pension fund Katie worked for, they had at that time a $4.0 billion investment portfolio, 17 contractor relationships, 19,000 (active & retiree) members in the pension fund and a 4,000-member monthly payroll for retirees. There were 6 Division Head directly reporting to Katie and department staff of 70 employees.
Martha Rodriquez
Martha Rodriquez has been with the Elections/Special Districts Department for twelve years; prior to that she worked in the County Recorder’s Office for six years, with voter registration. In the Elections Department she first worked as an Elections Technician for 9 years and in 2012 was promoted to Elections Program Coordinator.
Martha is responsible for recruiting approximately 300 poll workers, couriers, IT trouble-shooters and delivery personnel used to conduct an election. She also conducts poll worker training classes – covering election procedures and laws, as well as the use of the election equipment. In addition, she is responsible for obtaining facilities countywide to use for Vote Centers (polling places). She conducts the various checks for suitability of the site (wireless capability; ADA accommodations; ample parking, etc.), obtains a contract granting Elections permission to use the facilities, and maintains a point of contact for each. She also trains and supervises the Early Board workers, who process early ballots mailed by voters to the Recorder’s office, after the Recorder’s staff has verified signatures on the Affidavits.
Martha also conducts elections ballot audits and oversees the preparation of the election canvass, coordinates elections for other entities such as Cochise County cities, and Special Districts; compiles data, prepares reports, maintains election supplies and equipment. One of the most important aspects of Martha’s job is to provide accurate election information to the public. She also does all translation (Spanish) for the Elections department.
Elections’ focus this year is our Voter Outreach Program. We will be introducing Vote Centers and our new equipment throughout the county.
REGISTER HERE
