LTC 199-2006 Vote Miami Beach- Updated/Proposed Early Voting Initiative
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MIAMI BEACH
OFFICE OF THE CllY MANAGER
NO. LTC # 199-2006
LETTER TO COMMISSION
FROM:
Mayor David Dermer and Members of the City Commission
Jorge M. Gonzalez, City Manager \~
August 16, 2006 ()
TO:
DATE:
SUBJECT: VOTE MIAMI BEACH - Update/Proposed Early Voting initiative
The purpose of this LTC is to inform the Commission on the status of the Vote Miami Beach
program, including additional initiatives that have been or are being proposed to coincide
with this upcoming election season.
Backaround
Looking to increase our residents' participation in the electoral process, the VOTE MIAMI
BEACH (VMB) Program was created by Commissioner Richard L. Steinberg and Mayor
David Dermer in April 2004. The mission of the VMB Program is to create and stimulate
awareness among Miami Beach residents about voting. Since its inception, the program
has focused on ways to support its main goal: increasing voter registrations. In addition to
frequent voter registration drives during citywide events and partnering with local school on
voter education, a key component ofVMB provides registered Miami Beach voters with a 10
percent discount at local restaurants and merchants throughout Miami Beach by simply
presenting a valid voter's registration card indicating Miami Beach residency. More than 100
businesses have partnered with the City in this discount program, placing a sticker on their
window to indicate their participation.
The program has been very successful in its efforts to register Miami Beach voters. The
Miami-Dade County Department of Elections (Elections Department) reports that the City of
Miami Beach now has a record 41,309 registered voters. While we continue to publicize the
program via newspaper ads, our MB Magazine, MBTV-77 and other local media, low voter
turnout during the last election has prompted a review of the program to determine if a new
approach would be beneficial, including, for example, a focus on increasing votertumout. In
order to address this issue, new initiatives have been developed to focus on early voting as
well as absentee voting, while complimenting our existing discount program.
New Initiatives
Once again the City of Miami Beach will have 2 early voting sites for a total of 14 days for the
Primary Election and additional early voting days for the General Election. As an added
incentive to generate interest in early voting, VMB participating business are being asked to
consider providing an additional discount for anyone that votes early during the early voting
period. About two-dozen businesses have agreed to provide the early voting incentive,
which is an additional five percent discount (or total of 15% during the early voting period).
The City's Parks and Recreation Department will also provide free admission to an open
general session at the Scott Rakow Youth Center ice rink for any registered voter who takes
advantage of the early voting. The additional discount will be good for the two weeks of early
voting. The Elections Department has agreed to distribute the Early Voting discount card we
will produce at the early voting sites.
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VMB Update/New Initiatives
In addition, in an effort to further promote early voting, including absentee voting, I have
been asked to research the cost to mail each Miami Beach registered voter a mailer that
would include information on early voting, as well as facilitate a request for an absentee
ballot. This mailer will be designed in-house and will contain the personal information of
each Miami Beach registered voter, requiring them to simply sign their name and mail back
to the Elections Department in order to receive their absentee ballot. The mailer is designed
as a 2-color, tri-fold, 8 % x 11 mailer that will include information on early voting (sites, times,
dates, discount, etc.) as well as a pre-filled out and postage paid absentee ballot request.
The estimated costs associated with this mailing are as follows:
42,000 pieces
Voter List (CD) $38.12
Printing (2-color) $2,868.00
Fulfillment $1,950.00
Postage to mail to registered voters ($0.16 per piece bulk rate)
$6,400.00
Return Reply Postage (for registered voters to mail absentee ballot
request to Elections Department)* $1,611.09
USPS Permit Fee for return reply postage $160.00
USPS Processing Fee for return reply postage (based on over 1,000
expected pieces using the pre-paid postage) $500.00
Total (Estimated) $13,527.21
*The return reply postage cost assumes a 10% absentee ballot request return rate based on
the absentee ballot requests by City of Miami Beach registered voters in the last two general
elections. Each piece would cost $0.39 to return.
Due to deadlines associated with the elections process, this mailer must be printed and
mailed out to registered voters by September in order for them to have enough time to mail
in their absentee ballot requests, receive the absentee ballot and vote.
We have been able to absorb, to-date, the minimal costs that have historically been
associated with the traditional VMB program. However, we wanted to provide you
information on the scope and costs associated with this new VMB initiative, especially as it
departs from the previous focus of the program.
Should you have any questions or require additional information, please contact me.
We expect to begin production and mailing of this "Get Out the Vote" effort no later than the
end of August.
JMG/DM
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