SUPPORTING STATEMENT - PART A
Post-Election Voting Survey of State Election Officials (SEOs) – 0704-XXXX
Need for the Information Collection
The President of the United States designated the Secretary of Defense to administer the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) 52 USC 203011. UOCAVA is the principal enabling statute that grants authority for the Department of Defense (DoD) to facilitate absentee voting amongst members of the Uniformed Services and Merchant Marine, their eligible family members and all citizens residing outside the United States who are absent from the United States.
This survey is part of a biennial requirement, pursuant to UOCAVA, for an statistical assessment on the voter registration and participation rates for members of the Uniformed Services as well as overseas civilians. The 1988 Executive Order 12642 names the Secretary of Defense as the “Presidential designee” for administering UOCAVA. In the Department of Defense Instruction 1000.04, Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP), the Secretary of Defense delegated UOCAVA-related responsibilities first to the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, and then, in turn, to the Director of the Federal Voting Assistance Program. The DoD Instruction 1000.04 “Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP)” also updates the policy and responsibilities for FVAP under Executive Order 12642.
The sponsor of this research is FVAP. The primary user of the data/results will be FVAP. Additional potential users of the results could include the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), other DoD senior staff and administrators, and the Office of People Analytics (OPA). This work is being done for FVAP pursuant to Task Order 91(47QFPA-22-F-0025) for research and analysis services in support of efforts, among other things, to improve awareness of stakeholders like State Election Officials regarding efforts to assist eligible citizens in the UOCAVA population with the registration and voting process.
The primary objective of the Post-Election Voting Survey of State Election Officials (PEVS-SEO) is to gather feedback from the State Election Officials (SEOs) responsible for administering UOCAVA on behalf of the military and overseas voters. This customer service focused survey will help FVAP understand how it can best engage election officials and identify areas where its processes can be improved. This ongoing evaluation will help determine the extent to which FVAP is achieving its mission and what actions FVAP might be able to take in the future to improve its products and services. Conducting this research will help FVAP meet its federal and congressional mandates in terms of ensuring that UOCAVA voters are receiving adequate support from state officials in the registration and voting process for federal elections. The data obtained through this study is also intended to provide insights into existing barriers to UOCAVA voting and recommendations for addressing these challenges.
Use of the Information
To obtain the necessary information, the Post-Election Voting Survey of State Election Officials project will use data collected from the population of SEOs from all 50 U.S. States, the District of Columbia, and the four U.S. territories covered under UOCAVA: Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Due to the small population of 55 respondents and the high response rates from SEOs in previous years (89% in 2016, 93% in 2018, and 85% in 2020), the survey administrators do not anticipate any difficulties eliciting a high response rate from SEOs in 2022. Each respondent will receive email invitations containing a personalized ticket number and a link to an electronic survey instrument using the Voxco software. No more than eight (8) survey invitation and reminder emails will be sent out to each of the 55 SEO contacts identified to be part of the survey frame. These invitations will be sent via GovDelivery. Once an SEO contact has submitted their response to the survey they will not receive any subsequent reminder emails. Samples of these invitations and reminder emails are included under the supplementary documents of this information collection request.
Respondents who navigate to the survey URL will be greeted with a welcome screen and instructed to enter the personalized ticket number that they received on their survey communications. Additionally, they will have the option to view frequently asked questions (FAQs) and security information about the survey before viewing a privacy advisory. During fielding, respondents will have access to an email survey help desk, which will answer any potential survey issues and to log any unsubscribes. Respondents will be instructed to direct survey access problems to the help desk and will be able to unsubscribe from future email reminders. All respondents who have not yet completed the survey will receive all communications. If respondents need to stop and return to the survey their responses will automatically save and they can return to where they left at a later time. To ensure the integrity of the data and avoid duplicate responses, a respondent will only be able to complete the survey once. The survey data will include the submission time stamp (i.e., the time a respondent begins taking the survey and the time they submit the survey). At a minimum, the web survey will be compatible with Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari. Once respondents have completed the survey, they will submit their responses electronically by clicking on the “Submit” button.
The survey administrators will receive responses electronically once the survey has been submitted. Upon receipt of the survey instruments, the survey administrators will process and analyze the data. These responses will be complied into a single, uniform dataset used for analysis. The survey is a census of every State Election Official; therefore, no stratification or weighting is necessary. The published results will be descriptive, rather than inferential, and will not be subdivided by demographic or regional variables, in order to prevent identification of any individual SEOs.
The survey responses will be synthesized and reported as part of a technical report to be released in 2023. Results from the survey will also inform the bi-annual FVAP report to Congress in 2023. Survey responses could also be used in future analyses. Survey results are expected to be released in the summer of 2023 depending on formal review timelines.
Use of Information Technology
The Post-Election Voting Survey of State Election Officials will be conducted using a web-only survey communications methodology, to maximize the possible use of technology. 100% of responses will be collected electronically. No more than eight (8) survey invitation and reminder emails will be sent out to each of the 55 SEO contacts identified to be part of the survey frame. These invitations will be sent via GovDelivery or a similar platform. During fielding, all respondents will have access to an email survey help desk, which will answer any potential survey issues and to log any unsubscribes.
4. Non-duplication
The information obtained through this collection is unique and is not already available for use or adaptation from another cleared source.
5. Burden on Small Businesses
This information collection does not impose a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small businesses or entities.
6. Less Frequent Collection
The proposed survey is a biennial activity to assess and improve FVAP’s interactions with state election offices nationwide. Risks involved with a denial or limitation of this information collection process include not only impeding FVAP’s ability to fulfill its mission of assisting UOCAVA voters but would also affect FVAP’s ability to understand how SEOs – a key conduit to UOCAVA voters – use FVAP materials to implement UOCAVA. The insights gained from this research will ultimately be used by FVAP to overcome voting obstacles and improve states’ ability to maximize registration and voting opportunities for eligible UOCAVA citizens.
7. Paperwork Reduction Act Guidelines
This collection of information does not require collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with the guidelines delineated in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).
8. Consultation and Public Comments
Part A: PUBLIC NOTICE
A 60-Day Federal Register Notice (FRN) for the collection published on Monday, May 23, 2022. The 60-Day FRN citation is 87 FR 31220 FRN 31220.
No comments were received during the 60-Day Comment Period.
A 30-Day Federal Register Notice for the collection published on Monday, October 17, 2022. The 30-Day FRN citation is 87 FR 62832 FRN 62832.
Part B: CONSULTATION
FVAP regularly consults with state election offices about their activities, and this instrument has been crafted from previous iterations of the survey (conducted 2014-2020) in light of their feedback.
9. Gifts or Payment
No payments or gifts are being offered to respondents as an incentive to participate in the collection.
10. Confidentiality
A Privacy Act Statement is not required for this collection because we are not requesting individuals to furnish personal information for a system of records.
A System of Record Notice (SORN) is not required for this collection because records are not retrievable by PII.
A Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) is not required for this collection because PII is not being collected electronically.
Records Retention and Disposition Schedule: Survey records and data created for and associated with this study will be cut off when superseded or obsolete; they will be destroyed three years after cut off (102-07).
11. Sensitive Questions
No questions considered sensitive are being asked in this collection.
12. Respondent Burden and its Labor Costs
Part A: ESTIMATION OF RESPONDENT BURDEN
Collection Instrument(s)
[Post-Election Voting Survey of State Election Officials]
Number of Respondents: 55
Number of Responses Per Respondent: 1
Number of Total Annual Responses: 55
Response Time: 15 minutes
Respondent Burden Hours: 13.75 hours
Total Submission Burden
Total Number of Respondents: 55
Total Number of Annual Responses: 55
Total Respondent Burden Hours: 13.75 hours
Part B: LABOR COST OF RESPONDENT BURDEN
Since this is a biennial information collection all costs referenced below reflect the appropriate annual assessment of costs. Costs are based on estimated wages for civilians and local election officials.
Collection Instrument(s)
[Post-Election Voting Survey of State Election Officials]
Number of Total Annual Responses: 55
Response Time: 15 minutes
Respondent Hourly Wage: $31.312
Labor Burden per Response: $7.83
Total Labor Burden: $430.65
Overall Labor Burden
Total Number of Annual Responses: 55
Total Labor Burden: $430.65
The Respondent hourly wage was determined by using the [Department of Labor Wage Website] ([http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/wages/index.htm])
13. Respondent Costs Other Than Burden Hour Costs
There are no annualized costs to respondents other than the labor burden costs addressed in Section 12 of this document to complete this collection.
14. Cost to the Federal Government
Part A: LABOR COST TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Collection Instrument(s)
Post-Election and Voting Survey – State Election Officials
Number of Total Annual Responses: 55
Processing Time per Response: 2 hours
Hourly Wage of Worker(s) Processing Responses: $58.18
Cost to Process Each Response: $116.36
Total Cost to Process Responses: $6,399.80
Overall Labor Burden to the Federal Government
Total Number of Annual Responses: 55
Total Labor Burden: $6,399.80
Part B: OPERATIONAL AND MAINTENANCE COSTS
Cost Categories
Equipment: $0
Printing: $0
Postage: $0
Software Purchases: $0
Licensing Costs: $0
Other: $120,590.04 (Contractor labor)
Total Operational and Maintenance Cost: $120,590.04 (ODE)
Part C: TOTAL COST TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Total Labor Cost to the Federal Government: $6,399.80
Total Operational and Maintenance Costs: $120,590.04
Total Cost to the Federal Government: $126,989.84
15. Reasons for Change in Burden
This is an existing collection currently in use without an OMB Control Number.
16. Publication of Results
The duration of collection period is from January 9, 2023 through February 9, 2023. The results of this survey are estimated to be published in September 2023, in FVAP’s 2022 Report to Congress, and on its website.
17. Non-Display of OMB Expiration Date
We are not seeking approval to omit the display of the expiration date of the OMB approval on the collection instrument.
18. Exceptions to “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Submissions”
We are not requesting any exemptions to the provisions stated in 5 CFR 1320.9.
1 Previously found in 42 USC 1973ff
2 Average December 2021 hourly wage from Bureau of Labor Statistics updated on January 12, 2022, available at: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/realer_01122022.htm
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