2018 HAVA Election Security Grants Territorial Election Office of American Samoa Program Narrative for 3 23 2018-3 23 2023 The Territorial Election Office of American Samoa has been awarded under the 2018 HAVA Election Security Grant the amount of $600 000 00 to be available until it’s expiration on March 23 2023 These funds will go a long way in improving future elections and ensuring a safe and secure process Due to the fact that the voting process in our territory is less technologically advanced than most states and territories we believe that our office’s current focus is ensuring first our Voter Registration System is reliable and accessible and prioritizing our existing Outreach and Special Needs Services programs The territory itself was recently hit by Tropical Cyclone Gita in February There is an islandwide effort currently underway to recover from TC Gita and return the island to its normal state There were damages to the election office building and the surrounding areas The storage room suffered the most with the strong winds and rain Our office is working around the clock to ensure we have everything necessary to conduct the 2018 election in November Firstly a portion of the funds allocated to Voting Equipment will be used to help the recovery effort in preparation for the upcoming 2018 Election To ensure the success of the 2018 Election and due to the time frame our office has prepare the American Samoa Election Office are partnering and working closely with the American Samoa Government and certain Departments to repair and restore the Election office and surrounding areas Secondly a complete upgrade and facelift for the Voter Registration system workstations and database will be in the works upon release of the 2018 HAVA Funds Lastly below are summarizations of two programs that began with the 2002 HAVA funds and we continue to implement because of their success and how beneficial and essential these programs have become to elections in our territory Special Needs Service formerly Assisting Disabled Voters Initiative There are 4 main goals to this program and they are listed as follows 1 To make polling places accessible to individuals with a full range of disabilities including the path of travel entrances exits and voting areas of each polling facility 2 To provide the same opportunity for access and participation in the electoral process including privacy and independence to voters with disabilities as that which exists for voters with no disabilities 2018 HAVA Program Narrative 1 3 To provide training for election officials poll workers and election volunteers on how best to promote access and participation of individuals with disabilities in elections for 4 To provide information to individuals with a full range of disabilities with information about the accessibility of polling places The American Samoa Election Office has in its employ a Disabled Voters Specialist who works very closely with village mayors from each voting district to compile names and locations of the disabled or special needs population This undertaking proves difficult due to the fact that there are no street names and physical addresses in the territory However thanks to the help of the general public as well as village mayors and family members of those individuals with special needs our office is able to help disabled and or special needs people participate in every election whether it be in their homes or at the polling stations The goal is to follow up with our Special Needs Voters and update their files during the non-election year so that there isn’t a rush 2-3 months prior to election to reach all our special needs and disabled voters Our office would be more than willing to provide this service with the purchase of a new vehicle for the specific purpose of keeping our Special Needs and Disabled voters’ files updated so that we may better serve their needs This program has proved successful since its birth and the American Samoa Election Office will continue to provide these services to the people of American Samoa Outreach Your Voice Your Vote Campaign This program also has 4 main goals which are listed below as follows 1 2 3 4 To provide information to the general public about the Registration and Voting Process To encourage all those qualified to exercise their right to vote To assist the general public in making the registration process as smooth as possible To promote participating in elections and garnering trust in the election process There are many different activities methods and techniques the Outreach Team uses to accomplish the goals of the program They work closely with the Department of Education village mayors as well as the Governor’s office to make the information public and more accessible This program continues to show an increase in the number of new registered voters our office sees every year most specifically on election years Our office continues to receive positive feedback on the visibility and accessibility of the Outreach team It is for 2018 HAVA Program Narrative 2 this reason we continue this program and hope to expand the program with the support of the Election Assistance Commission and the American Samoa Government Review In essence the 2018 HAVA Election Security Grant funds will go a long way to improve the quality and efficiency of the Territorial Election Office of American Samoa as well as allow the Election office to continue to implement and exercise the positive work through its two main programs Although we are a small island territory the work our office does is vital to the progress of the American Samoa Government With the unmatched help and support from the Election Assistance Commission and the American Samoa Government we are able to continue these programs and services and possibly expand for the greater good of the territory and its citizens 2018 HAVA Program Narrative 3 2018 HAVA Election Security Grants Territorial Election Office of American Samoa Budget Narrative for 3 23 2018-3 23 2023 The Territorial Election Office of American Samoa has been awarded under the 2018 HAVA Election Security Grant the amount of $600 000 00 to be available until it’s expiration on March 23 2023 These funds will go a long way in improving future elections and ensuring a safe and secure process Due to the fact that the voting process in our territory is less technologically advanced than most states and territories we believe that our office’s current focus is ensuring first our Voter Registration System is reliable and accessible and prioritizing our existing Outreach and Special Needs Services programs The territory itself was recently hit by Tropical Cyclone Gita in February There were damages to the election office building and the surrounding areas The storage room suffered the most with the strong winds and rain Our office is working around the clock to ensure we have everything necessary to conduct the 2018 election in November Personnel $100 000 – During the months leading up to an Election our office contracts temporary employees and services In preparation for the 2020 election we are looking to contract people to start transferring and compile data We intend to keep these employees under contract with our office until all duties and responsibilities have been fulfilled These include the transfer of data updating files and digitizing all the election office files including those files we keep for each individual voter in our current database For the duration of the HAVA Election Security Fund we would also like to hire someone to maintain the database system train our staff and IT division on how to manage the database system Contractual Services $100 000 – We are currently researching and trying to customize a database registration system to our specifications and needs Once we find a company that can build this system for us we intend to contract their services to build our database oversee the transfer of data and train our IT division on how to manage and maintain the system Voting Equipment and Replacement Materials and Supplies $30 000 - Our office is currently looking to replace all our voting booths and ballot boxes Heavy rains have caused water damage to all the voting booths as well as ballot boxes We are looking into finding replacements for all our equipment that was ruined before the upcoming 2016 Election Voting Registration System and Management Equipment $200 000 – Currently our database and voting registration system needs major improvements Our 14 workstations have been operating slowly because they still operate with Windows XP We are not able to update our workstations to Windows 10 because the IDdata software that we use does not support Windows 2018 HAVA Program Narrative 4 10 We are currently researching and working up a customized database system which we hope to implement before the 2020 election Before that major undertaking we want to replace all our workstations in order to make the transition from the current database system to the one we are customizing easier and so as not to interrupt the daily operations Training Travel $50 000 – There are many opportunities for our office to attend conferences trainings and meetings however we almost always miss these opportunities due to our financial situation We would like to allocate funds to Travel so that when the opportunity presents itself we are able to attend and learn from these training conferences and bring that new knowledge back to our office and people Our office employs a few employees who are above average when it comes to technology and we would like to expose these employees to different training programs in order to broaden their knowledge so that they become greater assets to our IT Division Microsoft and Interface partner up to train people and get them certified in a variety of different courses such as Administering Microsoft SQL Server Database Firewalls etc With this funding we would be able to reach a certain level of expertise in different technological fields that would advance our office’s capabilities and most importantly security We would concentrate solely on securing our systems and sending our IT personnel to attend Cyber Security Training for our office’s database and operational security Other Expenses $120 000 – After our funding expired for the HAVA 2002 because it was very beneficial for the people of American Samoa our office continued the Outreach and Special Needs Service programs Every Election year we rent vehicles for a certain period of time to do outreach work and visit our special needs voters for updating files and the like also to vote We haven’t been able to do so yet because of the financial hardships as well as the limit to rental car businesses Instead of renting vehicles every election year we hope to purchase 2 vehicles so the Outreach and Special Needs Service programs can continue throughout the year instead of the few months prior to an election Throughout the year and not just during election our Registration division tries to update most of the Special Needs Voters files and the Outreach division would like to continue their programs on non election years but have major difficulty due to the lack of transportation Attached are detailed explanations of the Special Needs and Outreach Programs The Territorial Election Office of American Samoa hereby request to draw down the total amount of $600 000 to be used for the above listed purposes We also agree and accept the terms and obligations and will fulfill the obligatory reports and financial statements after each fiscal year 2018 HAVA Program Narrative 5 2018 HAVA Program Narrative 2018 HAVA ELECTION SECURITY GRANT Budget Information Name of Organization CFDA # 90 404 Non-Construction Program American Samoa Election Office Budget Period Start 3 23 2018 Budget Period End 3 23 2023 SECTION A - BUDGET SUMMARY Consolidated Budget for total project term-up to 5 years as defined by grantee FEDERAL NON-FEDERAL FUNDS Match PROGRAM CATEGORIES a Voting Equipment BUDGET CATEGORIES c Voter Registration Systems b Election Auditing 1 PERSONNEL including fringe $ 100 000 00 2 EQUIPMENT $ 30 000 00 d Cyber Security e Communications f Other ______________ $ $ g Other ______________ 100 000 00 200 000 00 3 SUBGRANTS- to local voting jurisdictions $ 50 000 00 5 All OTHER COSTS $ 130 000 00 $ - $ - 130 000 00 $ - 7 INDIRECT COSTS if applied 8 Total Federal Budget $ $ 200 000 00 $ 50 000 00 $ - $ 120 000 00 $ 220 000 00 $ - 200 000 00 $ 50 000 00 $ - $ 220 000 00 $ - $ 130 000 00 $ 22% Proposed State Match 0 0% - $ 0% A Do you have an Indirect Cost Rate Agreement approved by the Federal government or some other non-federal entity If yes please provide the following information B Period Covered by the Indirect Cost Rate Agreement mm dd yyyy-mm dd yyy D If other than Federal agency please specify E The Indirect Cost Rate is $ 230 000 00 38% 200 000 00 $ 33% N A 50 000 00 $ 8% - $ 0% 220 000 00 $ 37% - 0% 50 000 00 8% $ 120 000 00 20% $ 600 000 00 $ 0% - $ $ 13 Percentage By Category C Approving Federal agency 33% $ 11 Non-Federal Match 12 Total Program Budget 200 000 00 $ $ % Fed Total $ $ 4 TRAINING 6 TOTAL DIRECT COSTS 1-6 TOTALS 600 000 00 600 000 00 0%