Nursing Home and Vote by Mail Ballot Canvassing Specialist (Administrative Specialist I, Grade N18)

About the Position

The expected salary range for this role on hire is $60,513 to $81,415.

WHO WE ARE

The Montgomery County Board of Elections (BOE) is responsible for administering Federal, State, and County elections within Montgomery County. We are the largest jurisdiction in the state of Maryland, with approximately 750,000 registered voters with the largest number of mail-in ballots cast, 58 vote-by-mail drop boxes, 14 early voting centers, and 232 polling places on election day. Mail in Ballot Canvass is an integral part of the election process, that involves the review and counting of mail in and provisional ballots by 50 bipartisan teams. Timely election certification relies on the efficiency and accuracy of this process. Additionally, the BOE offers a Nursing Home and Assisted Living program designed to assist residents in participating in the electoral process. This program ensures that elderly and disabled voters have the necessary support to register to vote and cast their ballot while in a facility. Key features of the program are voter registration assistance and mail-in ballot support.

The work of the Board of Elections is governed by Federal and State legal framework, Maryland State Board of Elections regulations, and county regulations and procedures.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

The Board of Elections is seeking an Administrative Specialist to perform professional staff support work for the Nursing Home program & Mail in Ballot Canvassing while also functioning as the backup for Candidate Filing. The candidate will support the agency in ensuring affiliation with qualifying nursing home facilities in the county and coordinating Vote by Mail canvassing activities. Recruitment and retention of volunteers all year round to create a robust pool of canvassers and to assist with the election canvassing efforts. The ideal candidate must be detail oriented as they will be responsible for gathering, analyzing and maintaining up to date data on local nursing homes to ensure compliance with Maryland State Board of Elections’ program requirements and regulations The candidate must show experience in organizing critical programs, implemented in a dynamic environment. These programs comprise interrelated elements that necessitate strong planning and organizational capabilities, as well as the foresight to anticipate changes and propose contingency plans. The employee will work under the guidance of the Vote by Mail Manager to carry out the precedented aspects of program implementation. The candidate will report directly to the Voter Services Chief but will take direction from Vote by Mail Program Manager for program directives.

What You'll Be Doing

The employee will provide program support by establishing and maintaining mechanisms/data bases to track program activity; generate reports; process data and organize and maintain personnel information pertinent to stipend payments; verify data; and monitor changing trends and patterns.

Responsibilities will include:

Establish work priorities and coordinate them to meet deadlines and ensure an efficient workflow for the Nursing Home program. Proactively source qualified facilities, outreach to the administration, create contacts for scheduling visits, resolve inquiries and address concerns. Provide support for and liaison with various community groups as recruitment activities. They will identify issues requiring further action and ensure that requests from the public are handled in a timely and effective manner. The candidate will develop and maintain current listing of specific resources available for Nursing Home identification.

Provide timely and professional email responses for the Canvass and Nursing Home mailboxes, tracking responses and action items to engender retention of election workers.

Partner with Recruitment and Outreach teams to ensure a continuous pipeline of potential candidates flows to fill the gaps of attrition. Employee will be required to attend offsite outreach events in support of Election Worker recruitment.

Recruit, train, schedule and maintain database for a team Nursing Home election workers who will serve voters in over 60 facilities. Duties also include developing and producing the Nursing Home training curriculum and materials. Compile and maintain statistics crucial to end of cycle reporting and data analysis.

Recruit, schedule and track timekeeping for the more than 100 Canvass workers per session. Canvass teams are comprised of bipartisan election workers who process all returned mail-in ballots to enable timely certification of the election results. This position will provide onsite guidance for check in. Additionally, they will track legally required attendance data for preparation of Canvass Minutes for Board review and adoption.

The position will assist with preparation of Canvass supplies, set up, delivery and maintenance of the site throughout the election cycle.

Other duties –

• Confirmation Project: sample ballot, ballots and applications.
• Data entry and proofing of new application, updates and cancelation forms as well as Candidate Filings
• Packing for archive of election materials after an election
• Preparing forms and supplies for the next election
• Front facing customer service assisting voters and candidates
• Provide cross sectional support as needed

Office hours are from 8:30am to 5:00pm, however during the election cycle employee will be required to work overtime that would include evenings, weekends and holidays depending on the workload.

Preferred Criteria, Interview Preferences

Education: Graduation from an accredited college or university with a Bachelor's Degree

Experience: One (1) year of professional administrative/clerical experience to include extensive computer use in a customer service, public service or business office environment

Substitutions:

• EDUCATION for EXPERIENCE: Additional education will substitute for the required experience on a year-for-year basis.
• EXPERIENCE for EDUCATION: Additional administrative, business, research and/or clerical experience will substitute for the required education on a year-for year basis.

SPECIAL QUALIFICATIONS: Candidate must be or will be a Maryland registered voter by time of hire.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

The Office of Human Resources (OHR) reviews the minimum qualifications of all applicants, irrespective of whether the candidate has previously been found to have met the minimum requirements for the job or been temporarily promoted to the same position. This evaluation is based solely on the information contained in the application/resume submitted for this specific position.

Montgomery County Government(MCG) is an equal opportunity employer, committed to workforce diversity. Accordingly, as it relates to employment opportunities, the County will provide reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, in accordance with the law. Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process should email OHR at OHR@montgomerycountymd.gov. Individual determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made in accordance with all applicable laws.

MCG also provides hiring preference to certain categories of veterans and veterans/persons with a disability. For more information and to claim employment preference, refer to the Careers webpage on Hiring Preference.

All applicants will respond to a series of questions related to their education, relevant experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities required to minimally perform the job. The applicant's responses in conjunction with their resume and all other information provided in the employment application process will be evaluated to determine the minimum qualifications and preferred criteria or interview preference status. Based on the results, the highest qualified applicants will be placed on an Eligible List and may be considered for an interview. Employees meeting minimum qualifications who are the same grade will be placed on the Eligible List as a "Lateral Transfer" candidate and may be considered for an interview.

This will establish an Eligible List that may be used to fill both current and future vacancies.

If selected for consideration for this position, you may be required to provide evidence that you possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities indicated on your resume.

Montgomery County Ethics Law: Except as provided by law or regulation, the County's "Public Employees" (which does not include employees of the Sheriff's office) are subject to the County's ethics law including the requirements to obtain advanced approval of any outside employment and the prohibitions on certain outside employment. The outside employment requirements of the ethics law can be found at 19A-12 of the County Code. Additional information about outside employment can be obtained from the Ethics Commission website.