Absentee and Petition Manager

The State of Alaska Division of Elections is looking for an Absentee and Petition Manager to help us keep our elections Secure, Accurate, and Fair!

What you will be doing:

The Division of Elections (DOE) is seeking a dynamic individual to join our Absentee and Petition Office. The Absentee and Petition Manager is responsible for the overall coordination, supervision, administration, and day-to-day management of the Absentee and Petition Office located in Anchorage, Alaska. This is a managerial working position that is responsible for performing a wide variety of administrative and election management functions necessary for voter registration, absentee voting, petitions, and the conduct of state and federal elections.

This position will learn and be trained to demonstrate working knowledge of all statutes and regulations governing the execution of duties and responsibilities for:

• all functions in the coordination and administration of the by-mail and electronic transmission absentee voting programs for state conducted elections;
• oversight of statewide initiative, referendum, and recall petitions;
• other election management tasks assigned to the Absentee and Petition Office.

Our organization, mission and culture:

The mission of the DOE is to ensure public confidence in the electoral process by administrating voter registration and elections with the highest level of professional standards, integrity, security, accuracy, and fairness.

DOE is mission-focused with an organizational atmosphere that delivers performance-based results, promotes excellence, integrity, teamwork, and services that benefit the public. This position is a working member of the senior management team for the DOE and is responsible for the comprehensive planning, coordination, and election management functions for the Absentee and Petition Office. There are often tight statutory deadlines and many interruptions. In an election year, overtime is required.

The benefits of joining our team: 

This position provides meaningful work in support of our mission and offers the opportunity to work alongside an elite team of hardworking individuals. The Absentee and Petition Office is a tight knit group, which expands every other year with the election schedule. The work is exciting and varied and you will be part of a fun and dedicated team, providing an essential service to Alaskans. 

The Absentee and Petition Manager in Elections is in the Exempt Service per AS 39.25.110(20).  After successfully completing a period of probation, employees in the class achieve permanent status in the Division of Elections.

The working environment you can expect:

This position is located in Anchorage. The work environment is friendly, professional, and collaborative, with regular interaction with colleagues, other state agencies and the public. This position’s direct supervisor is the Division Operations Manager. Occasional travel will be required for this position for in-person training and interaction with other colleagues. 

A successful applicant will have some of the following competencies addressed in their application package:

Computer Skills:  Uses computers, software applications, databases, and automated systems to accomplish work; skilled in Excel to accomplish auditing of data for errors and for use for mailings and reports.

Customer/Quality Focus:   Anticipates, monitors, and meets the needs of customers and responds in an effective, appropriate manner; continually seeks to provide the highest quality service and product to customers; ability to focus on monitoring in areas such as personnel, inventory, data entry work produced in the office, and reports and documents developed for assigned functions in the office.  

Interpersonal Skills:   Shows understanding, friendliness, courtesy, tact, empathy, concern, and politeness to others; includes effectively dealing with individuals who are difficult, hostile, or distressed; relates well to people from varied backgrounds and different situations; is sensitive to individual differences; ability to work well and collaborate with other team members on projects and provide appropriate feedback.

Problem Solving:   Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations.

Self-Management:  Sets well-defined and realistic personal goals; displays a high level of initiative, effort, and commitment towards completing assignments in a timely manner; works with minimal supervision; is motivated to achieve; demonstrates responsible behavior; displays multi-tasking which requires attention to detail, independence, judgement, and initiative in determining office needs, prioritizing and organization work, and determining appropriate action.

Supervision: Ability to supervise, evaluate, and train temporary and permanent staff; able to communicate effectively with temporary staff on expectations and assigned tasks; able to communicate effectively, monitor work product, assign tasks, and mentor permanent staff.

Other duties as assigned.

To view the general description and example of duties for this position please go to the following link: https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/Alaska/classspecs  

Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science or equivalent degree in Public Administration, Business Administration or a related field from a four-year undergraduate post-secondary institution.

Substitution: Three years of experience as a supervisor in an agency with multifaceted operations. The experience generally includes general administrative activities such as employee supervision, procurement, inventory and supply distribution.

OR

Two years of experience in elections.

Please attach a cover letter as a separate document for this position.

The cover letter should highlight your knowledge, skills, abilities and experience as they pertain to the responsibilities listed in the job description and may also include information or discussion about the supplemental questions submitted with this recruitment. Please attach the cover letter to your application before submitting it online or, if unable to attach to your application, email it to the address listed below. The cover letter will be used to help determine which applicants will advance to the interview phase of the recruitment and selection process.

If selected for an interview, applicants must provide the following items: Resume and contact information for at least three (3) professional references.

Michaela R. Thompson

Division Operations Manager

State of Alaska, Division of Elections

Director’s Office

Phone: (907) 270-2700