Polygon, the Dancing Bear

Occasional notes on politics, history, technology, architecture,
and the life of a county clerk

2002:
May / June / July
August / September / October
November / December

2003:
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April / May / June / July
August / September / October
November / December

2004:
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November / December

2005:
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August / September / October
November / December

2006:
January / February / March
April / May / June / July
August / September / October
November / December

2007:
January / February / March
April / May / June / July
August / September / October
November / December

2008:
January / February / March
April / May

Current entries

Thursday, February 16, 2006, 11:00 am

You're invited! It's time to get started on getting re-elected as County Clerk and Register of Deeds. My First Annual President's Day Fundraiser will be held on Monday, February 20, 2006, starting at 5:30 pm, at the home of Al and Mary Hegerich, 5195 Pontiac Trail, Ann Arbor (3 miles north of Dhu Varren Road, on the left).

Here's my letter:

Dear Friends,

It was just over a year ago that I took office as your Washtenaw County Clerk and Register of Deeds, the first Democrat to hold either position in seven decades.

I've had a great first year, with many accomplishments.

First, we had an orderly transition to the new management team, consisting of myself and my Chief Deputies Jim Dries (Deeds and Vital Records), Derrick Jackson (Elections and Administration), and Karen Edman (Court Services).

Starting on the first day, we worked with the townships and cities and schools to negotiate implementation of the "election consolidation" law, avoiding the lawsuits and recriminations which plagued nearby counties.

As a result of the new law, all elections are now on Tuesdays. Most voters no longer have different polling places for different types of elections. These changes helped boost voter turnout in school elections last year.

We improved the training of poll workers. Instead of dry lectures full of legalese, we provide hands-on experience with the equipment and forms they will use on Election Day. We also refocused the training toward the kinds of issues and problems that poll workers are likely to see in a real election.

I didn't get to choose the tabulators used in precincts for counting our optical scan paper ballots, but I advocated the use of hand counts of randomly selected precincts as a check on the equipment and programming. I'm happy to report that the Secretary of State is now supporting legislation to mandate this statewide.

My office was tasked with the job of reviewing and validating 20,000 petition signatures submitted in opposition to the jail bond issue. We accomplished this big job with fairness and efficiency, and received praise from both sides for our work.

During the past year, groups in three Washtenaw jurisdictions launched efforts to recall a total of seven local officials. To assist the press and public in tracking this complicated story, I made all the proposed versions of recall language and other material available online on the county's web site.

In the Register of Deeds office, we greatly reduced (from about 60 days to about 10 days) the lag time for processing deeds and mortgages and other documents. Delays tie up financing, so quicker processing helps reduce costs and make mortgage money more available to prospective homeowners in Washtenaw County.

In the Vital Records office, we improved the handling of marriage licenses by putting postage on the return envelopes. Ministers and other marriage officiants are required to send back the completed marriage licenses, but the search for the right amount of postage often led to greater delays, and not uncommonly the license would be put aside or even lost. That doesn't happen any more.

On behalf of the Jury Board, my office chooses and summons potential jurors for circuit, probate, and district court. Our new approach to managing these lists has eliminated weeks of tedious work purging duplicates by hand, and reduced by thousands the number of jury questionnaires we need to send out.

Formerly, circuit court jurors were paid in paper checks mailed four to six weeks after they served. We wrote over 600 checks a month to jurors, most of them around $20 each. Many of those checks would come back undeliverable from the post office; many more were never cashed; the funds had to be labor-intensively escheated to the state. No longer. Now, we pay jurors immediately in cash, using a special purpose ATM in the courthouse. Other courts around the state will soon follow our lead.

And we have many more things to work on. As I start my second year in this position, the honeymoon isn't over yet!

In addition to all the management tasks that the job entails, the County Clerk is one of a five-member board which draws county commission districts after each decennial census. Moreover, the County Clerk is one of a three-member committee which fills vacancies in county elected positions. That committee had a Republican majority until I took office.

Many thanks for your past support. It's now time to start preparing to win re-election in 2008. I hope to see you on President's Day!