ATTACHMENT E - Commonwealth's Response to Vendor Written Questions.xlsx
XLSX spreadsheet 17 KB Posted
- Attached to
- Electronic Ballots for KRS Elections RFI
- Solicitation number
- RFI-758-1900000027-4
- Issued by
- Elliott County, Kentucky
About this file
This document is a Commonwealth's Response to Vendor Written Questions for RFI 758 1900000027 regarding Electronic Election Ballots for Kentucky Retirement Systems (KRS). The Kentucky Retirement Systems seeks a vendor to conduct electronic and paper ballot elections for three distinct retirement systems: CERS, KERS, and SPRS, which hold elections in different years. The balloting process will begin in May 2020 and conclude in March 2021. The Commonwealth anticipates reaching approximately 250,000 members, though currently only about 20% have valid email addresses on file. The vendor must support both electronic and paper ballot distribution, with paper ballots sent to members whose emails bounce back as undeliverable. Sample ballots and final results reports are referenced in attachments. The elections vary in scope: the CERS election can have up to nine candidates, the KERS election up to six candidates, and the SPRS election up to three candidates. Historical turnout rates ranged from 9% to 19% of eligible members.
The Commonwealth requires vendors to propose authentication methods to ensure each voter casts only one ballot, with member ID available as a potential identifier. Minimum reporting requirements include total votes per candidate, votes cast electronically versus on paper, and invalid ballot counts. The vendor will own the voting platform but KRS seeks options for member access through a redirect from the Commonwealth's system. Vendors should submit pricing for paper ballots distributed to the full member population and should propose strategies to increase voter turnout. The Commonwealth will provide voter lists by December 28, 2020, and ballot information by early December 2020. Voter and ballot data will be transmitted via CSV or text file through FTP access, the same mechanism used in previous elections.
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Sheet1 Commonwealth's Response to Vendor Written Questions - RFI 758 1900000027 Electronic Election Ballots
| RFP Section / Requirement Number | Document | Document Page Number | Vendor Questions | Commonwealth Response |
| Attachment A | RFI 758 1900000027 | N/A | Can you confirm the total duration of the ballot as May 2020- March 2012? | The balloting process will begin in May 2020 and conclude in March 2021. |
| Attachment A | RFI 758 1900000027 | N/A | Would paper notifications and ballots go out to all 250k? Or a lesser amount? | We do not yet have a definite answer for this. For pricing purposes, please submit an estimated price for paper ballots going to all members. |
| Attachment A | RFI 758 1900000027 | N/A | Prior to the ballot launch, will all information be available (i.e. voter list, ballot information etc.)? | A complete voter list and ballot will not be available in May 2020. KRS will provide a voter list by December 28, 2020. The ballot information will be available at the beginning of December 2020. |
| Attachment A | RFI 758 1900000027 | N/A | What reporting and analytics do you require? | At a minimum, we need to see the following: |
1. Total number of votes received by each candidate
2. Total number of votes cast electronically.
3. Total number of votes cast on paper.
4. Total number of invalid ballots (e.g. too many candidates selected, paper ballots that were not signed, votes not cast by proper date, etc). KRS will provide guidance on what defines an invalid ballot.
We would also like to track the number of emails that bounce back as undeliverable.
| Attachment A | RFI 758 1900000027 | N/A | What are the expectations of ownership and/or usage of the voting platform? | It is our understanding that the vendor owns the voting platform. However, if feasible, KRS would like to see options that allow members to access the platform after logging into our system, such as a redirect from our page to the voting page. |
| Attachment A | RFI 758 1900000027 | N/A | As we bid last year, we are interested in understanding what key items you may be seeking in a vendor this year. | We are looking for a vendor to help us find ways to increase our voter turnout. Since this is a new process for us and we are open to suggestions from the vendor on the best way to do this. |
| Attachment A | RFI 758 1900000027 | N/A | When was your last election and was the election run according to the schedule outlined in the RFI? | KERS, CERS and SPRS take place in different years. The last KERS election whas held in 2018. Yes. State regulations specify the timeline we must follow. |
| Attachment A | RFI 758 1900000027 | N/A | Will you please provide sample ballots? If not, how many candidates do you expect per election? | See Attachment C - Sample Ballot 1. The upcoming election is the largest. There can be up to nine candidates. We typically have the full number of allowable candidates for this election. |
2. The election after that can have up to six candidates. We typically have between four and six.
3. The last election can have up to three candidates. We typically have only one.
Attachment A RFI 758 1900000027 N/A How many members voted in the prior three elections? 1. In the last CERS election (the next upcoming election), 24,416 ballots were received (11% of the population).
2. In the last KERS election, 11,310 ballots were received (9% of the population).
3. In the last SPRS election, 500 ballots were received (19% of the population).
| Attachment A | RFI 758 1900000027 | N/A | Will you please provide samples of the interim and final reports? | We have not been provided with interim reports in the past. See Attachment D - Sample of Final Results Report. |
| Attachment A | RFI 758 1900000027 | N/A | Were your member/voter files delivered on time? | Yes. These dates are required by state regulations. |
| Attachment A | RFI 758 1900000027 | N/A | Will members be exclusive to the list – mail only or email only? | We do not yet have a definite answer for this. For pricing purposes, please submit an estimated price assuming that all members will be provided with both options. |
| Attachment A | RFI 758 1900000027 | N/A | What percentage of the list includes email addresses? | We are working on increasing this, but as of now we believe we have valid email addresses for about 20% of the population. |
| Attachment A | RFI 758 1900000027 | N/A | Will members with emails be allowed to opt-in to paper/mail voting? | Yes. |
| General Requirements | RFI 758 1900000027 | N/A | Can you provide a sample of a past ballot? | See Attachment C - Sample Ballot |
| General Requirements | RFI 758 1900000027 | N/A | Are you looking for the vendor to supply creative services for the electronic ballots or will final creative files be supplied? | 1. We have specific things we want on the electronic ballot, but other than that the vendor can suggest a design. |
2. Paper ballots will be provided by KRS.
| Electronic Ballot Specifications | RFI 758 1900000027 | N/A | Do voters need to register prior to voting and if so will registrations be handled separately? | There will not be a registration process. All active, inactive, and retired members of the system are eligible to vote. |
| Electronic Ballot Specifications | RFI 758 1900000027 | N/A | What information will be part of the voter data, and what information will be used to authenticate the voter? | In the past, we have created a barcode that contained unique information to each voter. This ensured each member only voted one time. For this new process, we do not have a set way to authenticate voters. We are looking for vendors to suggest how they have authenticated members in the past and how they will ensure voters are only allowed one vote. We do have information, such as member ID, that can be used to authenticate voters. |
| Paper Ballots | RFI 758 1900000027 | N/A | Approximately how many elections and candidates are there per ballot? | There are three elections (one for each system). The elections do not occur in the same year. There is only one election per year. The CERS election can have up to nine candidates (and typically does). The KERS election can have up to six candidates (typically has between four and six). The SPRS election can have up to three candidates (typically only has one). |
| Electronic Ballot Specifications | RFI 758 1900000027 | N/A | Is the electronic ballot to go out to the entire member population or to a certain percentage only? | We would like the electronic ballot to be available to the entire membership. However, we understand it may only be accessible to those with email addresses. If that is the case, the electronic ballot would go to possibly 20% of the population. |
| Electronic Ballot Specifications | RFI 758 1900000027 | N/A | What action is required for email that bounce back? Do we then mail ballots to members that we receive hard bounces back notices for? | We do not have a definite answer or this yet. For pricing purposes, please assume that if an email bounces back, a paper ballot will be sent. |
| Electronic Ballot Specifications | RFI 758 1900000027 | N/A | Will there be more than one request for vote emailed if members do not open or take action on the initial email? | We would like the option to send the population an email reminder about casting their votes, possibly a week before the election closes. |
| Electronic Ballot Specifications/Paper Ballots | RFI 758 1900000027 | N/A | Are there any specific requirements for reporting of the ballot data or ballot tabulation? | At a minimum, we need to see the following: |
1. Total number of votes received by each candidate
2. Total number of votes cast electronically.
3. Total number of votes case on paper.
4. Total number of invalid ballots (e.g. too many candidates selected, paper ballots that were not signed, votes not cast by proper date, etc). KRS will provide guidance on what defines an invalid ballot.
We would also like to track the number of emails that bounce back as undeliverable.
General Requirements RFI 758 1900000027 N/A What is the preferred mechanism for the file transmission for the voter data and ballot data? In the past, we have provided a CVS or text file via FTP. We allow the vendor access to the FTP site to retrieve the file.
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