In this request, some terminology needs explaining.
"Service Area" means a taxation district which may not
encompass the entire jurisdiction. "Areawide" means the entire
jurisdiction and encompasses all service areas.
In Anchorage, Alaska,
a service area may put a question on the ballot which requests bond
debt. The debt is paid out of taxes paid only by the voters in the
service area. However, because the full faith and credit of the entire
city secures the debt, the question is voted on areawide. Thus, of
course, the race is assigned to the jurisdiction wide district. These
questions must be approved by voters who live within the service area
boundaries (because they will be taxed to pay the debt) and also must be
approved areawide. To be sure both majorities are attained, two vote
tallies are compiled. One tally includes the votes of persons areawide
(which includes the service area as well); the other tally includes only
the votes of persons in the service area. Quote from Anchorage:
"In essence, the vote of a person within a service area is tallied
in two columns while the vote of a person outside the service area is
tallied only in one of the columns." Naturally, several report
precincts are split by service area boundaries and thus contain voters
of both types. Some report precincts contain several service areas whose
boundaries are not identical. Anchorage is unwilling to have two vote
centers in split report precincts as a means of separating results
between "inside service area" and "outside service
area" at the precinct level. They are also unwilling to create
separate report precincts for the precincts which are split between
"inside service area" and "outside service area".
They are also unwilling to create separate identical races assigned to
"inside service area" and "outside service
area".
What GEMS must be
able to do: The individual report precinct must be able to report the
results of the service area question both for the entire report
precinct, and for the base precinct(s) which are in the service area
separate from any base precinct(s) which are not in the service area.
This reporting must be done both on the results tape at the vote center
and on any precinct summary report at the central elections office. This
reporting must allow other races which are not affected by the inside
service area/outside service area split to be reported only for the
entire report precinct. Additionally, if it is possible, Anchorage would
like it if a single report could show the areawide totals and the
service area totals as columns of the same report.
It is worth noting
that we have a contract signed by Anchorage and HVP that says we will
have this enhancement completed and tested by December 31, 1999 else we
have to notify Anchorage by that date that it is not
complete.
Tyler