What CA&T Does

VoteQuest is an online communications and tracking system giving proponents real-time details on field operations. our clients can monitor individually or by region, who is collecting, how fast, how often, and how many of those signatures turn out to be good signatures.  VoteQuest manages signature counts and provides updates to the management team in real time as each signature is on its march to submission. Campaign signature counts are immediately updated at each of the stages in auditing the signature collection:

1. 1. 1. 1. Signatures are entered online into a batch by circulator and numbers collected.
         2. Batches of signatures are paid using VoteQuest.
         3. Signatures are shipped to Campaign Audit & Trust for processing.
         4. Pages & Signatures are received and counted.
         5. Notaries are verified with the state for bonded compliance (where applicable).
         6. Notarized petitions are viewed for accuracy and completeness.
         7. Signatures are viewed for completeness and undergo a forgery review.
         8. Signers are checked for voter registration status (percentage determined by the client)
         9. VoteQuest instantly adjusts overall counts for miscounts, purges, and subpar validation.
         10. Chargebacks are issued to collectors for substandard work.
         11. Petitions are sorted (where applicable) by region of submission.
         12. Petitions are paginated (where applicable).
         13. Petitions are bound (where applicable).  

If your campaign has geographical distribution requirements, VoteQuest tracks collection by area and by circulator. This system supplies campaigns with the information to more efficiently utilize and mobilize manpower on the field, at the same time ensuring you get what you pay for.

VoteQuest’s communications and tracking system calculates and manages signature payments to Field Operatives. Once a batch of signatures is submitted for payment in the field, CA&T makes sure that those signatures are shipped, received for processing, and ultimately how many valid signatures are from the appropriate jurisdiction. If signatures are substandard they are removed from the count, and charge-backs are issued to the collector. Those chargebacks will offset the next payment to that collector. In this way, the signatures and money are audited to ensure that the terms of your contract are met.

CA&T’s vast experience in the petition industry allows for quickly identifying and weeding out of those signatures that can disqualify a petition. Some of the common pitfalls are:

• • • • Unregistered voters signing petitions.
      • Duplicate signers.
      • Bad notaries.
      • Forgeries.
      • Incomplete affidavits.
      • Illegible information.

      CA&T has vast experience in quickly identifying all signatures that can disqualify a petition. CA&T’s vast experience with State Election Officials enables us to know what they will accept and not accept. But CA&T goes beyond quick recognition. CA&T also helps stop bad work from continuing in the field by giving the field feedback on every level, allowing for improved quality of signatures collected, turned in, and paid for.

      This is a big deal.  Peace of mind and real-time feedback are the two major things that CA&T brings to the client’s table.   Proponents and investors have no certain means of knowing whether or not the field operatives are doing a good job until the petition certifies for the ballot.  Which also means that proponents don’t normally learn about any ineffectiveness until the petition fails. However, CA&T provides real-time feedback so the proponent knows the status of the petitions at all times from an INDEPENDENT set of eyes.  The field operatives also have access to the real-time information. Since CA&T provides the client with the full picture in real time, the field operatives are more accountable.

Signature management firms strive to do a good job. Part of their focus is on gathering good signatures fast. Maintaining circulators to do this requires large influxes of cash before signatures are reviewed and counted. This puts proponents in a difficult situation of trusting management firms with large amounts of money up front.  Using CA&T eliminates the unease of guarding your investment.

Part of the management firm’s fees typically includes funds to process, validate, and manage its own signatures. By hiring CA&T to take over the tasks of signature processing and money management, the campaign benefits in two ways:

1. You will save money by buying fewer signatures.  In the 30 years, CA&T’s VoteQuest has been in use, campaigns that have used it have consistently purchased 10 to 20 percent fewer signatures than similar campaigns that did not use the VoteQuest.
2. You will have peace of mind at no additional cost to have an independent audit that provides the campaign with accurate real-time information.

Using CA&T’s proven system on average saves a campaign from having to purchase between 10 and 20 percent more signatures.

Petition management firms benefit many ways:

•  Using CA&T in place of the firm’s own processing keeps your overhead down
• CA&T’s software program is so in-depth in its management of numbers and money that your signature management organization will be able to handle more petitions at once with less effort.
• CA&T’s software power frees petition firms from the record keeping challenges
• Allows petition firms to focus on the main objective of getting more signatures.
• CA&T gives petition firms access to data reports that typically include:

1. 1. Batches not received (by manager)
   2. Batch progress reports
   3. Signature tracking by week which is a great visual aid that shows projected collection
   4. Validation Reports by area, manager or circulator
   5. Collection reports by area, manager, or circulator
   6. Batches & Chargebacks due for payment
   7. Batch payments and chargebacks notifications

• CA&T’s system provides immediate feedback on circulators.