The Federal Voting Assistance Program and the Road Ahead

229 Pages·2015·4.78 MB·English

The Federal Voting
Assistance Program
and the Road Ahead
Achieving Institutional Change Through
Analysis and Collaboration
Victoria A. Greenfield, Shoshana R. Shelton, Edward Balkovich,
John S. Davis II, David M. Adamson
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Preface
In early 2013, the leadership of the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) com-
missioned the RAND National Defense Research Institute (NDRI) to undertake a
collaborative, multiyear work program known formally as FVAP and the Road Ahead.
The project was established to assist FVAP in aligning its strategy and operations to
better serve its mission and stakeholders and to strengthen FVAP’s capacity to set its
own course, greet change, and communicate its role in the voting community.
This report, which documents the RAND project team’s objective analysis, its
work with FVAP, and the results of both, describes an iterative process of engagement
with a very small federal agency seeking to elevate its performance and prepared to
implement change. The project enabled a significant realignment of the agency’s strat-
egy and operations. Thus, it demonstrates the potential for substantial, timely change
through a highly collaborative working relationship, rooted in a systematic and ana-
lytically grounded research design.
The RAND project team worked with FVAP to compare, reconcile, and align
what was in the agency’s strategy and typical of its operations and what should be,
through an evidence-based approach that included logic modeling, stakeholder out-
reach, and a requirements assessment. The team delivered recommendations and imple-
menting guidance over the course of the project, and FVAP enacted change through-
out. As a consequence, this report offers final recommendations and guidance largely
proposed to lock in and build on gains.
This report should be of interest to agencies seeking to improve their strategic
and operational alignment and develop a better understanding of the methods and
processes available to do so, to those involved in those agencies’ oversight, and to stake-
holders seeking to understand changes occurring within FVAP.
In addition to the findings, recommendations, and guidance from our analy-
sis, this report describes in detail the collaborative process that the RAND team and
FVAP used to develop the analysis and implement recommendations, respectively. We
have structured the document to meet the needs of members of FVAP’s leadership as
they convey the process that they used to implement major organizational change and
to aid the agency in further implementation of recommendations. For readers with
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iv The Federal Voting Assistance Program and the Road Ahead
greater interest in the underlying method, we offer a shorter, derivative report that
focuses on the iterative application of the logic model.
This research was sponsored by FVAP and conducted within the Forces and
Resources Policy Center and the Acquisition and Technology Policy Center of NDRI,
a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the Office of the Sec-
retary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, the Navy, the
Marine Corps, the defense agencies, and the defense Intelligence Community.
For more information on the RAND Forces and Resources Policy Center or
the RAND Acquisition and Technology Policy Center, see www.rand.org/nsrd/ndri/
centers/frp or www.rand.org/nsrd/ndri/centers/atp or contact the director (contact
information is provided on the web pages).
Contents
Preface ................................................................................................. iii
Figures .................................................................................................vii
Tables .................................................................................................. ix
Summary .............................................................................................. xi
Acknowledgments .................................................................................xxix
Abbreviations ...................................................................................... xxxi
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction ........................................................................................... 1
Challenges, Complexities, and Opportunities ...................................................... 2
Terms of Engagement ................................................................................. 5
Organization of This Report .........................................................................11
CHAPTER TWO
Logic-Model Development .........................................................................13
Logic-Model Basics ...................................................................................13
The Modeling Process Used with the Federal Voting Assistance Program .....................15
The Federal Voting Assistance Program Benchmark Logic Model .............................18
Focal Points of the Logic-Model Analysis ......................................................... 22
Concluding Remarks on Logic-Model Development and Findings ........................... 28
CHAPTER THREE
Stakeholder Outreach ...............................................................................29
Our Approach to Stakeholder Outreach ...........................................................29
Insights from Stakeholder Outreach ............................................................... 30
Concluding Remarks on Stakeholder Outreach ...................................................35
CHAPTER FOUR
Federal Voting Assistance Program Activities in Relation to Requirements .............37
Through the Lens of the Law ........................................................................39
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vi The Federal Voting Assistance Program and the Road Ahead
Through the Lens of Federal Voting Assistance Program Activities ........................... 40
Concluding Remarks on Activities, Requirements, and Findings ............................. 56
CHAPTER FIVE
Preliminary Recommendations and Initial Guidance ........................................59
Become “One FVAP” ................................................................................ 60
Build Trust and Strengthen Relationships .........................................................62
Embrace a Culture and Principles of Effectiveness ............................................... 64
Concluding Remarks on Recommendations and Guidance .................................... 64
CHAPTER SIX
The Federal Voting Assistance Program’s Engagement with Its Operating
Environment .....................................................................................67
Our Approach to Scoping the System ............................................................. 68
The Federal Voting Assistance Program’s Place in the Voting Assistance System .............70
Summary of Training Analysis and Findings ......................................................79
Further Development of the Logic Model ........................................................ 84
Concluding Remarks on the Federal Voting Assistance Program’s Engagement with Its
Operating Environment ........................................................................ 86
CHAPTER SEVEN
Evidence of Change ................................................................................ 87
Become One FVAP ...................................................................................89
Build Trust and Strengthen Relationships ........................................................ 98
Embrace a Culture and Principles of Effectiveness .............................................. 103
Concluding Remarks on Evidence of Change ................................................... 104
CHAPTER EIGHT
Final Recommendations, Guidance, and Remarks .......................................... 107
Lock in and Build on Gains ....................................................................... 107
Concluding Remarks on Project Goals and Results ............................................ 113
APPENDIXES
A. Logic-Modeling Workshop and Materials ............................................... 115
B. Statutory Requirements Pertaining to the Federal Voting Assistance
Program ........................................................................................ 125
C. Survey Response Rates and Regularly Scheduled Reports to Congress ............ 137
D. Project-Management Tools.................................................................. 141
E. Training Options and Recommendations................................................ 161
F. Adult Learning Principles and Training Evaluation ................................... 171
References ........................................................................................... 187
Figures
S.1. Voting Assistance Opportunities and Paths to Success for Uniformed and
Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act Voters ...................................... xxi
2.1. Logic-Model Template ..................................................................15
2.2. Constructing the Logic Model .........................................................17
2.3. Benchmark Logic Model ................................................................19
2.4. Federal Voting Assistance Program Organization Chart as of April–May
2013 .......................................................................................21
2.5. Stylized Activity Streams .............................................................. 23
4.1. Generic Depiction of Activities, Law, and Policy ................................... 38
4.2. What Does It Mean to Chart a Path? .................................................57
6.1. Voting Assistance Opportunities and Paths to Success for Uniformed and
Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act Voters .......................................72
6.2. The Voting Assistance System as a Whole and in Parts .............................73
6.3. Robust Logic Model .....................................................................85
7.1. Federal Voting Assistance Program Mission, Vision, and Core Values, Circa
2012–2013 ................................................................................91
7.2. Federal Voting Assistance Program Statement of Purpose, Circa 2014 .......... 92
7.3. Federal Voting Assistance Program Website Navigation to Statement of
Purpose, Circa 2014 .....................................................................93
7.4. Federal Voting Assistance Program Website Access to Outreach Materials,
Circa 2014 ............................................................................... 94
7.5. Federal Voting Assistance Program Organization Chart as of February
2015....................................................................................... 96
A.1. Logic-Model Template ................................................................ 118
C.1. Numbers of Questions in Active-Duty Military Personnel Surveys ............. 138
D.1. Relationship Between Tools, Engagement Decisions, and Project Life ......... 142
D.2. The Checklist ........................................................................... 144
D.3. Level of Effort Commensurate with Project Size .................................. 145
D.4. Risk Versus Net Payoff as a Basis for Project Comparisons ....................... 155
E.1. Elements of a Systematic Decisionmaking Process ................................ 165
F.1. Proposed Training Evaluation Form, Page 1 ....................................... 184
F.2. Proposed Training Evaluation Form, Page 2 ....................................... 185
vii

Tables
S.1. Evidence of Change in Relation to Preliminary Recommendations and
Guidance ................................................................................ xxii
1.1. Recent Federal Voting Assistance Program Mission Statements .................... 4
1.2. Project Phases ............................................................................. 7
1.3. Project Events and Approximate Federal Voting Assistance Program Staff
Commitments ............................................................................. 9
2.1. Questions Cited in the 2012 Postelection Report to Congress .................... 27
3.1. Broad Convergences Across Stakeholder Groups ....................................31
4.1. Statutory Requirements Pertaining to the Federal Voting Assistance
Program .................................................................................. 40
4.2. Selected Federal Voting Assistance Program Activities in Relation to Law .......45
4.3. Reporting Requirements and Related Reports ...................................... 54
6.1. Site Visits and On-Site Training Observations .......................................69
6.2. Roles of Intermediaries in the Services ............................................... 77
7.1. Evidence of Change in Relation to Preliminary Recommendations and
Guidance ................................................................................. 88
7.2. Federal Voting Assistance Program Professional Development
Commitments ........................................................................... 99
C.1. Survey Mode, Sample Size, and Response Rates for 2010 Postelection
Surveys .................................................................................. 137
D.1. Assessing Severity and Probability ................................................... 147
E.1. Learning and Evaluation Principles ................................................. 163
E.2. Benefits of In-Person and Online Training ......................................... 166
E.3. Costs of In-Person and Online Training ............................................ 166
E.4. Risks of In-Person and Online Training ............................................ 167
F.1. Adult Learning Principles and Recommendations for Implementation ......... 174
F.2. Kirkpatrick Levels of Evaluation ..................................................... 182
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